The Ghost is one of the many (if not the single) ultimate and ever present dangers in all Spelunky games, and in Spelunky 2 she is no exception. She has a similar look to her HD counterpart, with more detail and higher transparency.
Unlike many enemies in the game, the Ghost is more of a disincentive than an obstacle. She exists to prevent loitering by greedy treasure hunters, and 'turtling' by some poltroon interlopers.
However, in Spelunky HD, the Ghost could be easily out maneuvered by seasoned veterans, as it was too slow and easily predictable. For Spelunky 2, the developers sought to make the task of surviving The Ghost a lot more egregious.
Behavior
The ghost will appear after 3 minutes, (5 minutes with the Four-leaf Clover equipped) or in the event that a curse pot is broken. She will spawn 30 seconds earlier if a player is cursed, or 30 seconds earlier for each dead player in multiplayer.
The Ghost always spawns in from the side of the screen closest to the player. Her arrival will be marked with the text "A terrible chill runs up your spine!" followed by the music changing pitch and slowing down. She moves through walls, and even follows players into sub-rooms.
As before, the ghost can be temporarily stunned by using the Camera on her, causing her to change appearance, pull a pose and stay stationary for a short period.
Like in the previous games, the Ghost converts any gems it hovers over into Diamonds.
The ghost is about twice as fast as her counterpart from Spelunky HD. By extension, this increases the risk of using ghostrunning as an effective technique.
Ghost "Mitosis"
The Ghost, having split into two.
Two Ghosts
After 30 seconds, The Ghost will split into 2 smaller ghosts.
- The Sad Ghost will act as the standard Ghost, slowly following the player via the fastest possible route to kill them.
- The Happy Ghost first appears when The Ghost splits into two. She moves faster than The Sad Ghost, but does not directly try to kill the player. Instead, she circles around them with the intention of jeopardizing any plans of escape from other threats like The Sad Ghost.
The Ghost, now having split into four.
Four Ghosts
After 30 more seconds, The Ghosts will split into 4 "Ghists". These Ghists are comparable to those in Pac-Man, as they each have their own AI and personality.
- The Sad Ghist is analogous to Pac-Man's Blinky. As the fastest of the Ghists, she directly charges the Spelunker down, much like the standard Ghost.
- The Angry Ghist is comparable to Pac-Man's Pinky. She acts just like The Sad Ghist, but is much slower.
- The Spooked Ghist corresponds to Pac-Man's Inky. They will act exactly like The Happy Ghost when the ghost is only split into two, going up to the player and circling them.
- The Happy Ghist parallels with Pac-Man's Clyde. She will typically be out in the distance doing her own thing, or otherwise acting like The Spooked Ghist.
The presence of 2 or 4 smaller ghosts may also allow for some degree of different ghostrunning strategies, particularly with The Happy Ghost and The Spooked Ghist, whose simple, predicable, and safer AI of only circling the player prove easy to create Diamonds with them..
Connection to the Empress
The Ghost in Spelunky 2 is actually that of The Empress, an otherwise unseen character in the game.
When taking a picture of The Ghost, she changes appearance. The regalia of the Ghost in its true form closely matches that of a Chinese noble, similar to that which would match the aesthetics of Tide Pool, an ancient empire led by the Empress.
The Empress' grave can also be found in Eggplant World. Taking a picture of the tombstone using a Camera will cause the Empress to appear for a second, confirming that she is indeed The Ghost.
