The newly announced Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed sees Winston Zeddemore and Ray Stantz return to mentor a new generation of Ghostbusting talent, but it’s unclear as to when the game takes place in the movie timeline. From what was revealed in the trailer, Spirits Unleashed it seems most likely that the game is set after Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Not only are Winston and Ray taking on mentorship roles in the game, but Spirits Unleashed seemingly tackles an uptick of ghost infestations across New York that seems to coincide with the end of Afterlife.
[Warning: some spoilers for Ghostbusters: Afterlife follow.]
Similar to other games developed by Illfonic, Ghostbusters: Sprits Unleashed is an asymmetrical multiplayer game that pits a team of four Ghostbusters against a ghost causing chaos and destruction. The spirit can take multiple forms in the new Ghostbusters game, including a playable Slimer with the ultimate goal to haunt a location past the point of being habitable using various paranormal abilities. In opposition, the team of Ghostbusters with an arsenal of gear from the iconic proton pack to the indispensable ghost trap and PKE meter are sent in to capture it.
While the Ghostbusters canon is a little vaguer than other franchises, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed looks as though it’ll fit neatly with the movie canon. While the game’s setting has not been stated, Ernie Hudson and Dan Aykroyd’s look in the trailer echoes their appearances in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which provides a solid indication that Spirits Unleashed will be set close to that film. Moreover, the ghost segment in the trailer gives a glimpse into what looks like Ghostworld, a playable level that was first introduced in Ghostbusters: The Video Game – a 2009 title that was basically Ghostbusters 3 – connecting the two games to some extent.
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed May Take Place After Afterlife
The Ghostbusters: Afterlife post-credits scene seemingly sets up Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed. Not only does Winston Zeddemore allude to the return of Ghostbusting and mentoring in some capacity, but during the post-credit scene, he also reopens the Ghostbusters’ Firehouse and brings back the Ecto-1. The cause of the ghost reemergence in Spirits Unleashed could also be explained by the other part of the post-credit scene with the Ghostbusters’ containment unit light blinking red with the protection grid possibly failing, causing the ghost infestation in New York.
Considering that the Firehouse and the Ecto-1 are fully restored in the trailer, a couple of months or even years may have passed between Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed. Even Ray’s Occult Books, the bookstore managed by one of the original Ghostbusters, Ray Stantz, appears in Spirits Unleashed, relocating from a busy street in New York to right next to the Firehouse. While this could be for the convenience of the game, it fits considering Winston’s business success in Afterlife. It’s also more convenient for Ghostbuster recruits to train with Winston on the tools of the trade and visit Ray to learn the lore of ghosts and their origins.
The Ghostbusters canon is flexible enough to incorporate other mediums into the movie timeline, and Spirits Unleashed looks to be the next addition. Ghostbusters: Afterlife pays homage to the movies prior and reboots the films with a new generation of Ghostbusters. The 2009 Ghostbusters game works as a third movie and aligns with Spirits Unleashed, with both expanding the lore of the franchise. Nothing else has been revealed about Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed apart from what was seen in the trailer, but it looks as if it will add to the lore and story of the franchise while remaining true to the movie timeline.
