Developer Friday Sundae has announced that their upcoming Lovecraftian renovation title There Are No Ghosts at the Grand will launch into Early Access for PC via Steam and Microsoft Store in December. A full release will follow for Xbox Series and Steam. As well, a new demo will be available as part of October’s Steam Next Fest.
The release window and demo announcements weren’t the only news for There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, as Friday Sundae also revealed that the game will feature Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings) as MacBrushy, a talking and singing Scottish power tool.
In a press release, Boyd stated that the character was fun to play. “He’s funny, a little rude, and doesn’t mince his words! but there’s a lot more to him than it might seem at first. As the story develops, you gradually see different sides of him, and it’s clear that he has some hidden depths and maybe a few secrets too. Working with Friday Sundae, we’ve been developing MacBrushy’s voice and personality, and he’s got a song or two to sing as well, which has been fun to do in character.”
“MacBrushy started out as a bit of a joke about Clippy, but underneath that he’s really a father figure, drawn from the different kinds of dads and father figures I knew growing up in Scotland,” explains Friday Sundae co-founder and creative director Anil Glendinning. “He can give you brilliant advice and genuinely look out for you, but he can also lose his patience and let you know when you’ve annoyed him. Billy really understood that balance. He makes MacBrushy funny, warm and occasionally infuriating, which is exactly who we wanted him to be.”
There Are No Ghosts at the Grand has players take on the role of Chris David, an American who unexpectedly inherits a crumbling English seaside hotel. By day, Chris must renovate the Grand and help restore the surrounding village of Kingswood-on-Sea. By night, those same locations begin to reveal something stranger beneath the wallpaper, broken windows, and fading paint.
Oh, and you also wield talking power tools for your renovation tasks. Those same tools transform into weapons against the supernatural at night. You’ll use the vacuum on vengeful spirits, expose invisible assailants with the paint sprayer, or subdue spooks with a well-aimed bookcase to the face using the furniture cannon.
Ahead of the October demo, you can currently delve into last year’s version, which is available on Steam.