List of ghost video games

This is an incomplete list of video games which strongly feature ghosts. This includes games where the player character is a ghost, or where a ghost is The Primary antagonist, as well as games which feature ghosts as the primary enemy variant. Games which feature poltergeists and any other form of spirit to the same degree are also included.

Name

Year

Platform

Description

Amber: Journeys Beyond

1996

Mac OS, Windows

Adventure game. Players encounter ghosts and poltergeists whilst responding to a friend's request.

Avenging Spirit

1991

Arcade, Game Boy

Platform game, a man is murdered by a gang and his girlfriend is kidnapped. Gameplay involves controlling the man's spirit and possessing different characters in order to use their equipment or abilities.

Bubble Ghost

1987

Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Game Boy

Players guide a ghost around a castle, who uses its breath to guide bubbles past obstacles in order to activate different objects and ultimately escape.

Calling

2010

Wii

Survival horror game, players visit a website where the hit counter displays the number of people killed after visiting the website. After being trapped in limbo the player must discover who or what is behind the website.

Casper series

1996-present

Various

Video games starring Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Clive Barker's Jericho

2007

PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360

Clive Barker's Undying

2001

Mac OS X, Windows

The player character, Patrick Galloway, FACES off the Covenant family's four deceased children, which have returned to life: Ambrose, Lizbeth, and twins Aaron and Bethany. While the most of them takes physical forms resembling their former selves, Aaron Covenant appears as ghostly spirit without skin, constantly stalking Patrick throughout his journey through the Covenant island plagued by outworldy monsters. Patrick has to solve the mystery of Aaron's death and find his corpse in order to put him to rest.

Clock Tower 3

2003

PlayStation 2

Cursed Mountain

2009

Wii

Set during an ascent of the Chomo Lonzo mountain in Tibet, players control an experienced climber who is trying to find his brother. The game is centred on Buddhist mythology. Ghosts must first be weakened by combat before being dispatched through prayer.

Echo Night: Beyond

2004

PlayStation 2

Fatal Frame series

2001–present

PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox

F.E.A.R.

2005

PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360

First-person shooter that contains ghost-like creatures called nightmares. These appear in its freeware multiplayer component F.E.A.R. Combat, its expansions F.E.A.R. Extraction Point and F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate, and appear in its sequel, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.

Geist

2005

GameCube

A game where players control ghost-like character and would possess people and objects to use as their own, in order to complete the game.

Ghost Master

2003

Mac OS, PlayStation 2, Windows

A strategy game where the player takes control of spirits to increase a mortal's belief in the supernatural, avenge deaths, and conscript renegade ghosts.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Unreleased

Nintendo DS

Adventure game, a murdered man's ghost materializes on the night following his [...], unaware of his identity or who was responsible for his death. He must rediscover his identity and what befell him before morning breaks.

Ghostbusters series

1984-present

Various

Video games based on the film Ghostbusters, its sequel or the cartoon spin-offs The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters.

Ghosthunter

2004

PlayStation 2

Ghostwire: Link to the Paranormal

Unreleased

Nintendo DSi

Using the console's inbuilt camera, the game projects ghosts onto the player's real-world surroundings shown on the console's screen. Ghosts appear and can be captured or have their requests fulfilled by the player.

Haunting

1993

Mega Drive, PlayStation Portable

A game where players control a poltergeist haunting an Italian-American family by possessing the environment and different items in their house.

Ju-on: The Grudge

2009

Wii

Kuon

2004

PlayStation 2

Laser Ghost

1989

Arcade, Master System

Light gun game in which players take on the role of ghost hunters.

Luigi's Mansion

2001

GameCube

3D game starring Luigi, who receives a letter claiming that he has won a mansion as a prize. Luigi discovers that his brother Mario has disappeared inside. The mansion is full of ghosts who must be caught using a modified vacuum cleaner.

Pac-Man series

1980-present

Various

Ghosts have remained Pac-Man's enemies throughout the series, they also feature in a number of Pac-Man clones.

Painkiller series

2004–present

Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360

A game where the protagonist must destroy 5 Demons over the world using a variety of weapons and tools.

Scapeghost

1989

Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum

Text adventure and the final game from developer Level 9. A policeman murdered in a [...] deal returns as a ghost and must piece together what happened in order to clear his name.

Silent Hill 4: The Room

2004

PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox

Part of a survival horror series. The player-character is trapped in a nightmarish and possessed room but finds another world through a hole in the apartment. Proximity to ghosts saps life energy from the player.

See also

  • List of vampire video games
  • List of zombie video games
  • List of dragon video games