“You’ll feel like a cross between Mary Poppins and Marcus Fenix.”
That's the central idea behind There Are No Ghosts at the Grand, a cozy musical adventure where you can live out your fantasies of renovating a charming hotel, talking with a creepy cat, and trying to survive the night as tentacled horrors crawl out of the ocean and seek you out.
Announced during the Xbox Games Showcase 2025, There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is the first game from developer Friday Sundae. Players step into the shows of a young American man named Chris David, who has received an invitation from the estranged British side of his family to come and renovate their hotel, the Grand.
In a whimsical twist on first-person shooting, Chris uses a variety of tools to clean up and improve the Grand, moving furniture around, painting the walls, and more. Along the way, he'll also be treated to some musical numbers as he aids the inhabitants of this charming-yet-strange seaside town.
That cozy vibe is only part of the story however, as the game changes at night. There are monstrous things coming after Chris, and he'll have to repurpose the tools in order to make it through unscathed. Nighttime is also when he can converse with Mr. Bones the Bastard, a cat who can speak and may have guidance for how to get through this eldritch assault.
As the renovations continue, the developers tell me that players will be encouraged to complete side quests and find secrets throughout the town, as skeletons in the closet may shed light on what's really going on.
While the developers are careful to avoid spoilers, they do indicate that the town isn't the only thing hiding secrets. Chris may have something up his sleeve, with some ulterior motives for coming to the Grand.
Chris won't have forever though. Players have 30 days and 30 nights to complete their investigations, at which point the story ends and you may get very different endings depending on what you've uncovered.
Don't feel too stressed, as there's no in-game timer constantly counting down. Players have to manually trigger the switch between night and day. Whenever you're exploring, players can dilly-dally for hours on end before deciding to finally switch over.
There Are No Ghosts at the Grand is slated to launch at some point in 2026 across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam and Xbox PC), and Xbox Cloud Gaming. It'll also be available day one in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
