An increasingly challenging puzzle game

Give Up the Ghost: a puzzle checklist is a free-to-play puzzle game from indie developer gate. In this retro experience, you play as the titular ghost who must go through a wide range of puzzles–50 of them–as you try to find your way into the next world. There are witty references and increasingly difficult puzzles for you to try and solve.

With the use of retro graphics, simple audio cues, and the addicting challenging tasks, Give Up the Ghost: a puzzle checklist is a great throwback to great low-res puzzlers of the past. See Chip’s Challenge or Sokoban++ for alternatives.

Test your wits and patience

Mentioning the similarities that Give Up the Ghost: a puzzle checklist shares with Sokoban and Chip’s should give old-school puzzle players an idea of how this thing works. You start with short and simple levels where you push crates and objects around in order to remove obstacles and toggle switches. However, as you progress, the puzzles get more complicated, new mechanics are introduced, and the stages just get longer.

Since it is a game under the Sokoban puzzler subgenre, players only move in straight lines horizontally or vertically. Objects can be pushed but not pulled. Additionally, you “die” when you fall off the edge of the stage. Thankfully, there is an undo button you can press to reverse a move. By the late game, be ready for long and exhausting levels–make sure you have the time and the patience.

The difficulty of the later levels cannot be overstated, leading players to report dead ends they thought are bugs. However, the developer offers clues on an online forum, although most comments and answers are manually encoded using a substitution cipher. The game has a small file size and pretty interesting audio-video choices, although other players might feel that these elements are quite dated.

A fun Sokoban for the new generation

It may stick into graphics and audio choicesthat are from a couple of decades ago, still Give Up the Ghost: a puzzle checklist remains challenging and addictive—like most classic puzzle games. By moving stuff around, you get to discover how different approaches yield different results. Additionally, the continuous introduction of new elements keeps it engaging. This is a highly recommended game, try it and start ticking your puzzle checklist.