Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review – A Step Forward

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden on PC

DON’T NOD is famous for its Life is Strange series and not its action RPGs. Nobody even remembers Remember Me anymore (pun not intended). However, their latest release, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, seems to be a step in the right direction.

When I think of DON’T NOD’s games, I imagine them as story-driven adventures where every “wrong” decision I make can potentially kill my favorite character, or something even worse could happen (they botch their relationship with their love interest), and that’s precisely what I like the most about them.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, on the other hand, attempts the same thing as Vampyr. It tries to mix RPG elements such as levels, skills, equipment, etc, with Souls-like combat, and finally, with their staple branching story with a bunch of different endings and hundreds, if not thousands, of choices that affect them.

However, in my opinion, it falls just a bit short of making any of those things as good as they could’ve been.

In Banishers, you play as two characters: Antea Duarte and Red mac Raith, a pair of ghostbusters from an alternative version of 17th-century New England. They are also lovers who would do anything for one another (as you’ll see in the game).

Red seems to be the less experienced one between the two of them and often seeks advice from Antea, who is knowledgeable about the spirits and rituals needed to summon and deal with them. He also seems insecure about other things, such as the motives behind people’s actions and whether or not they deserve the punishment fate has set for them.

On the other hand, Antea is confident, calm, and collected almost all the time. She has an analytical approach to solving mysteries and seems to be very good at reading people (and ghosts). What she lacks, though, is compassion for ghosts. However, it won’t take her long to realize what they feel like.

This isn’t really a spoiler because you can find this info in the game’s description on Steam, but Antea dies while fighting a powerful evil spirit with Red and is then turned into what she previously fought: a ghost.

Red, now with his world in shambles, has to find a way to either bring her back or ascend her spirit and release her from that plight. Whatever choice you make, you can be certain that it will affect the people of New Eden in much the same way it affects Antea.

Now, when I started playing Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, in the first couple of hours, I encountered a cliched scene so bad that I thought my final score would be a 1/5, and I wanted to end the whole review right there. And just so you know, I love cliche scenes, as long as they don’t overdo it.

However, this instance was plain horrendous. The main characters, who are supposed to be fearless ghost hunters, showed absolutely zero grit and determination in a situation where they needed that the most. The scene where you steal wine from that couple in LiS: Before the Storm had more substance in it.

That’s basically the biggest issue I had with Banishers — a pair of main characters who you wish you could relate to but can’t. The daredevil attitude seems to be there at certain moments, but it quickly dwindles away, and you’re left with moralizations and indecisiveness, unbecoming of people who are supposed to be struggling to return one of them back to life.

Unlike the main quests, I find the side stories to be a gold mine of interesting characters. There is a whole bunch of people who are making questionable and irrational choices, just the way real people do.

Also, you can be sure that the most vile and brutal monstrosities you could ever imagine have already been committed by the good folk of New Eden. And the one dealing with the fallout they’ve caused is none other than you. How convenient.

Let me preface this by saying that the level design and graphics in the game are beautiful. What it lacks, though, is more open-world freedom. That’s something you would expect from a game that should be an upgrade from Vampyr.

Also, movement around the world feels very bad. There are very few seamless transitions, and it makes your character feel unathletic. Jumping or tumbling movements you would see in an Assassin’s Creed game, for example, are nowhere to be found.

Instead, you do everything by hitting the specific hotkeys (Press this to jump over a ledge, press that to vault over that log, etc., you get the point). It really hurts your feeling of freedom in-game.

Now, combat in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is atrocious, and I would need to write thousands of additional words to cover everything that’s wrong with it. Instead, I’ll tell you what I had the biggest issues with.

First, the enemies are damage sponges. I know they are ghosts, but even a ghost would flinch if you swung at it. Starfield had a comparable combat system, with enemies giving no feedback when you hit them or giving too much, making them “stun” locked and unable to fight back. There is no middle ground.

Secondly, animations are repetitive, and there is not enough athleticism in combat. You have light, heavy, and punch attacks for melee, plus a standard dodge and a couple of dash skills you unlock, and they all have almost no animation variety.

Third, combat itself doesn’t feel dangerous at all. I don’t know. Maybe I’m too good, but it’s more likely that the devs designed Banishers with players of all abilities in mind.

I started the game on the hardest difficulty and have yet to try blocking an enemy attack. I’m just dodging and spam-attacking. On the off-chance you do get low on health, you can just heal without ever having to worry about death.

The RPG elements are an upgrade from the previous DON’T NOD’s A-RPG titles. There is a lot of variety when it comes to skills and equipment, and there is enough customization. Still, it has ways to go before you can call it perfect.

Going out of my way to try out Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is something I would have to think twice about. It certainly has a lot of potential, but it needs improvements before you can call it a really good game. Most notably, its combat, main characters, and main story are disappointing.

All in all, while Banishers boasts an interesting world, it’s not a game that’ll live long in the memory. I mean, what can you expect from a game whose main characters aren’t determined to save even themselves?