There Are No Ghosts at the Grand

Story and setting

Chris has 30 days and 30 nights to restore the Grand before the deadline brings something terrible to the hotel. The setting is Kingswood-on-Sea, a crumbling English seaside village filled with abandoned shops, hidden coves and locals with their own secrets. The Grand’s history, its previous owners and Chris’s buried past are all tied into the supernatural mystery.

The tone is deliberately mixed. Friday Sundae describes the game as a ghost story, comedy and musical, with horror that is more atmospheric than relentlessly frightening. Mr Bones, the hotel’s sarcastic cat, follows Chris during the day and becomes a talkative, mysterious companion at night. Robert C. MacBrushy, an artificial DIY assistant with a Scottish accent, offers practical advice while apparently knowing more about the hotel than he admits.

How it plays

Restoration is handled through exaggerated tools rather than traditional building menus. Chris can use a sandblaster, paint sprayer, furniture cannon and daisy-chain gun to clean rooms, repair surfaces, remove broken furniture and bring neglected parts of the hotel back to life. Progress comes from completing rooms and uncovering their secrets, with the 30-day limit forcing decisions about where to spend each day.

The same tools change function after dark. The vacuum can deal with spirits, the paint sprayer can reveal invisible enemies and the furniture cannon can fire bookcases at supernatural threats. Environmental puzzles use clues from the hotel’s past, including blueprints, hidden passages and objects connected to memories. Outside, you can restore shops, ride a scooter, play mini-golf, use a metal detector, take photographs and repair a fishing boat for trips along the coast.

Music is part of the story rather than a separate rhythm-game mode. Characters introduce themselves through songs influenced by British ska, punk, wartime jazz and related styles. During musical sequences, dialogue choices affect Chris’s sung responses, and the songs can be skipped. The game remains single-player.

Trailers and showcases

The Xbox Games Showcase reveal on 8 June 2025 established the central structure: renovate the hotel during the day, investigate its secrets at night and survive a supernatural threat before the 30-day deadline. The accompanying developer breakdown introduced Chris, Robert C. MacBrushy, Mr Bones, Kingswood-on-Sea, the talking tools and the game’s interactive songs.

An Xbox trailer published on 23 April 2026 focused on the broader mixture of renovation, musical storytelling, comedy and Lovecraftian creatures. At the PC Gaming Show on 7 June 2026, a character trailer introduced police officer Adam Watson and presented his musical storyline, including the warning that he is going to die in 30 days.

IGN’s Gamescom 2026 overview trailer, published on 25 August 2026, confirmed the Early Access plan for December 2026. It showed the game’s first release on PC through Steam and Xbox on PC, with Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Cloud listed for the eventual release rather than the initial Early Access launch.

Platforms, editions and UK price

The current plan is Early Access on PC through Steam and Xbox on PC in December 2026. The eventual release is also planned for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Cloud, with PC remaining supported. Xbox has previously announced the game as a day-one Game Pass title and described it as Xbox Play Anywhere, although the latest Early Access announcement does not spell out whether the December PC build will be included in Game Pass.

There is no announced UK RRP, edition breakdown, boxed release, retailer pre-order or PEGI rating. The full game is not yet available, but a free Steam demo is currently listed. No PlayStation or Nintendo version has been announced.

What remains unconfirmed

The exact UK release date and launch time remain unconfirmed, so Tuesday, 1 December 2026 should not be treated as a locked date. Friday Sundae and Xbox have also not announced when Early Access will end, when the complete version will launch, what will be included in each edition or whether progress will carry between the PC and Xbox versions.

The Steam listing gives Windows system requirements and single-player support, but there is no confirmed final content schedule, price or console release date. The safest approach is to try the demo first and wait for the UK price, Early Access details and full launch information before pre-ordering.