History VideoGame / GhostlyMatter

** ''Film/EvilDead'' gets homaged when Penderghast finds a lone shack in the woods and activates a tape which plays some kind of curse: cue boss fight against a possessed man.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Amanda, Penderghast's assistant, has green hair.

* StandardStatusEffects: Only one, poison. There are several enemies that cause it.

** At one point the professor is transported to a DreamWorld that looks very similar to the Red Room from ''Series/TwinPeaks'', complete with red curtains, zigzag patterns and a dwarf.

* PorkyPigPronounciation: The professor can't pronounce Madame Ermolova's name. "Madame Ermalova... Erlomova... Erlamova -- Olga."

'''Ghostly Matter''' is a {{Metroidvania}} distributed by Milestone srl and developed by Small Bros, which, despite the name, is actually an one-man studio: an Italian man who took three years to develop the whole game by himself.

* ShoutOut: Many of these, especially to horror and fantasy stories, and popular culture of TheEighties.

** Two references to ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': the most basic demon mooks are little floating mages based on Orko, and the guardian of the temple in Antarctica is an immortal viking that looks just like He-Man himself.

** At one point the professor is transported to a DreamWorld that looks very similar to the Black Lodge from ''Series/TwinPeaks'', complete with red curtains, zigzag patterns and a dwarf.

** [[spoiler:The demon Vargh]] is clearly based on Darkness from ''Film/{{Legend}}''.

** ''Film/EvilDead'' gets homaged when Penderghast finds a lone cottage in the woods and activates a tape which plays some kind of curse: cue boss fight against a possessed man.

* CombatTentacles: The thing at the bottom of the well attacks with these. We never get to see what it actually looks like, save for an eyestalk.

* KaizoTrap: After the very final puzzle, a little before the FinalBoss. When the professor solves the pipe puzzle in order to lower the level of water in the chambers below Blackwood Manor, the room where the pipes are located suddenly begins to flood. If the professor isn't fast enough he will drown... hope you found the save point in a little room at the beginning of the corridor.

* FlunkyBoss: Several bosses summon other enemies, for example the Gravekeeper makes zombies rise from the ground and the Putrid Demon in the swamp lays eggs that hatch into giant maggots.

In the Seventies, professors Penderghast and Melvil were working on a revolutionary invention named the Polterscope, a visor that lets people see through the veil of the mortal world and thus detect ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. However, Penderghast was worried by the possible implications, while Melvil wanted to finish the developments at all costs, so the two split and Penderghast never saw his colleague again. Fast forward to 1986: Penderghast, now a world-famous parapsychologist, during one of his experiments hears Melvil's voice on a tape and so, piecing together the clues, he discovers that Melvil's disappearance might have something to do with the Blackwood family, who were said to meddle with dark forces, and whose manor in Scotland is said to be haunted...

* EarlyGameHell: Using the Polterscope drains not only its batteries, but also Penderghast's life bar, so in the beginning you will use it sparingly... however, the InvisibleMonsters will make you become paranoid, especially when there are so few save points and the professor suddenly keels over for apparently no reason. Later on, the upgrades to the visor and weapon make it so that the life draining is much more manageable, and the ghost enemies can be hit even without turning the Polterscope on, plus there will be several more save points. Though the game then becomes harder in its puzzles and platforming challenges...

* GiantHandsOfDoom: One late boss is literally a giant green hand with an eye on its palm that summons enemies and shoots beams.

''Ghostly Matter'''s central mechanic is the use of the Polterscope, which, similarly to ''VideoGame/{{Guacamelee}}'', switches the action between the regular world and the world of spirits; unlike that game, this ability is used not only for platforming challenges, but also to uncover hidden messages, clues and paths, necessary in order to progress: the game combines elements of platformer, run-n-gun and graphic adventure. All in all, it has a very {{Retraux}} sensibility, not only because of the retro-pixel graphics, but also for its somewhat unforgiving difficulty and the fact that you have to take notes by yourself if you want to have a chance to survive the vast, challenging environments without getting lost.

* TheGrimReaper: In the form of the ferryman of souls. He can take the professor from the forest to the swamp with his boat, but only after he completes a FetchQuest consisting in bringing him twenty roaming souls.
* HauntedMansion: The Blackwood Manor, the game's main hub, is home to all sorts of apparitions and creatures.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Averted, the flamethrower is at least better than the starting weapon and has a better shooting rate (it shoots fireballs instead of a flame burst), but the professor finds better weapons after a while. The flamethrowers still has its uses though, for example igniting torches and such in order to solve some puzzles.

'''Ghostly Matter''' is a {{Metroidvania}} distributed by Milestone srl and developed by Small Bros, which despite the name is actually an one-man studio, who took three years to develop the whole game by himself.

The game was [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/800240/Ghostly_Matter/ released on Steam]] on July 12th 2018.

* NightOfTheLivingMooks: The game is all about the thin line between the living and the dead, so most enemies are various forms of undead such as skeletons, zombies and ghouls.

* {{Expy}}: With his background in parapsychology, vast knowledge of the occult and weapon resembling a proton pack, Prof. Penderghast is one to the main characters of Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}.
* InvincibleMinorMinions: Ghostly brides can't be defeated, no matter what, just dispersed for a while.

'''Ghostly Matter''' is a {{Metroidvania}} distributed by Milestone and developed by Small Bros, which despite the name is actually an one-man studio, who took three years to develop the whole game by himself.

In the Seventies, professors Penderghast and Melvil were working on a revolutionary invention named the Polterscope, a visor that lets people see through the veil of the mortal world and thus detect ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. However, Penderghast was worried by the possible implications, while Melvil wanted to complete it at all costs, so the two split and Penderghast never saw his colleague again. Fast forward to 1986: Penderghast, now a world-famous parapsychologist, during one of his experiments hears Melvil's voice on a tape and so, piecing together the clues, he discovers that Melvil's disappearance might have something to do with the Blackwood family, who were said to meddle with dark forces, and whose manor in Scotland is said to be haunted...

''Ghostly Matter'''s central mechanic is the use of the Polterscope, which (similarly to ''VideoGame/{{Guacamelee}}'') turns the regular world into the world of spirits; unlike that game, this ability is used not only for platforming challenges, but also to uncover hidden messages, clues and paths, necessary in order to progress: the game combines elements of platformer, run-n-gun and graphic adventure.