Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a new 4v1 game from Friday the 13th devs

Ghostbusters: A brand new game by the creator of Friday 13th: The Game Hunting Grounds – PredatorThis year, it will be available on consoles as well as PC. On Tuesday, developer Illfonic announced Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, an all-ages take on its brand of four-versus-one asymmetric multiplayer games, where you play as your own original Ghostbusters team — or take on the role of a ghost hellbent on wreaking haunted havoc.

Ghostbusters will be using Proton Packs (Particle Throwers), Ghost Traps, Ghost Traps and a PKE Meter first-person to attack and track ghosts. You can also be one of many playable ghosts. Players will terrorize citizens at various locations and possess items in the surrounding environment. They can also teleport through rifts to other maps. Ghosts aren’t defenseless, either; they can slime and stun the enemy Ghostbusters team as they try to haunt each map to completion. (There’s no death in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, just ’busters going into a downed state.)

Your Ghostbusters team will set up shop in the original film’s firehouse, complete with the Ecto-1 in the group’s garage. Winston Zeddemore, voiced by Ernie Hudson, will offer guidance there, while Ray Stantz, voiced by Dan Aykroyd, will give insight into the spectral world from Ray’s Occult Books — conveniently located just across the street from the firehouse, for the purposes of the game.

Image: Illfonic/Sony Pictures Consumer Products

The firehouse will allow players to customize Ghostbusters (with the assistance of Tobin’s Spirit GuideYou can customize the ghosts of Ghostbusters and how they load out. The Ghostbusters classic gear can be found here. Spirits UnleashedTo further personalize your team, you will be able to unlock additional weapons and equipment.

Polygon spoke with Charles Brungardt, co-founder of Illfonic, and Jarred Gerritzen chief creative officer. They revealed that they wanted to create a Ghostbusters-friendly game, that is not too violent, that was accessible to all age groups. Ghostbusters: Spirits UnleashedCross-platform play on PC and consoles will be possible. AI-controlled companions can fill in for (or backfill out) teammates to speed up the process of getting into games. According to the creators, matches shouldn’t last longer than 10 mins.

Illfonic presented Polygon with a extended preview of the gameplay. Ghostbusters: Spirits UnleashedThis video shows a group of Ghostbusters who responded to the New York City Museum’s ghost infestation last week. The team battled the purple minion-summoning slime. They stunned it with a PKE Meter and then trapped it using their chaotic particle throwing devices. A teammate handled the trap and threw it, opening it just at the right moment.

Later, Illfonic showed a battle from the ghost’s perspective — which is played in third-person — where the specter created mischief by startling museum-goers and inhabiting a variety of objectives (a wheeled mop bucket, “Wet Floor” signs, etc.This made the game more like a prop hunting-style game. Ghost Vision is an ability which allows the ghost to see NPCs and human players through walls.

Image: Illfonic/Sony Pictures Consumer Products

Trailer for the debut of Ghostbusters: Spirits UnleashedSlimer is one of the four possible ghosts that will be available in the game. Illfonic also promises multiple maps and hinted at unlockable ghostbusting tools that fans haven’t seen before.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is set in the films’ canon, after the events of 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Spirits Unleashed will even borrow that film’s “it’s OK, good even, to cross the streams” to let players unleash a powered-up team particle beam. The Ecto-1 will be not available for players to test drive during ghostbusting.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed Launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows PC via the Epic Games Store, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.