Loneliness and explosions in a city of ghosts: let's talk about Ghostpia

Right off the bat, Ghostpia's presentation is amazing. The beautiful, crayon-like art, the CRT effects(that can be turned off in the menu, if they're too eyestrain-y for you) and the lovely soundtrack make for a stunning combination.

From my friends' posts about it, I figured it was some comedy detective story with some yuri themes, so seeing all the guns and explosions and robots was very surprising...

The story—going back and forth from slice-of-life adventures to straight-up insane action flicks—follows Sayoko, an outsider in a secluded snowy town inhabited by ghosts that only wake up at night and dissolve in daylight. In the middle of the town stands a missile with the names of all the residents—including outsider Sayoko—written on it.

Both the town itself and the people in it are full of mysteries, but everyone still goes on about their life—if you can call it that—and we get to follow along with her messy efforts to put herself out there and connect with the people around her, both her old friends and the newcomer who brings them together. It feels very real, in a sense. Even when you're trying your best, attempts at connection can still fail, and you can still try again. And some other times you may get in a shootout with the priest of the local missile-based catholic offshoot religion, or explode an annoying nun-in-training 'cuz she's a narc(don't worry, she'll revive soon), or maybe a weird scientist girl gets obsessed with you and tries to control you with nanobots, chasing you and your friends in her spider mech when you try to leave—all facets of someone's life, somewhere.

This is just part one, so a lot of mysteries are still lurking beneath the surface—I can't wait to find out how the story continues from here on!