There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is a hotel renovator—erm, scratch that. There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is a narrative-driven mystery—wait, actually, scratch that too. There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is a musical masterpiece… but also kind of a renovation sim… and also a supernatural horror experience. It’s all of the above, somehow, and that’s exactly why it immediately grabbed me.
From the jump, the game makes it clear that it refuses to sit comfortably in a single genre, and that confidence is infectious.
Gameplay and Story
In There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, you play as Chris David, the inheritor of the Grand Hotel. What initially feels like a lucky break quickly starts to feel like a potential curse. Like I joked about in the intro, this game has layers, a lot of them. On the surface, it’s a story-driven hotel renovation game complete with a genuinely excellent soundtrack. That alone would be enough to satisfy some players, but in a market completely flooded with simulators, There Are No Ghosts at the Grand knows it has to do more.
So it does. And then some.
The demo gives you a small but tantalizing taste of what’s to come. It’s short—painfully short—and left me wanting more immediately. You start off with the expected renovation tasks: cleaning rooms, painting walls, and rearranging furniture. It’s familiar, comfortable, and well-designed. But then the game pulls the rug out from under you.
You leave the hotel to explore a nearby abandoned island and quickly find yourself stranded. This is where the supernatural elements really start to seep in. After a musical boat ride—complete with a chill beat that makes it impossible not to bob your head—you’re introduced to the stranger, darker side of the world.
One of the standout moments in the demo is discovering a World War II bunker and uncovering fragmented memories from the past. These sequences have you piecing together scenes by placing objects back in their original positions, slowly reconstructing what once was. It’s weird, it’s atmospheric, and it adds a fascinating emotional layer to the experience. This “memory reconstruction” mechanic feels fresh and helps the game stand apart from both traditional simulators and standard narrative adventures.
Graphics and Audio
Visually, the game looks great. The character models and art style are strong, and when the horror elements kick in, they’re genuinely unsettling without going overboard. That said, the real star of the show is the soundtrack.
I cannot stress this enough: I need this game to release, and I need it to release with a vinyl soundtrack. I found myself stopping just to listen, fully absorbed in the music and performances. Funny enough, it was the song in the original trailer that first caught my attention and made me keep an eye on this game—and after playing the demo, that initial interest has turned into full-blown obsession.
Expectations
While I don’t necessarily want There Are No Ghosts at the Grand to become a full-blown renovation simulator, I do hope the hotel restoration remains a meaningful part of the experience. The foundation is solid, and the design is already compelling, I just hope the developers strike the right balance between renovation mechanics, narrative depth, and supernatural horror as the full game unfolds.
Final Verdict
Even in its short demo form, There Are No Ghosts at the Grand left a lasting impression. It’s stylish, strange, heartfelt, and dripping with personality. If the full game can maintain this balance of music, mystery, and meaningful gameplay, this could be something truly special. I’m officially invested and I need more of this now.
For more unique horror-esque games, check out our review for SLEEP AWAKE.
