"Guess what, Fred? You're dead!"

overview

Spirits can be a real nuisance for the living. So how do we deal with these pesky poltergeists? Just trap them, right?! And then what, store them in some big, central containment unit indefinitely?! Imagine the liability! We're not animal control, we’re detectives! If we can figure out why the ghost is hanging around and fix its problem, then POOF! No spirits to store and no messy clean up. 

Welcome to the world of Trivium Games, a small company in California with an even smaller ego, who deserve something much more massive. In Ghost Patrol, you help a ghost achieve their dreams. 

This story is a completely original ghost story the likes of which we have never seen before, and remarkably not very scary at all for a ghost theme. They managed to pull off a comedic tone in a ghost room. Impressive. 

The story also develops as the game progresses, a rare but entirely welcome sight in the escape room world. 

quick stats

gameplay time: 90 minutes

recommended team size: 3-6 players

difficulty: 2/5

scare level: 1/5

location: Emeryville, CA

website: https://www.triviumgames.com/ghost-patrol

considerations: -low lighting conditions

scenery

Ghost Patrol looked amazing. Spanning four rooms, it never looked less engaging as we went on. 

We started outside the house, in a nice looking courtyard which made us truly feel outside. From there, we moved on to the main hall, with its portraits, fancy wallpaper, and lush carpeting. 

A very well hidden secret passage (and that's saying something) reveals the true nature of the house. Going behind the walls, we find multiple more rooms that reveal the true intentions of the person living here. But we're not gonna spoil, because we're awesome. 

The rooms are oozing with detail. The wallpaper peels off in some places, the lighting cues perfectly help the flow of the game, and the whole place is one of the most engaging spaces I've seen in ages. 

Here's the really interesting thing about the set. In many rooms, if the set is good, throughout the entire game I will be amazed about the set, and often will take a couple of seconds to just step away from the gameplay to admire the set. In Ghost Patrol, that almost never happened - and that's perfect. Ghost Patrol was made in a way to look so realistic and feel so engaging that you're not supposed to admire the set - you're supposed to be there, interact with it, vanish to another location. And that's what I felt like. The set was so fantastic that you're supposed to just accept that you're not in California anymore. And this time, for the first time, I had no control over whether that happened to me or not. 

One other thing. This game is oozing with secret passageways. There are way too many to even count. The space simply transforms itself. It's crazy. 

A quick note - in absolutely no way is Ghost Patrol a scary or creepy game; on the contrary, it's quite a cute and heartwarming game. As of right now, it is easily one of the best escape rooms I've ever played. 

puzzles

The fun doesn't stop there, folks!

Ghost Patrol's puzzles are on point. They are incredible. Speech is not my first language, so I can't easily say how amazing the puzzles are. However, I will say that Ghost Patrol contains my favorite puzzle in any escape room, probably ever. 

As mentioned by the story, the goal of Ghost Patrol is to get inside the house, figure out what this pesky ghost needs to get herself to the afterlife, and then get her what she needs, which coincidentally is easily accessible from the house. How convenient!

All puzzles are related to further getting through the house and attempting to get the [REDACTED] to the [REDACTED]. A lot of them really feel like games, and are really enjoyable, such as a very good use of a fishing rod. There are some puzzles at the beginning that don't seem to make much sense towards the story - and honestly, for this room, that's entirely fine. The puzzles are hella fun, and that's all that matters. They're so good that it's completely fine, and the experience doesn't really need to be perfect or realistic. That's the beauty of Ghost Patrol. It sends that message to you, in a way.

Another interesting thing about these puzzles is that the first act and the second act are drastically different. The first part is very quiet and magical, while the second part is a lot more sterile and tech-related. The first act is a lot more non-linear, but the puzzles are big enough with multiple things to do, so that multiple people can work on them at once. The second act has puzzles that can really only be worked on by one or two people, but it's very non-linear, so the team starts to divide and conquer after working together in the first part. It's something I've never seen before, but I love it. 

Oh! I forgot one thing. Ghost Patrol uses the most ingenious device that they refer to as a Spectral Stethoscope. It's a steampunk stethoscope used on ectoplasm. Basically, you take the end of it and you put it on slime, and then out of a speaker plays a noise. See, apparently ghosts leave impressions behind, so that you can hear what they were doing or trying to say or something! I play with the tech, I don't design it. Anyway, it was a really fun piece of technology that we used whenever we could. It was very enjoyable and made for some very clever puzzles. 

pros and cons

pro: a cute and heartwarming game!

con: a puzzle in the midsection of the game involved building a shape out of those magnetic square toys I always played with as a kid. Although fun, it wasn't as strong as all of Ghost Patrol's other puzzles. 

pro: really fun puzzles that felt like games! I especially enjoyed a puzzle that focused on hazard signs. 

con: I don't have any more

pro: 90 minute timer, for more interactions!

pro: a bunch of clever references hidden around every corner! The opening puzzle was one of my favorite puzzles in the history of escape rooms, especially because of the reference. 

pro: scenery that seriously transports you to who knows where!

pro: worth it in every way!

overall

Ghost Patrol is an amazingly made game. Many escape games are pushing the limit on what escape games can be. Ghost Patrol is one of those games. It's beautiful, sweet, and tells a great story. Trivium Games could easily make sequels to this game - it's one of the few games I've seen where the company has created a world, and I would love to see more of that huge world. No matter what, or with who, you need to play Ghost Patrol. Fred is dead, but you have to play this one before you die too. Otherwise, you'll simply be wandering this world of mortals until someone lets you play the game and finally go to the afterlife, free, joining all the other ghosts in peace. Or something. Look, I still don't know how ghosts work. 

rating

10/10