Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a puzzle-adventure game developed and published by Capcom. It was originally released for the Nintendo DS in 2010.

In Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, you play as Sissel, a recently deceased spirit with amnesia who discovers he has the power to possess inanimate objects and travel back in time to four minutes before a person's death. Your main objective is to prevent these murders and uncover the truth behind your own demise. You move Sissel's ghost around environments and interact with objects like lamps, balls, or even a spinning umbrella. By possessing these items, you can trigger actions – for example, knocking a ball to distract a guard, or making a toaster pop up to startle someone. Each interaction is crucial, as you must chain these object manipulations together in a specific sequence to alter the course of events and save the intended victim. The game presents these scenarios as puzzles, requiring careful observation and timing.

The narrative of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is intricately woven into the gameplay. As you succeed in saving characters, you gain fragments of information about their lives and the larger conspiracy at play. You'll revisit scenes of impending doom, replaying them with your ghostly powers to find the right solution. The puzzles often involve precise timing, like making a falling object hit a switch just as someone walks by, or using a fan to blow an item into a specific location. The core loop involves observing the scene, understanding the sequence of events leading to death, and then using your 'Ghost Trick' abilities to intervene at key moments.

The overarching mystery of Sissel's identity and the circumstances of his death drive the player forward through each chapter. The game is structured around solving these temporal puzzles to unravel the complex story, piece by piece.