There Are No Ghosts at the Grand now has a demo on Steam

There is a lot to say about Microsoft and Xbox in general right now, but I won’t lie about always looking forward to the faux-E3 showcase. Yes, it usually has boring, awful crap for exceptionally boring people, but this year did see the showcase of Friday Sundae’s There Are No Ghosts at the Grand. A weird little anarchic English village sort of thing with a horror bend to it. Think Agatha Raisin if it was written by someone on LSD and has a thing for both light horror and dad sims like PowerWash Simulator.

Basically, the small town is full of loud and vibrant characters, you’ve inherited a hotel that you need to renovate, and by the way, there is a mysterious thing that happens at night that makes the town unpleasant for tourists. Between the tap-dancing policeman, the talking Australian cat, and your Scottish power tools, mixed with jazz and ska music, I think Friday Sundae made a game just for me. Well, now we can all have a taste of The Grand with a new demo.

“Indie developer, Friday Sundae[,] announced it has released the demo of There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, now live on Steam. This marks the debut of this hotly anticipated horror, musical, mystery game, following its breakout appearance at the Xbox Showcase in June,” notes the press release. “The demo gives players a hands-on preview of this unique genre, mash-up, blending renovation sim, comedy, horror, mysteries[,] and music!“

It continues, “In There are No Ghosts at the Grand, players will inherit a crumbling English hotel and restore it by day, while battling ghosts by night. With a sardonic cat, a talking power tool, and a twisting supernatural plot, in a unique musical mystery narrative adventure. From spooky ska to wartime jazz to skater punk, each mysterious character you meet has their own story and song, waiting to be uncovered.

But when night falls, your talking power tools transform into weapons against the supernatural. Unleash the vacuum on vengeful spirits, expose invisible assailants with the paint sprayer, or subdue slithering spooks with a well-aimed bookcase to the face using the furniture cannon. As players explore, renovate, and restore, they’ll uncover Lovecraftian mysteries, and with each passing day, a creeping horror tightens its grip.”

Though we know that There are No Ghosts at the Grand will release next year, there is no word on when in the year we’ll get the full release just yet. Best believe I’ll be right there as soon as I know a release date, probably bugging my editor to put in a request for a review copy. There are No Ghosts at the Grand is, however, set to release in full on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass day one, and of course on PC, with further platforms (PlayStation 5 and Switch 2?) yet to be announced at a later date.