Sissel

Overview

Sissel (シセル Shiseru) is the main character of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. At the beginning of the game he is killed, causing him to become a ghost and lose his memories whereupon he learns about his powers, called "Ghost Tricks", from a talking lamp calling himself Ray. Sissel is described physically as "tall and lithe, with white skin and blonde hair" and is dressed in a red suit with a black undershirt and black sunglasses, as well as a white tie, white belt, and while shoes. When Shu Takumi was designing Sissel, he wanted to create a memorable protagonist which he believes is achieved through his striking clothes, as well as being identifiable by making him think what the players think.

Throughout the game, Sissel is shown to be somewhat of a smooth-talker and a ladies man, refusing to leave a lady in trouble in multiple instances. He also tends to use sarcasm and switches between a laid back and serious attitude in more dire situations, recognizing the urgency of the situation but never failing to get in a bit of humor in. The main point of his story being to solve the mystery behind his death, he does not ignore other people's troubles and helps out multiple people in life-or-death situations, especially Lynne, demonstrating his good heart and valiance.

Ghost Tricks

Sissel has multiple Ghost Tricks which are all discovered early on in the game. According to Ray, Ghost Tricks are powers granted to deceased people, but only to select people. Not everyone gets the same Ghost Tricks, for example, Ray cannot possess objects like Sissel can. The Ghost Tricks Sissel possess are as follows:

Rewind Time

If a person dies, Sissel is able to rewind time and change the last four minutes before their death, typically to prevent them from dying or to find out information. The limit on this is that if the corpse has been around for 24 hours, it can no longer be used to go four minutes before it's death. He is also shown to be able to go from one corpse to another, within the first corpses four minutes, and travel four minutes back in time with the second corpse.

Object Jumping and Tricking

Sissel can jump from object to object using the cores inside those objects, so long as they are in relatively close proximity. When he gets to certain objects, he is able to "Trick" them, usually activating the main function that object is used for. For example, opening a refrigerator door on a fridge, playing the strings on a guitar, pedaling on a bike, etc.

Phone Line Travel

Since Ghosts cannot travel around without being in an object, Sissel must use phone lines to travel long distances. The restrictions on this are that the receiver has to be lifted on both ends, and that you cannot go to external connectinos from an internal line. You also cannot use phone lines when in Trick Time.

Conversing With The Previously Deceased

Since Sissel can save people's lives by rewinding time, when they regain their life, they are left with the core they obtained when they died. By traveling to that core, Sissel can converse with the people he has saved. It is also worth noting that if reminded about the situation they died in, most victims can usually recall it, even if they were saved from that death.

Reception

Sissel has received mostly positive reception from fans and critics. He has been praised and criticized for being an amnesiac character, with Game Informer's Joe Juba describing the game as constantly using his amnesia as a crutch, and as hero, he falls flat. However, The Telegraph's Tom Hoggins supports the other view and is quoted saying that the amnesia connects the players to Sissel quite well, saying that it's more than a "tired narrative crutch" and that it results in Sissel's character becoming more enduring.