The Newest Ghostbusters Video Game Lets You Bust or Be Busted

There’s something strange in the neighbourhood… and it could be you. Well, if you happen to be facing off against four would-be phantom exterminators in the upcoming Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed multiplayer game from Illfonic. The 4v1, asymmetric co-op game pits teams of four Ghostbusters, armed with proton packs, particle throwers, EKG meters, and ghost traps, against a player-controlled ghost whose goal is to scare people, slime foes, and just generally create as much supernatural havoc as possible.

Here’s the official description of the gameplay: “As a Ghostbuster, join with other Ghostbusters to chase and trap ghosts in museums, prisons, hotels, and more, and capture the ghosts before they can fully haunt the areas. Or, as the Ghost, hide, sneak, surprise, scare, and of course, slime Ghostbusters and civilians until everything has gone completely spooky. Use trickery, deception, and Ectoplasm to gain the upper hand and drive the Ghostbusters out.”

If you’ve seen last year’s movie Afterlife, you’ve likely noticed that the game takes place in the official Ghostbusters canon, which means Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Husson) has reopened the firehouse and hired new ‘busters to take care of New York City’s unwanted hauntings, while Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) runs Ray’s Occult Books, now positioned conveniently across the street from GB HQ. (I wouldn’t hold your breath for Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman to show up somewhere, but who knows with these things.)

You can see multiple battle maps in the trailer, including a museum and a hotel, and according to Polygon both the Ghostbusters and the ghosts will be customisable, as one might expect. If you can’t manage to get four friends online at the same time, the other characters will be run by AI, natch. It looks reasonably fun, and surely more than a few people have been waiting for a game where they could make a mess as Slimer. The all-ages Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed will come to PCs, PlayStations 4 and 5, and Xbox Ones and Series X and S, with a nebulous release date sometime before the end of the year.