#GhostTrick's intro is kind of a masterpiece here are a couple of pointers of why it's just stuck with me after 10 years.

Title Screen.
1. The world rules have not been established yet. The game directs your eye to the sofa using debri around it. You start the game, changing the entire color aesthetic to its signature red and blue.

This gives you a sneak preview of the ghost world and makes you hungry to find out: What this world is. Who is this guy.

It’s striking that the first thing you see is a seed planted for you to start asking this question yourself with just the imagery alone.

2 The Clock.
Reminiscent of Majora’s mask “72 Hours remaining”, a clock has this implication that your time will be limited. Not much to say here besides how I like how the click says :02, it could have just been 7 sharp but this 02 makes it feel just a bit more realistic.

3. Amnesia.
Ghost Trick protagonist knows as much as you. A blank slate itching to figure out what exactly going on. Why can’t I remember anything, who am I. Questions you will be chasing until the end of the game.

4. This freaking Setup.

First a woman is introduced on the left side of the screen. Not much is known about her, yet. Keep in mind these spotlights that are deliberately hiding the whole scene and only show a very small snippit of the whole stage.

Then on stage right, a man with a gun gives some context to the scene. It’s not just a woman but a become a damsel in distress. The ID part of my brain makes me want to get in there and help her. The director is counting on exactly that, and the text on the next shot confirms it.

5. Empathy
We like people who care about other people. Think about how in Wall-e’s opening you started to care about Wall-e once he started showing compassion for his pet cockroach by giving him a twinkie or changing his tires, so his cockroach wouldn’t fall off him.

Then the opposing stage lights move to the center of the screen to show the big reveal. The game starts out with your death. Something that was already hinted in the beginning of the screen.

Notice how the body isn’t just flat on the floor but head planted with the butt hanging in the air. This to me looked silly until you in find out later that this was done deliberately by the director to hide a key piece of the puzzle away from the viewer.

The way you see people, scenes, or evidence is constantly changed when you gather new info giving this game a never-ending feeling that the rug is getting pulled right under you. And then unbeknownst to you, there are still 6 under you waiting to be pulled at the right moments

This game has just hinted multiple times what it does best. It’s a story game but many pieces of the puzzle are constantly obscured...

It's also really nice how it cuts the crap and gets straight to the action. No heavy lore, it just starts you in the middle of a gunfight but at the moment where you died. It's stuck to me how much this one particular game hooked me in the beginning.

Talking with the player not at the player.

When selling an idea to a player you want to them to start having questions to get them invested.

You can do this by not revealing the full picture and let their imagination fill the gaps. Avoid 10 minutes of exposition of the lore.