Ghost Castle

In what is possible the lamest of all the haunted house board games we've covered here lately, Ghost Castle (yeah, even the name doesn't really do much for it), is about as bland as they come when compared to the others we've looked at. Okay sure, we've only looked at two others and okay sure one of those was based on pre-existing IP (The Haunted Mansion) but still!Ghost Castle is still the most childish and least visually entertaining of them all. That isn't to say it doesn't have its good points, though, because despite its massive shortcomings design wise it still has some pros to it.

Let's discuss the artwork. While it's nowhere near as visually neat as Haunted House - because it lacks an actual model - and The Haunted Mansion - because, well, it's not the Haunted Mansion, it still merits some points for the artwork within it. Even though the "castle" in this sense of the word is nothing more than painted board pieces, those painted board pieces are pretty good for what they are. You've got these beautiful (I'm assuming) painted slash pieces as background and it really does work even if it's nowhere near as immersive as an actual 3d model home like Haunted House had. The bats on the one section are wonderfully rendered and and the other side, with the claw shadow on the wall behind the staircase is really wonderfully atmospheric. Also that staircase is a fantastic set piece in and of itself, let's not ignore that either! At least they did include some sort of 3d model work here.

And let's be really truthful here, it isn't a plain board. It does have 3d elements, specifically the fact of the board itself popping off the flat surface to give it a somewhat new dimension. So sure, it isn't a model or a set exactly, but it also isn't just a boring ol' flat board you're traversing. It kind of perfectly combines aspects of both types of game into one game, but, and maybe this is just to me, it doesn't really do either of them well enough to make it stand out. Okay sure, Haunted Mansion is an outlier, it shouldn't be counted, but even when compared to other generic "haunted house" board games, it still lacks. Also the player pieces and spinner board are so...just very....meh. They lack any real personality at all.Once again, this blogs arch nemesis, Marvin Glass, was a designer on the game, and once again I want to scream to the heavens for all the crimes he committed.

But the games real flaws shine through in its gameplay.

Not because its gameplay is bad or anything, in fact it's merely more of the same "move until you win" that we're all familiar with and that's fine, but the fact that it kind of outright steals ideas from other stuff. The game, which was also released under the title "Which Witch?" because you're attempting to outrun some witches. In fact, there's cards that, if pulled, turn you into a mouse, which is a pretty neat idea, but that doesn't excuse the fact that two of the witches were "Wanda The Wicked" and "Glenda The Good". Glenda? Really? You're just gonna blatantly steal from OZ and make it just different enough with the other witches that it seems like you aren't? Holy hell, Glass, will you stop at nothing? Well at least newer versions really upped the ante with the visuals. Just look at the photo I included to the side here, and tell me that isn't a thousand times better. It's got overall more personality, more atmosphere, and is just overall much better than what we were given originally. Generally I prefer the original versions of things, but I think Ghost Castle is one of the few that likely has only benefited by updates to it over time. Let's be real, the art in the original was alright and all, and the font on the box is great, but overall it doesn't have a whole lot going for it. But these new ones? Oh man, just look at some of the stuff included here. A rickety balcony? Cobwebs and vines and a boars head and a horrifying portrait on the wall? Excellent stuff.

And it only continues throughout the rest of the board, I'm pleased to mention. This library set piece is phenomenal, honestly. I don't know if the character pieces are fan made or not, but even if they are, those are excellent too. At least we have a real person attached to this thing than "generic kid #3" now. And while they kept the footsteps visual, they made them much more ethereal and nowhere as goofy. Also that ghost looking up from the broken floorboard is an awesome touch, and that's not to mention all the spooky glowing eyes glancing out menacingly from the darkness of the bookshelves. Plus there's walls now, or at least the concept of walls, which gives it all the more a 3d stylization than the original ever attempted to. There's just so much to look at here, and it's fantastic!

So yeah, I think Ghost Castle started as a poor mans Haunted House, but really only got cooler over time and really grew into its own thing, and I really love the new versions of it. I'm interested to see what Ghost Castle looks like twenty years from now, honestly, if they continue to update it for more modern trends to keep up with what's popular in horror. The possibilities are endless. Sure, it still doesn't have full on 3d set exactly, with a real house, but it's really starting to break through and become something worth following.

Honestly, much shit as I might talk about this board game, I'm really happy that we seemed to have a boom of spooky themed board games, because it's such a concept ripe for the taking. It's why there's so many iterations of the haunted house in film itself, because it can be lent to so many stories and everyone does something inherently different with it, and that's wonderful, the amount of creativity that can accomplished with a singular concept. I hope that we continue to either find more horror themed board games to cover, or perhaps see a revitalization of the idea overall, because lord knows it's 100% worth it. Let's all get writing to these board game overlords and tell them to get on it pronto! We demand spooky boards!