"In my dreams, I can get out. In my dreams, I can fit in."
At the terminus of an unused train line, surrounded by endless expanses of snow that no one has ever crossed, lies a ghost town. Home to 1024 individuals, these so-called "ghosts" are only active at night, don't age, and can't truly die. Only one ghost doesn't fit in with the rest. Sayoko, an amnesiac foreigner, dreams of returning to her half-remembered hometown somewhere across the great white fields. Sayoko's not-quite life is suddenly changed by the unexpected and unprecedented arrival of a new ghost. Sayoko and this mysterious newcomer, along with Sayoko's two friends Pacifica and Anya, set out to unravel the secrets at the heart of the town. Secrets that the Church which runs the town, both openly and in the shadows, would rather stay hidden.ghostpia is a Visual Novel developed by the Japanese indie studio Chosuido and published by room6 under their Yokaze indie label. Described as "a movie you can read," ghostpia features no branching narrative or choices, instead telling a single linear story.
Season One, containing 5 "episodes," released in Japan on Nintendo Switch on March 23rd, 2023 with an English translation being released on May 23rd. A PC port was released on August 22nd of the same year with support for simplified and traditional Chinese added on November 16th. Season Two is currently in development.
ghostpia provides examples of:
- Arc Number: 9,999 shows up a lot, typically when something will happen a lot or happened a long time ago.
- Assassin Outclassin': During episode 4 assassins target Sayoko and Yoru every single day and are killed by Sayoko every time allowing her to build up quite a collection of guns and bullets from their failed attempts.
- Corrupt Church: The Church openly runs the town and secretly has its fingers in almost every single business. The Priest is effectively a dictator that nobody has the will or power to oppose.
- Death Is Cheap: If any ghost dies they simply wake up in the local garbage dump a short time later no worse for wear.
- Great Offscreen War: While nothing even aproaching details are ever given, it's hinted that there was some great conflict in the past. The unexploded missile in the middle of town is thought to be a remnant of it.
- Mood Whiplash: Near constantly, with the narrative and tone swinging from incredibly dark, violent and serious to incredibly silly and back, often multiple times within a single scene.
- More Dakka: Pacifica unloads a ludicrous amount of bullets from a minigun in an attempt to slow down Renja in the climax of episode 4
- Shout-Out:
- Aleksey is sometimes shown doing the Gendo Ikari finger tenting pose.
- The Steam achievement for burning Clara's corpse in episode 5 is "BONFIRE LIT".
