Ghost at Dawn is a noir survival horror game about empathy, permadeath, and knowing when to quit

Ghost at Dawn, developed by Blue and Red Games, launches on Xbox Play Anywhere on June 24. Creator Brandon Roberts describes it as a survival horror game with a genuine emotional core — not just gore and jump scares, but a story built around empathy and racial injustice in postwar America.

The game is set in 1947 Seattle. You play as private detective Ben O'Hara — real name Benjiro Ohara — investigating the disappearance of Emi Kosuke inside the abandoned Pines Hotel. The police won't touch the case: Emi is Japanese American, her papers aren't in order, and nobody in the department cares. Ben is, as far as anyone can tell, the only Japanese American PI in the city, which is why Emi's sister Yuhiko comes to him. Ben himself is dealing with shellshock after returning from Germany, and this job is well outside his usual beat of tracking cheating spouses.

Ghost at Dawn plays with the survival horror formula in two notable ways. First, the ending mechanic: there is no traditional final boss or scripted conclusion. You decide when Ben leaves the hotel, and the ending cutscene you get is shaped by the clues you collected before walking out. Second, the game uses permadeath — Ben has a limited number of lives, and if you burn through them all, the save is wiped and you start the investigation from scratch. That tension between pushing deeper for answers and cutting your losses before it's too late is the core loop.

The game has already picked up nominations for Horror Game Awards Player's Choice and Best Indie Game, suggesting it has built a following before the Xbox release. It's available to wishlist now ahead of the June 24 launch.