Publisher Empire Interactive recently sent us a preview copy of Ghost Master, their upcoming haunting management strategy game currently in development at Sick Pupies. Ghost Master combines game-play elements from traditional sims, strategy, and resource management games and places them in an atmospheric setting inspired by classic horror movies.

You play the role of a new "Ghost Master", an afterlife civil servant, assigned the task of uncovering the mystery of Gravenville. You're sent to the mortal realm with an initially small team of ghosts and spooks that you can augment by laying local ghosts to rest. To discover what's going on in Gravenville you'll have to manipulate and scare the mortals with your team of "haunters" while keeping an eye on your resources and watching out for any dangers or enemies along the way. You will have to harness psychic energy, known as plasm to generate all manner of ghostly and psychic phenomena - literally scaring all the people away. In other words, you gain plasm by scaring people, so the more scared they are, the more plasm you have and the more you can scare them further! You must also make use of the history of the location you are assigned to haunt and gradually build up enough plasm to summon ghosts and spirits from the Spirit World. These spirits help you build up the Fear Factor, and eventually drive away the mortals and achieve victory.

Ghost Master features over 20 levels in various locations (from sorority and fraternity houses, through a police station, farm, ship and train to a gothic mansion, hospital and army base), over 50 unique ghosts (including spooks, banshees, gremlins, spectres, phantoms, poltergeist, shadows, wraiths, wights, elementals and headless horsemen) and over 100 unique mortals, over 130 powers for you spirits to haunt with.

Ghost Master is totally original game, if you are a fan of resource management games, or just looking for something original and different, keep an eye out for this game. Ghost Master should be available in May 2003.