There Are No Ghosts at the Grand's indie developer "always tried to follow where the fun was," and a delightfully weird Steam demo proves it's on the right track

Play the Steam demo for There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, and you'll fall in love. I certainly did. A great sense of humor, big dollops of originality, awesome music, a (talking) cat that you can pet, demonic furniture that tries to kill you… what more could you possibly ask for?

You play as Chris David, an American who inherits a hotel in far-from-great condition in an English village. Although people want to convince you that there truly are no ghosts at the Grand, there's reason to believe that you're being served pork pies here; and I'm talking about cockney rhyming slang rather than the savory English treat.

Grand designs

Englishness sits at the core of the experience, and strongly flavors the sense of place that Friday Sundae wants to convey. "The village itself was built from distant childhood memories," says creative director Anil Glendinning . "It’s a pastiche of the seaside towns we visited as kids. Places that felt both magical and a little bit eerie. We collected those memories and layered them together into a version of England that’s half real and half dream". Classic British TV was also a big influence, with Doctor Who, Quartermass, The Prisoner, and beloved era-jumping sitcom Blackadder all namechecked by Glendinning.

The slightly surreal atmosphere means that characters occasionally bursting into song in the middle of a conversation slots into the experience smoothly. You'll join in yourself, the song and lyrics evolving depending on the responses that you choose. Little surprise, perhaps, that the musical influences mentioned to us can be found in the British charts of yesteryear; The Specials, The Selecter, Madness.

There Are No Ghosts at the Grand was not conceived as a musical, but Glendinning explains that "as we worked on it, we couldn’t get away from the vibes of the music we were listening to at the time [...] That said, this isn’t a full traditional musical. It’s not wall-to-wall singing. Think of it more like a reggae and ska-inspired soundtrack that sometimes becomes part of the scene, and sung by characters during key narrative moments. And if musicals aren’t your thing? That’s fine, they’re totally skippable too."

The songs were all written by Friday Sundae, and performed by their band that they call The Concierge. Each character sings in a genre and style that matches their personality, which means that there's been some ebb and flow between writing the songs and writing the script. "That’s led to some very unexpected twists and turns in the story that even we didn’t see coming," says Glendinning.

If the songs aren't your thing (though what we've heard so far is fantastic), there's plenty for you to be getting on with elsewhere. The simple act of getting from place to place will sometimes involve vehicles, as you'll be exploring the village at large, not just the hotel. There's even a small island to absolutely not encounter ghosts on.

Mostly though, you'll be making use of a selection of fantastical power tools that can hoover up giant pieces of debris, paint outdated patterns on walls, move and spit out pieces of furniture, and also double as ghostbusting devices. Not that you'll need those last functions, of course.

Hotels under the hammer

A small electronic helper reminiscent of Microsoft's Clippy (shudder) will help out with tutorials, and general advice. "There’s definitely a bit of Clippy in Robert C. MacBrushy," admits Glendinning, "but like everything in There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, there’s more going on beneath the surface. MacBrushy’s there to guide you, explain things, and occasionally insult you in a charming Scottish accent. But he also has a story of his own. He knows more about the Grand than Chris does, maybe even more than the players do. He’s not just a tutorial in disguise. He’s a character with emotions, memory, and possibly… a secret agenda."

You'll be grateful for Mr MacBrushy's help, as the tools he's attached to are almost exclusively how you interact with the world.

"Designing them hasn’t been easy," says Glendinning. "It’s been a constant balancing act. We’ve had to think about utility, variety, and pacing across the roughly 8 to 10 hours of gameplay. We’ve iterated a lot, experimented with different ideas, and always tried to follow where the fun was. Each tool has multiple modes and gradually unlocks new abilities as the game progresses. Some upgrades give you more creative control over decoration, others expand your ghost-fighting options, and some even let you access new areas of the world, like hidden doors, blocked passages, and secret routes."

Conversations around videogames have become overly saturated with the word "cozy" over the last year or two. Nonetheless, this is an example of where it is – to a degree – actually appropriate. The sleepy English village vibes are undeniable, and there's no pressure while redecorating a room. As with its televisual influences however, there is a sinister undercurrent to TANGATG. The coziness is there, but it's just one flavor.

"The tone of the game is mysterious, spooky, humorous, and sometimes surprisingly touching," says Glendinning. "We didn’t set out to strike a perfect balance between horror and comedy. [...] There are definitely moments when exploring the Grand, or the village at night, can feel eerie and unsettling. It’s rich in atmosphere. But we’ve kept the horror elements light. There are very few jump scares, and nothing unpleasant. It’s more about tone than terror."

You might say, listening to the ska-inspired soundtrack, it's more about two-tone. Dad jokes aside, I urge you to play the fascinating, hilarious, and occasionally fourth-wall-breaking Steam demo I mentioned earlier. The only downside to doing so is that you will then be as impatient as I am for the release of the full game.