Ghostrunner: Project Hel

released on Mar 03, 2022

DLC for Ghostrunner

Take control of Hel, one of the original games’ bosses, as she descends Dharma Tower on a bloody quest of her own. Designed to appeal to new players and veterans, she’s more combat-oriented and can survive an additional attack compared to the Ghostrunner. Run on walls, soar through neon cityscapes, and slice through six levels while mastering Hel’s powers through her own ability progression system. Battle new enemies and bosses to the beat of six fresh tracks courtesy of electronic musician Daniel Deluxe.


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A good DLC. Not too lang, not too short. Story was kinda eh towards the end but come on, who plays Ghostrunner for the plot.

The movement was even better in this one, better than in the main game plus the new abilities (especially the jumping mechanic) were so much fun.

Excited to play Ghostrunner 2!

i absolutely LOVE this DLC's movement. probably the best movement in gaming, atleast imo. the speed i was going at to slash through enemies was a very fun experience and there are some new mechanics to make movement feel faster, it was tons of fun overall. very good DLC and is worth the money.

esses caras só lançam pedrada

Ok I REALLY enjoyed the gameplay a lot more in this compared to the base game. The new dash is cool and FINALLY AN ACTUAL PROJECTILE THAT ISN'T A SPECIAL MOVE. Bosses were still just ok but the ending of the final boss was fun.
What was the point of the ending though...

Massive Improvement over the original game by a wide margin. The gameplay is a lil different than i would've expected from a Ghostrunner dlc and for good reason. Instead of playing as Jack in the main game, You play as Hel, an experimental modification of the Ghostrunners semi-replacing freeflowing agility with sheer ruthlessness and super jumps.

Now if she sounds familiar, that's because she was a boss fight in the main game and you had to fight her, and parry her attacks, jumping from one platform to the next, and often shoot her "surges", as its called in this dlc, at you.

They did a really good job at, not only replicating her style into gameplay but also made it intertwine with the main games gameplay mechanics without it feeling forced or jarring. Even adding a new mechanic called "Rage" which you can fill up by killing enemies, or stand in individual powerups for a refill. And this allows you to shoot "surges" at enemies similar to Jack's. Only this time, its really necessary given its your only tool and you don't have the other abilities he had. Despite that, it worked in the dlc's favor because of the satisfying combat actually getting an additional incentive to play aggressively. In fact, I wind up playing far more aggressive overtime in this than i did in the main game because of it. If the main game is more focused on freeflow movement and strategy, then this DLC is like Katana Zero but in first person. Focusing on SLAUGHTERING those in your way.

Even the upgrades focus on aggressiveness. While it shares traits like multiple dashes, outline enemies, deflect bullets, etc. It also has its own unique upgrades like giving you a temporary shield when your rage meter fills up that can block plenty of attacks, giving you a split-second chance. or being able to change your surge into an X, just like the hel fight in the main game. Even the tetris upgrade minigame has more of an incentive giving you additional Rage abilities like Very short invincibility after shield is down and X-ray being able to see enemies through walls or Overdrive which you kill enemies by air dashing into em. Even without these upgrades, you still feel like an unstoppable force to be reckon with.

Which does suit well with the story, which i definitely prefer in terms of execution than the main game despite it being a direct prequel. While Hel is obviously a puppet just like Jack, the story of her going from Maras puppet to capture the commander after refusing her orders to straight up becoming more and more ruthless and losing it overtime makes it more memorable. No biological brain and even starting to gain willpower and becomes rebellious against Mara. The whole tone of the DLC is a lot more mean spirited with dark humor throughout which suits it nicely of the premise of playing as an unhinged killing machine. Between Hel's banter with mara being straight up being a smartass with her in a matter-of-fact way, to even a cutscene confrontation where she confronts 3 climbers, only to kill one and the other panicks and shoots himself realizing its futile to go against her, and the last one getting choked while interrogated only to get his neck snapped. Even the rebel plotline is a lot more fleshed out with the spearheader "Connor" being flippant towards his pal Diego's concerns about Us going after them, and even Zoe argues with him basically going from giving a huge speech to the masses over the comms only for him to not really risk his ass on the frontlines AND having to leave Jack behind. Its brief but its WAY more effective than the main story which treats it as an afterthought.

In terms of enemy variety? There's only 2 main bosses in the expansion and 1 new enemy type. The new enemy is a rocket propelled soldier shooting sticky bombs while flying in the air, forcing you to traverse and not stay in one singular spot. they can easily be taken down like the drones in the main game. Just jump on em and its an instant kill. and the 2 bosses, one being the aforementioned commander which acts as both a hybrid of the new enemy type and a callback (or call forward, I guess?) to the constant parrying Hel's fight. and the other, without spoiling much, is a mech whose lasers and orbs you have to dodge whilst simultaneously avoiding the shocking platforms. Yes you've read that correctly. There's a shit ton of em and while i've gotten used to their patterns, it does feel cheap as hell sometimes during combat or certain sections of platforming.

I'd still take the final boss any day of the week over that frustrating final parkour section of the main game. And if that's all i had to complain about, then the DLC over exceeds at doing what it needed to do and even overshadows the main game in terms of gameplay, story and even Music which is a tall task given the main game already has a great OST. Its short but sweet, and its a great stepping stone for what to do with Ghostrunner going forward.