Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review – My Immortal
You have a supernatural problem, but the Ghostbusters with proton packs are three hundred years away. Who you gonna call? The Witcher? Tough luck, he’s long since retired in a beautiful vineyard of his and can’t be bothered to solve problems on the other side of the world. It’s 1695. in New Eden, the Puritan colony on the east coast of the future USA, and the evil spirits are wreaking havoc. Maybe go with the Banishers service? Antea Duarte and Red Mac Raith are a Cuban/Scottish power couple specialized in hunting and banishing all sorts of corporeal and ethereal entities. They come highly recommended, and their track record is spotless. For sure they can handle a simple backwater haunting, eh?
After they bite far more than they were able to chew, Antea is left for dead and Red narrowly escapes a gruesome end. But the lady Banisher isn’t truly gone. She now exists as a ghost she used to hunt for a living, stuck on the threshold of worlds until the being that took her life is defeated. Only Red can still see and interact with her, and she can now assist him in various otherworldly ways. They are poised for round two, but the road to success will be long and punishing.
The dystopian Eden
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is the latest game from the French studio Don’t Nod, famed for Life is Strange and Vampyr. This is their most ambitious title to date, with impressive production values that include a humongous amount of professional voice acting. Banishers is a long and content-rich game, with an excellent combat system, over-the-top love melodrama, and an open world that’s exciting but arduous to explore. Like most fruits of the European interactive art scene, this game is both fascinating and quirky.
It’s difficult to avoid spoilers when talking about the Banishers. Everything revolves around Red and Antea’s plan to end the haunting of New Eden. The colony is at dire straits, and you’ll gradually learn about the true nature of the threat by helping the scattered colonists. You’ll solve dozens of haunting cases, finding out about the rot affecting the community. It seems that everyone in New Eden is harboring a dirty secret of three, and coming on top of that baggage will profoundly affect our Banisher duo. You’ll tackle spiritual possessions, murder, disappearance, and many other crimes and misfortunes. Most cases involve exploration, combat, and a ton of dialogue, but sadly, no deduction. Antea and Red will serve conclusions on a platter, and you’ll only have the decide on each outcome.
The conclusion phase of most haunting cases presents you with three options, and each of them contributes to one potential ending. Blaming the living person implicated in the haunting contributes to a different outcome than ascending or banishing the ghost. Yes, there’s always a ghost – the problems in the game are never natural/secular. If you strictly pursue your chosen ending, more often than not you’ll be hard-pressed to “vote” against your principles. They never said Banisher’s life was easy and free from controversy.
Saber, torch, musket, fists and spells
The best thing about Banishers is combat. Red and Antea fight in tandem, complementing their styles and relieving each other in crisis. Red fights with a saber, torch, and musket, slowly collecting the energy for banishing outbursts. Antea brawls with her spiritual fists, augmented with manifestations such as combat leaps and other offensive spells. They both share several talent trees, intertwined in a way of mutual advancement. Killing stuff and solving quests gets XP, and every ding provides Red with one talent point. Antea gets her points by solving haunting cases, and you must combine both to get the maximum benefit for every talent group. This clever system emphasizes their unbreakable, reality-piercing bond.
Mobs you’ll encounter are mostly ghosts, possessed carcasses, and animals. You’ll never fight a living, breathing human in Banishers. Some mobs require a double beatdown, as the first knockout only expells the spirit-possessing corporeal entity. There are several major boss fights in the game, each one being completely different than the previous one. Most of them are pretty easy on the default difficulty level – I had much bigger problems dealing with some mini-bosses and various elite mobs when fighting those in waves.
Over-the-top melodrama and other quirks
The wide and content-rich game world invites the players to explore every nook and cranny. At the same time, it corrals their ambition through constricted, rigid design. It’s a world of interconnected passages and trails, often blocked by obstacles requiring abilities you don’t yet possess. It reminded me of God of War, albeit dialed down a quality notch. You’ll constantly switch back and forth from terrain to map, trying to figure out the perpetual maze of footpaths. After a while, it can get tiresome.
Besides that, there’s one more thing I didn’t like here. The conversations between our banisher lovebirds are full of pathos that often goes way over the top. Like that famous Evanescence’s song on endless repeat, they will eventually become mildly annoying. ♫ You used to captivate me by your resonating light, now, I’m bound by the life you left behind ♫ … Yes, Antea and Red love each other wildly and passionately, but the intensity of their love became cringey after a couple of hundred melancholic references. The compact drama evolved into super-extended melodrama. Or maybe it’s a French way of translating the doomed love story into interactive media? Perhaps I’m just too jaded to comprehend it properly? Could be.
Multiple endings, but will you go back?
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden lasts almost thirty hours, or even more if you decide to tackle optional content. According to the publisher, the game has five distinct endings. Two of them are pretty obvious ones – you can pursue Antea’s resurrection or (spiritual) ascension. The first choice is a Sith choice, requiring blaming (executing) living people in each case conclusion phase. I took the second, moral option, and got the bittersweet parting.
I would be hard-pressed to go through the game one more time though, as the first pass left me drained. You might feel different, promising yourself another go in a couple of years, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Banishers is a solid game that lacks the glazing finish which would make it a classic worth returning to.
Highs
- Simple yet effective dual combat system.
- Myriad of interesting characters that fit perfectly inside a well-written story.
- Multiple endings depending on your choices.
Lows
- Melodramatic overuse of emotions between protagonists.
- Solving the haunting cases doesn’t involve any active deduction from the player.
- Somewhat rigid world design makes navigation tiresome.
