From its first few seconds, There Are No Ghosts at the Grand immediately hooked me in with its Caribbean-inspired music and Powerwash Simulator levels of satisfying gameplay as I got a quick run-through of its hotel renovation gameplay. I was sold when I met my first character, and the game revealed its part mystery game, part musical.
Cleaning, Renovating, and Restoring the Grand Hotel
There Are No Ghosts at the Grand has you inheriting an old, dilapidated hotel where you have a month to restore it before something awful happens. But forget all that “awful” stuff—let’s focus on the fun first! My demo quickly introduced me to a device with a talking AI that helps with renovating using a variety of modes: you can paint walls/floors, vacuum up or spit back out objects, blast debris apart, and even place/move furniture around. You’ll use this gun to help fix up the hotel, one room at a time, but it also serves a different function I’ll get into later.
After that quick introduction, I was introduced to a character who wanted to take me to a mysterious island off the coast, so we hopped on a scooter and made our way to the docks. Upon reaching the boat and beginning to sail, the two characters burst into song. Key expositional moments in the game are performed in song, and I was told each character has their own unique singing style—from reggae to ska or even punk. I’m a sucker for musicals, and these moments had me tapping my foot and grinning ear to ear.
We eventually crashed onto the island, where I had to use my gun to fix up the boat, but I was left stranded when the current took it away while I was still on the island. Not to be dour, I quickly made shelter in an old abandoned war bunker where I discovered you can view memories from the past. To fully visualize them, however, you need to use your gun to recreate the scenes as they were before. At one point, the soldiers in the memory were talking about the sizable book collection in the library, and when I noticed the shelf was empty, it was immediately clear I needed to find some books, suck them up with my vacuum, and shoot them back onto the shelf to complete the memory. It’s a novel way to add further function to your gun besides using it to clean up dusty hotels, and it even serves as a combat tool, as the bunker was soon overwhelmed by skittering creatures, and I needed to use the “blast debris” function to fight back.
While my demo was carefully guided and linear, I was told in the full game, you’re free to explore the entire town to your liking, as you can find homes to renovate there as well as your hotel. Need a break from the mystery? Take a breather and go add a fresh coat of paint to that hotel, or maybe find some townspeople who may need some help, and you’ll be able to return to the main story when you’re ready. Just be sure to return home once night sets in—creeping horrors tend to come out at night.
There Are No Ghosts at the Grand Promises a Blend of Charm and Mystery
Everything about There Are No Ghosts at the Grand’s presentation impressed me, and it’s only going to make its late 2026 release date all the more brutal.
