Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden - Review
The people of New Eden, a god-fearing and devoted lot. They are being plagued by something unseen, and it is slowly killing them all. Antea and Red are summoned on the behest of Charles Davenport, a fellow banisher, to assist in lifting the curse on New Eden. This isn’t a happy tale.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a semi-open world action RPG, taking the elements of the soulslike genre, and making them far more approachable for the casual player. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden will see you take control of Red mac Raith, a Scotsman and apprentice Banisher to Antea Duarte. Not only are they master and apprentice, but they are romantically involved also. Banishers is a story of retribution, promises, ghosts and witches that asks you to make moral questions than no one really should ever have to make.
Don’t Nod are known for making deeply immersive, emotional narrative driven games. Banishers, whilst being far more action oriented than previous titles, does not skimp on the narrative aspect. If you were to cut away all the other features of the game and leave just the story. You’d have an impressive tale of love, overcoming adversity, retribution, and pain. Appropriately themed and placed in the time of the Salem Witch Trials, New Eden is not exempt from the truths of what was happening in those Puritan stretches of the world. Demonology, occultism, witch trials and general fear of the unknown.
The core concept of the game is that of what Banishers do for a living. They help those who are haunted by banishing the ghosts that haunt them. In an interesting twist, there is a light detective element added to the various haunting cases you’ll participate in throughout the game. Objects hidden beyond the Veil (that being what separates the world of the living from the world of the dead), notes, echoes of the past. Ultimately, you’ll discover nobody is ever truthful. Everyone has a secret agenda, and each case must be judged on its own merit. These are without a doubt the most enjoyable part of the game, expanding the in-game universe with lasting implications of your choices. The stories all come together in some way or another to paint a greater picture. A world filled with resentment, regret but also a burning need to protect others.
You’ll be tasked throughout the game with a moral decision. Do you banish the ghost, sending them to oblivion for the rest of time? Do you help them ascend, helping a ghost move on to the afterlife, and to an existence that they may deserve? Or do you Blame the living, taking the life of those who are still alive for their actions and mistakes that resulted in their haunting. Moral choices that realistically you’ll never truly feel totally in the right about. Does one life constitute another? Do you punish the dead for the actions of their life, or do you help them move on to the next stage of existence, free from the pain of their harsh lives and harsher ghost life? These choices will influence and affect the outcome of the game and have a greater overall implication on a promise that you make at some stage of the game.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden has a semi-open world to explore. New Eden is an interesting area filled with dark and scary woods, flourishing meadows and green grass, and snow-covered mountains to the north. All within a kilometre of each other. Whilst it may not make entire sense the number of underground caves, mines, snowy mountains in walking distance of riverside villages, it cannot be understated the effort put in to make New Eden feel like a unique piece of the world. Elements of the times are visible everywhere, with little village magics, talismans, superstitious beliefs and just the sheer amount of King James’ bibles you’ll encounter through out the world. At times it can feel like you’re just climbing another rocky cliff or delving through another inconsequential cave. But there is a surprisingly diverse and deep world filled with environmental puzzles, and logic puzzles to keep you exploring the world without it feeling too obnoxious.
The collectibles aspect of Banishers is surprisingly enjoyable as well. More so, finding caches from cache maps, summoning nests of enemies or elite versions of mobs for permanent stat increases on success. There is a range of side objectives to do, alongside the haunting cases and specific world activities relevant to the different NPCs that continue to live after you’ve dealt with them. The shiny object effect will often take control of your actions. Taking what is about a twenty-hour story experience, if you focus on the main story, and the haunting cases, to around thirty, thirty five hours if you allow yourself to explore the environment and the world. There is a surprising amount of world to look at.
The combat is interesting for the most part. There is a switch mechanic between Red and Antea, which adds a depth to the combat. However for the most part, you’ll be spamming either light attacks, back-to-back charged heavy attacks, or leap and outburst followed by spam punches. The evolution tree adds some depth, with increased damage, special actions for switching at particular points in attack combos or reducing cooldowns for damage inflicted. Whilst they are nice additions, they aren’t dramatically game breaking or changing. Damage numbers also never really seem to go up that much. A rise from twenty to seventy damage in the late game, except for the fact that a lot of enemies are tankier in the end game and reduce your damage. The stats are also never properly explained, and beyond vitality and persistence, I’m not entirely sure how much strength, wisdom, dexterity, and wrath affected anything.
This stat issue persists into the gear that you’ll collect throughout the game. All gear can be upgraded to level VII, with the top end upgrades requiring progressively harder to come by resources to make out. You’ll easily be able to get most gear pieces to around level IV and V, with a few capping out at VII if you are doing all the side activities. Unfortunately there seems to almost be a fear of making the different gear feel significantly unique. On top of the stats never seeming to matter all that much, besides the unique abilities on the gear itself, the main stats are all within one or two points of each other, making them mostly irrelevant. In this way the gear becomes somewhat more fashion based, moreso than an improvement or detriment. This will matter more or less to different players, but it is an important part to note.
Finally, the characters themselves. Antea and Red feel like actual people. Not characters being written a particular way, but actual people existing within the world that has been created around them. They are emotional, respond as one would expect to different scenarios, and their differences on opinions on the behaviours and actions of others that encounter. Most of the NPCs are well developed, and every person you interact with has their own opinions and stance on the world around them. They will have new things to say, and do as you progress the story, and depending on your choices, how they interact with you will change dramatically. There are genuinely reprehensible characters who would most definitely exist in this New Eden/New England puritanical world. The world is designed impeccably, and the characters add to it.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a deeply thought out immersive narrative action RPG. There is a deep world to explore, environments to trek through, and haunting cases to solve. The characters are well written, and human feeling. The combat is run of the mill, with some unique aspects to keep it interesting. Boss fights are a spectacle, but nothing is overtly difficult to complete. An incredibly well-rounded experience, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a hidden gem of a title, that deserves a tremendous amount of love its way. A must-play for any action RPG fans.
The Score
9.0
Review code provided by Focus Entertainment
The Pros
Well-written characters
A diverse world to explore that is genuinely engaging
Haunting cases are all fantastic to experience
An idea that could be further expanded into sequels with ease
The Cons
The different stats aren’t explained properly
Combat is very repetitive after a few hours
Gear differences are mostly irrelevant
