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# Go ghost-hunting in Geisterblut, a free-jazz blast of a videogame
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/go-ghost-hunting-geisterblut-free-jazz-blast-videogame/
- Published: 2015-04-24T13:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T17:22:10.000Z
- Description: Geisterblut is fucking nuts. Being “fucking nuts” appears to be its raison d’etre—its final screen, which you can reach in just a minute or two, hammers this home—but it’s not “trying to be fucking nuts” in the manner of, say, a Russell Brand bit. It is, rather, a free-jazz skronk, a noisy freakout
- Author: Clayton Purdom
- Tags: News, freakout, Geisterblut, jazz, John Zorn, Ludum Dare, Nuprahtor, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

[*Geisterblut*](http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=2280&ref=killscreen.com) is fucking nuts. Being “fucking nuts” appears to be its *raison d’etre*—its final screen, which you can reach in just a minute or two, hammers this home—but it’s not “trying to be fucking nuts” in the manner of, say, a Russell Brand bit. It is, rather, a free-jazz skronk, a noisy freakout of a videogame, and if I’m being a bit vague here that’s by design. It’s no fun to spoil an act of improvisation.

Designed by [nuprahtor](https://twitter.com/Nuprahtor?ref=killscreen.com) for the game jam Ludum Dare 32, the game is ostensibly about hunting for ghosts. I’ll say this: you’ve got a gun, and there are some ghosts for you to hunt. But it’s the game itself that seems haunted, with some sort of vaguely German presence burbling under its surface, and a noteworthy Suda 51 influence, particularly the spectral abstractions of *Killer 7*.

the wild, improvisatory nature

There is a lot of talk of fathers, of inheritances. The clearest-cut parent to the game, besides nuprahtor, is the avant-garde musician John Zorn, whose 1990 album *Naked City* provides all of *Geisterblut*‘s tunes. That album seemed designed to test the limits of what instruments could do, zipping from smooth jazz to post-punk to bebop to surf rock, with vocals from the Boredoms’ Yamatsuka Eye. It’s an album of relentless invention, shocking even a quarter-century after its release, and it’s a perfect match for the wild, improvisatory nature of Ludum Dare. *Geisterblut* is as good a case in point as any that necessity is the mother of invention.

*You can download Geisterblut on itchio [here](http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-32/?action=preview&uid=2280&ref=killscreen.com).*

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/geisterblut2_big.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/geisterblut_big.jpg)