Summary
In SpiritHost, you play as an aging man who discovers he can access the spirit world to see if his wife is truly dead. She has been taken by the god, Vireth. Armed with an ancient sword, you traverse a haunting world, battling spirit enemies and solving puzzles. You get spirit powers from the god, Thalorin. Vireth has kidnapped his wife but Thalorin only tells you this to manipulate you “Your wife is dead, follow what I tell you to do and then maybe you can get her back”. Thalorin gave you powers to kill Vireth. Vireth and Thalorin have been fighting to be superior and overpower the other god. However, a god cannot kill another god, nor can anything kill a god, so the two are forced to try to be superior to the other. They decide to take you and your wife because you’re the oldest people on earth meaning the most capable of handling the power. They separate the two of you and force you to try and find and kill each other in the spirit realm to figure out which god has greater power. You aren’t blatantly told any of this and are forced to figure out what’s going on for yourself throughout the game. You will gain more and more power as the game progresses because if you were to acquire too much power at once you will die (The power will make you look younger). As you journey deeper into the spirit realm, unraveling the cosmic mysteries of your wife’s origins, you must fight mythic creatures such as Skinwalkers and other dark beings. Your growing spirit powers will allow you to shape the world around you, giving you an advantage in combat and puzzle-solving. Each dungeon in SpiritHost represents a different layer of the Spirit Realm, with each layer reflecting a unique aspect of grief and the afterlife. As you descend through these layers, the aesthetics and environments become more surreal and dangerous. Each level is a stage of grief meaning by the time you realize you have to fight your wife at the end of the game the decision is harder because you’ve already accepted she’s dead.