Anniversary: n-Space & Nintendo’s M-Rated GameCube Gem Is 20 Years Old

We’d all swear that we’ve scribbled some clandestine catalogues—one for every machine we’ve ever hooked to a television—listing oddball or boundary-pushing titles we keep meaning to try. Occasionally you tick one off, more often you don’t. You get the idea. On the GameCube, my private picks start with Cubivore, extend to Eternal Darkness, and reach as far as Geist. Yep, Geist—“ghost” in German. Knew that already, right? Every self-respecting Geisterjäger and Paranormal-Forscher sprinkles that detail like salz on chips.

Look, Geist never ignited the charts at launch, yet writing it off for its flaws—of which there are plenty—robs you of a genuinely eerie, off-beat, and actually rewarding ride. Two full decades on, it feels stranger and more compelling than ever precisely because its peers rarely play anything like it.

Also, Nintendo, slap it onto Switch 2; its number-one enemy was frame stutter, and modern hardware would mop that right up. Problem solved.

Geist first arrived stateside on 15 August 2005, built by n-Space and issued by none other than the Big-N itself. It became only the second GameCube title published by Nintendo to earn an M rating—Eternal Darkness beat it to that punch. You inhabit John Raimi, a scientist moonlighting as sharpshooter on the counter-terror crew CR-2.

The opening rescue mission goes sideways fast, folk perish in spectacularly supernatural fashion (think a regular weeknight in Glasgow), and Raimi ends up pushing up daisies—well, mostly daisies. In other words, he’s transformed into Geist. And that twist sets the stage for every delight that follows, because embodying a wraith in a game is the sort of pastime we all pine for, and n-Space brazenly served up mechanics that dared to stray off the trodden trail. Quite frankly, that’s scarier than any poltergeist.

Fire up the game in 2025 and the early cinematics still look rather fetching in their chunky, original-Xbox-adjacent style. Few polygons of that era have aged with any dignity, yet Geist retains a certain rugged charm, ushering you in with properly meaty explosions, rampant possessions, and a caboodle of Spooky Things™ brewing at the Volks Institute where paranormal experiments are the order of the day.

Crucially, Geist refuses to coast on loud bangs and boomsticks, otherwise none of us would still be chatting about it. n-Space instead pondered how a free-floating soul can toy with the world around it, letting you hijack things—objects, animals, people—in order to unravel the environmental riddles, yielding a rather smart and absorbing set-piece.

Don’t worry, gunfire still abounds—there’s a satisfying dose of pew-pew plus some fairly engaging boss tussles that cap most levels, testing your reflexes in classic fashion. But Geist is mainly concerned with letting your imagination run riot: commandeer a dog bowl to stir pandemonium, usurp a shooting-gallery toy for a micro-mini-game, or exploit a soda can’s metallic clatter—yes, every tin has its day. It’s consistently inventive and frequently brain-teasing.

Specific human foes can be exorcised to assist with obstacles and conundrums. Need a wall demolished? Spook the grenadier until you can slip in. Path blocked? Possess an engineer. First you must frighten that human straight, though—ninja-inhale a lampshade to bang against the wall, cause a bed to levitate like it wandered off a Scooby-Doo loop, or poison some unlucky guard’s lunch if you’ve located the cafeteria. The systems unveil surprising depth.

Security cams, mainframes and sundry machines are all ripe for takeover, delivering an endearing sandbox whose puzzles feel fresh and whose plot—while ultimately disposable—keeps you glued just long enough to discover why you’re now a ghoulish nuisance.

If Geist stumbles anywhere, it’s in its creaky performance. The engine lumbers like a rusty tank and the frame-rate stutters more often than it soars. The control scheme is adequate, yet the camera lurches sadly and you can’t tweak the sensitivity—grrr.

Yet factor in a mischievous multiplayer suite for up to four entrants in three ghost-centric modes, plus a campaign you can polish off inside seven hours, and Geist remains an overlooked jewel deserving of its reputation. Boot it up cold and 2005-you were treated to something truly distinctive; even now the novelty lingers.

So, pretty please—drop this onto NSO so I can dust off my shiny GCN controllers and haunt household plumbing once more. Just do it.

For the veterans: were you rattling chains in Geist back in 2005? Any cherished—or cursed—memories? Tell us below!