Ghost in the Mirror is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Sui Arts. The studio is a one-man show with three other games under its belt: Moth Lake and two Dentures and Demons games. The title is split into episodes which are sold separately, so this review focuses on the first: Here There Be Dragons.
The story follows a thief named Roger. The creator inserts himself into the game as a narrator named Sui and regularly converses with Roger—or, more accurately, argues. The title uses basic adventure mechanics, including picking up items and using them to progress, but with continual commentary about the story, setting, events and player’s choices.
Straightforward Gameplay
The controls are standard for a touchscreen adventure game: slide your finger to the side to make Roger walk and hold it in place to keep moving. When there’s something Roger can interact with, a little hand icon will appear above his head. Tapping on the slightly disturbing image of a hand with an eye in the palm will cause him to examine something or pick it up; or in the case of a person, talk to them. Tapping on the inventory icon will open it, allowing you to select an item. Once you’ve picked an item, you can tap the hand icon to use it on whatever you’re standing next to.
In general, the controls are smooth, and I was able to navigate Roger to where I wanted easily enough. Rodger must stand in very specific places in order to interact with something, which did cause me to miss a few things that I could interact with on the first pass.
Sometimes Ghost in the Mirror mixes up the gameplay with other mechanics, such as navigation puzzles involving taking the right paths in order, some mini games or even a brief shooting section. The minigames often lack clear instructions, but failure just drops you back at the beginning to try again. The most engaging part was the titular mirror. It allows Roger to see and converse with ghosts. I very much want to use this mechanic more, but as this is only the first episode, there’s time for that.
Hit or Miss Humor
I admit I don’t find scatological humor particularly funny. The creator of Ghost in the Mirror seems to have a very different opinion though. This isn’t just a matter of me being stuffy, either, as you solve one puzzle by giving seagulls a laxative—with dramatic results—and a couple of others by making use of the fact that imitating a beast’s roar causes anyone around to vacate their bowels. These aren’t one-off events, either: these jokes are compound or reused several times. If you don’t find these ideas funny, there will be a lot of unfunny moments in the narrative for you.
Other, tired tropes appear, too. For instance, an older, unattractive woman makes a pass at Roger. Predictably, he reacts by panicking and beating a hasty retreat. The narrator even leads up to the joke by telling Rodger—who hits on every woman you speak to—that he was setting up a flirting scene for him. Extending the leadup didn’t improve the punchline.
It’s a shame, though, because when the writer leans into his creativity, it’s funny and engaging. Asides like Roger saying he’d see if a barrel fits in the inventory—spoiler alert: it does—and beating cheaters at a dice game by carving seven pips onto the faces of his dice give the game depth.
Easy to Access Hints
Ghost in the Mirror has a built-in “hints” option in the inventory. Clicking on it brings up a list of three questions relevant to the current puzzles. Just checking these questions would often already point me in the right direction. For further guidance, you can select a question and Sui will answer it. Most of the hints hit a good middle-ground where it wasn’t blindingly obvious, nor did it outright give away the solution. But if these aren’t enough, there’s an icon that’ll take you to the walkthrough on YouTube.
These additions make it very difficult to get stuck. Though their accessibility did make me reach for the guide quicker than I might have otherwise. Does that count as a flaw in the game design or is it just a personal failing? Either way, the developer took pains to make sure that nobody would get stuck playing the game.
An Over-the-Top Journey
For a one-person studio, the environments are remarkably fleshed out. Though Roger only spends time in and around a town and on a sailing ship, both have large areas that you can traverse freely. Each area possesses a distinct background—despite Roger making a dig at Sui recycling background elements—which made navigation easy. The town even features a fast-travel addition.
The constant breaking of the fourth wall and the narrator bickering with Roger becomes tiresome after a while. The creator was aware of this too, as the narrator remarks to Roger that he should stop breaking the fourth wall or it could annoy the player. Then they proceed to keep shattering it. By the time they toned it down, I was already annoyed with it. And I really don’t know how to feel about being called an idiot by a video game character. Apparently I used the wrong items nineteen different times when attempting the first series of puzzles, rendering Roger unimpressed.
But there are genuinely funny moments and some parts that made me see glimmers of what the game could be, such as a side event where Roger encounters the ghost of a whale. The moment bordered on majestic and made me want to see more like that. Yet it seems that the writer was unable to embrace the fact that he’s no longer in middle school.
