Friday Sundae introduces their debut title, `There Are No Ghosts at the Grand,` a compelling first-person narrative mystery. My recent preview revealed an enchanting mix of ghost story, musical elements, and hotel renovation gameplay. At its core, the game delivers a spooky yet accessible seaside mystery, designed to appeal to a broad audience.
Players step into the shoes of Chris David, who inherits `The Grand,` a once-magnificent but now dilapidated hotel on the English coast. Initially focused on restoration, Chris soon finds himself entangled in a deeper enigma shrouding the town and its inhabitants.
The demo highlighted the game`s innovative hotel restoration system, featuring a unique handheld device equipped with talking power tools. Robert C. MacBrushy, a Scottish AI assistant integrated into this tool, provides humorous commentary, offering a welcome balance to the game`s tension as `There Are No Ghosts at the Grand` takes a spooky turn after dusk.
During the day, gameplay centers on renovation, utilizing the multi-tool with functions like sandblasting, power spraying, turbo vacuuming, and furnishing. Anil Glendinning, Friday Sundae`s creative director and co-founder, demonstrated that each tool type offers three unlockable modes. The demo impressively showed the intuitive nature of the sprayer, which intelligently paints only wall surfaces without affecting surrounding decor, allowing for enjoyable, precision-free renovation.
Nightfall brings a peculiar and unsettling atmosphere to the town. A notable sequence involved Chris becoming stranded on an island while assisting the mayor. This event marks Chris`s first encounter with the town`s supernatural dangers, as he steps out to find scattered red chairs that menacingly transform into spider-like chair-monsters. This leads to an intense chase and a first-person shooter segment where the renovation tool doubles as a weapon, allowing Chris to defend himself.
Glendinning emphasized the game`s `spooky` nature without relying on gore or distressing horror. He stated, “It doesn’t need it to tell the story we want to tell. And that story is about people and family, and it’s about how some of that stuff can manifest itself in life.”
Gallery of “There Are No Ghosts at the Grand”
`There Are No Ghosts at the Grand` also incorporates musical elements. The preview showcased a scene where the town`s mayor expressed her views on Chris`s renovation plans through a song. Players choose their responses, and Chris sings his replies, a mechanic that extends to interactions with other characters throughout the story.
According to Glendinning, the musical aspect wasn`t initially planned but was integrated early in development. He explained, “From the very start, we wanted to create a ghost story,” drawing inspiration from the UK`s decaying seaside towns. “We were hearing this internal soundtrack in our heads as we were creating this ghost story, and as we were writing dialogue and setting it to music, the [musical] dialogue evolved from that.”
These musical interactions are part of the game`s branching narrative, which, along with non-musical choices and clue discovery, influences multiple possible endings.
Beyond the hotel, the game allows exploration of the wider seaside village. A mission glimpsed involved a moped ride leading to Chris repairing a boat for a trip to a haunted island, home to a WWII bunker.
Among the few characters introduced was Mr. Bones, a cat who roams the hotel and accompanies Chris on his adventures. While a normal feline by day, Mr. Bones gains the ability to speak at night, charming players with an Australian accent. His story likely plays into the overarching mystery. And yes, the preview confirmed you can pet the cat!
Glendinning also noted the option to skip certain game elements. “We’re believers in allowing players to move through the story,” he stated, adding that puzzles can be bypassed if too challenging. This feature enhances replayability, enabling faster progression through subsequent playthroughs by skipping familiar scenes and puzzles.
As a fan of musicals and mysteries, this early preview significantly piqued my interest. The game promises a cozy yet mysterious town atmosphere, with characters like Mr. Bones and Robert C. MacBrushy injecting considerable personality. I`m eager to delve into `There Are No Ghosts at the Grand` and uncover its secrets.
Players can look forward to unraveling the mystery and renovating the hotel in 2026, when `There Are No Ghosts at the Grand` launches on Xbox Series X|S and PC, available day one on Xbox Game Pass.