As someone who grew up on story-driven RPGs and horror games, I had high hopes when I first loaded up Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. This new title from developer DON’T NOD, best known for their narrative adventure games like Life Is Strange, seemed like it would scratch that RPG itch I’ve had for a while now. I’m happy to say after spending a significant portion of the past few weeks in banishing ghosts, making difficult moral choices and exploring the hauntingly beautiful world, this game exceeded my expectations with its compelling story, unique mechanics and challenging decisions that had me questioning my own ethics.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden has you taking the reins of Red mac Raith, a Scottish immigrant in 17th century North America who hunts and banishes ghosts alongside his mentor and lover Antea Duarte. After a disastrous encounter with a powerful entity known as the Nightmare leaves Antea mortally wounded, she returns from death’s door as a spirit herself, caught between the world of the living and dead. Together, you must continue your duty of protecting the innocent from malevolent ghosts while also trying to find a way to resurrect Antea or help her ascend to the afterlife.
From the opening scenes of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, I was invested in the tale of these two lovers, even with the minimal amount of backstory provided. The voice actors for Red and Antea deliver emotional performances, convincingly capturing the intimacy between the characters in both joyful and tragic moments. The writers ensure that connection shines through in all their interactions. Even small exchanges moved me, and that chemistry remains palpable whether they are bantering playfully or desperately trying to cling to hope in their doomed situation.
The story wastes no time in hitting you with gut punches, either. Once the tutorial section was finished, Antea was dead and returned as a spirit tethered to our world, and Red, now utterly heartbroken, is now alone and needs to find his way forward. This early tragedy forged an instant emotional bond between me and the characters, as I immediately wanted to help guide Antea and find a way to reunite these two lovers while also avenging her against the shadowy forces that took her life.
The intricate story of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden remains compelling as you take on cases of dangerous ghosts terrorizing remote settlements that play out like mini-ghost-hunting mysteries. Each one ties into the overarching story of hunting down the Nightmare or uncovering secrets about the reunion of these two ghost hunters. Some of the stories told are truly harrowing, with complex situations with no clear good or bad side, and many are truly heartbreaking when you learn all the facts.
Through the ghosts you encounter and the living victims you judge, the game forces you to determine what true justice looks like when everyone has suffered in some way. It is one of the most morally gray games I have played in a long time, and I could not look away even as the mysteries worked to shake my faith in humanity.
I often agonized over the decisions in these cases, wondering if I had any right to condemn souls to oblivion or rob victims of vengeance. The game pulls no punches, exploring weighty issues like domestic abuse, murder, LGBTQIA+ themes and more. There are several gut-wrenching scenes that elicited very visceral emotional reactions from me. It often felt like DON’T NOD crafted these narratives to provoke players to examine their own morality and beliefs, and I really should expect nothing less from the studio that brought us Life is Strange.
While the main storyline and side quests alone would have been enough to carry this title due to their exceptional writing, DON’T NOD went the extra mile to make the actual gameplay equally engaging. Combat requires you to constantly switch between controlling Red and Antea, each with their own unique movesets. Red relies on swordsmanship and marksmanship, while Antea uses her magical abilities and physical prowess for weaponless fighting. These powers change as you learn new skills, with some of the later game abilities being devising.
This setup kept combat feeling fresh, as I constantly needed to change up strategies and coordinate attacks between the couple to get the upper hand on enemies. Trying to time perfectly executed tag team moves provides an immensely satisfying feeling when pulled off correctly. DON’T NOD could have easily made combat a repetitive hack-and-slash experience but instead focused on thoughtful mechanics that capture Red and Antea’s symbiotic partnership, and the game is so much deeper and more engaging for this design decision.
There are extensive skill trees for augmenting Red and Antea’s abilities. Red’s skills focus on weapon mastery and survival, allowing players to tailor him to their preferred playstyle of up-close melee versus long-range sniping. Antea’s ghostly powers offer support options to assist Red as well as devastating offensive attacks drawing from her magical essence.
Like all great RPGs, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden requires you to be mindful of your resources. Fighting with Red fills up Antea’s bars so she can fight and help with combos. You can also build up your banish bar and Fusion skills in combat. This can let you unleash a devastating attack and even allow Antea to use Red’s weapons in combat. To level up Antea’s skills, you need to solve cases and collect essence, giving you more reason to take on Haunting Cases and become an unstoppable ghost-fighting duo.
Visually, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is simply gorgeous, especially when exploring the wilderness of its version of colonial America. Lighting effects, particle effects like insects buzzing around, the sway of trees in the wind, it’s evident DON’T NOD crafted an atmosphere rooted in realism rather than fantasy. Haunting yet beautiful vistas filled my many travels, making me excited to see what would show up beyond the next fog-filled forest or snowcapped mountain. Even creepy locales like abandoned mines and decrepit homesteads have a grounded look to them.
“The multiple endings based on key decisions throughout the story provide strong incentives to replay Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.”
Of course, not everything is perfect, even in a game with such a level of craft put into each aspect. While the main characters and environments in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Look fantastic, NPCs are a notably weaker point. Their facial animations and lip-syncing often seem unnatural and dated compared to Red and Antea’s lifelike expressions. This discrepancy breaks immersion during some emotional moments in cases when the stilted reactions of victims pulled me out of the experience.
And even with all the praise I laid at the feet of the combat in Banishers, things can get a bit repetitive with only a selection of enemies beyond the bosses. Even with all that said, overall art direction and story remain a highlight and, at least for me, can compensate for some shortcomings that could take away from a game less well devolved.
By the time I reached the end of the main campaign, I was fully engaged in my quest to revive Antea. I had bonded with these characters through joy and sorrow across their journey confronting deadly ghosts and inner demons alike. The multiple endings based on key decisions throughout the story provide strong incentives to replay Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. I immediately started a second playthrough, intent on following the path not taken to see where it leads Red and Antea since it felt like there was still much more to experience and ghosts to banish.
While there is no new game plus to allow you to carry over levels and gear, even after countless hours, there were still plenty of opportunities to see even more of what Banishers has to offer. Many side cases and entire world map regions remain unseen for me, promising dozens more hours of content. Five endings and the butterfly effect of smaller choices give this game incredible replay value. I’m genuinely excited to keep exploring alternate story outcomes and to see how Red and Antea would change the lives of the people of New Eden going forward.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden delivers a haunting yet beautiful world rich with compelling characters and stories that provoke introspection on morality and justice. Expertly crafted mechanics capture the symbiotic partnership between the leads, while deep roleplaying progression lets you forge your own ghost-hunting legend. An emotional narrative that questions the nature of life, death and redemption serves as the gripping backbone for this modern horror RPG gem. DON’T NOD has created a true masterpiece that will be remembered as one of 2024’s top titles. I highly recommend all RPG fans and horror lovers add Banishers to their collection.
- Buy the phy. version of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden & get the Wanderer Set DLC including the Wanderer outfit and Cortador and Ascua, fabled weapons
- Unlock new gear and abilities to unleash the full power of the Banishers
