Ghost Manor

Overview

Ghost Manor is a side-scrolling armor platformer in the spirit of the toughest 1980s knight-versus-undead arcade games. You play a lone knight crossing four haunted stages — Moonlit Graveyard, Hollow Woods, Manor Hall, and the Bell Crypt — to put down the Grave Warden and see dawn. The signature rule is the armor system: the first hit you take strips your plate and leaves you running in your underclothes, and the next hit costs a life. Zombies claw out of the soil ahead of you, bats dive once you wake them, and translucent ghosts drift straight toward your position. You fight back with throwable weapons found in the stages: a straight-flying Lance, an arcing Torch that leaves burning ground fire, and a slow, piercing Axe that hits for double damage. Checkpoint flags soften deaths, score comes from forward progress and kills, and beating the crypt once unlocks the Second Night — the same four stages with everything moving 40% faster.

How to Play

Press Start Game, then run with Arrow Left and Right. Arrow Up, W, or Z jumps — the game includes coyote time and jump buffering, so late and early presses still come out. Arrow Down crouches under bats and boss shots. Space, X, or J throws your current weapon, and clicking the field throws too. On touch devices, the on-screen pad handles running, crouching, jumping, and throwing. P pauses and R restarts the whole run. Walk through pickups to grab them: new weapons swap your throw, armor re-plates you, and coins pay 500 points. Reach the barred gate at the right edge of each stage to advance; in the Bell Crypt the gate stays shut until the Grave Warden falls.

Tips & Strategy

Never fight zombies where they rise — the rising animation is your warning, so keep moving and throw the moment they stand. The Lance is the best dueling weapon because two can fly at once and it travels flat; save the Axe for the Grave Warden, since its piercing double damage chews through his health bar while you focus on dodging the three-shot spreads. The Torch's ground flame is the safest answer to zombies: lob it onto a spawn patch and let the fire do the work while you jump past. Crouch is not just defensive — crouching throws come out lower and hit rising zombies earlier. Protect your armor at all costs on Manor Hall, where spike floors punish knockback; the hit that strips your plate also shoves you backward, and that shove can carry you onto spikes. On the Second Night, stop fighting everything: enemies move 40% faster but are worth the same points, so run stages lean and save your lives for the boss.

What Makes It Distinct

Most retro platformers give you a health bar; Ghost Manor gives you a single suit of armor and a public strip-down. The two-state body — plated knight or barefoot runner — makes every hit legible and every armor pickup a genuine relief, and the Second Night loop turns one clear into a faster, meaner remix rather than a credits screen.