Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a game were you play a character who dies and loses all their memories. The object of the game is to discover who you are by possessing certain objects (this is your ghost trick) and saving others lives (but turning back time) that might hint on who you are.
What I find interesting is that not only is the artwork and animation amazing but the concept of the game is quite original in my perspective.
As seen above, the character designs take on a Japanese style: where the characters have big eyes with a combination of a Western style: where simple shapes are applied (i.e: the hair and the nose).
Many people in society make mistakes, some mistakes may even cause a life to be lost. Typically people wonder what happens to them after death, due to stories and the media the common ideas that are heard are rebirth, heaven, hell or a ghost. Shu Takumi, the Creator of this game takes on the concept of becoming a ghost after death and expands on the idea by adding a concept of correcting the mistakes that had cause others death.
What I find ironic about this idea is that you turn back time to relive the past and fix mistakes to save a life. Typically in a video game when your character dies the story you restart at the last point you saved at, but, in this case the game forces people to die so that you can go back 4 minutes before the death to try to save the person which is almost the same idea.
I've been meaning to play this game myself. The art and gameplay mechanics are very intriguing. You clearly describe the work, why you like it and bring it into a deeper discussion by making some very interesting points about the nature of death in video games, and how Ghost Trick subverts them. An excellent post.
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