DaRmaZat 
The year is 1695. In the cursed town New Eden, the young lovers seek out their former mentor and reverend, Charles Davenport. Once there, they’re almost immediately attacked by Wanderers, a sort of ghostly Specters. As many villagers of New Eden did not survive such attacks and Charles appears to be dead as well, their ultimate goal quickly shifts into uncovering the dark mystery behind the so-called Nightmare curse that plagues the place. When Antea is also converted into a ghost, the haunted village seems the perfect stage for a gripping tale. Because of their deep bond, Red is determined to find a way to reclaim Antea’s body, or at least to let her spirit ascent in a more respectful manner. This introductory stage, which lasts a couple of hours, absolutely sets the perfect tone for a haunting, more than forty-hours-long expedition.
About Chemistry, Tension, and … Repetition
Especially in the beginning, the story unfolds nicely paced through dialogue choices and sometimes time-limited decisions. There’s a lot of amorous chemistry to acknowledge, oaths to swear but also some mutual tension, and even rare moments of separation between Red and Antea can be experienced later on. The ability to switch between both characters most of the time, each disposing of different special skills, also keeps the player engaged in these earlier phases of the game. Faster than expected however, the gameplay loop starts to annoy with its predictable semi-open world checklists that outline various dull tasks, and even less interesting subtasks.
From helping the local blacksmith, permanently destroying Specter nests for upgrades, to expelling evil spirits like in Ghostbusters’ best moments or even getting your hands back on a book or a bunch of nails: Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden often doesn’t respect your time. True, the presence of regular automatic saves and occasional shelters are very welcome features. In these shelters, weapons and gear can be upgraded, Evolution Points can be assigned to both characters and Fast Travel can be launched to another previously visited shelter. However, this also respawns all enemies. Regardless of these handy locations, navigational markers and the compass also often force you to endlessly wander back and forth to very specific points across the vast map.
Linear, but Interesting Closure Mechanics
Due to the ability for switching between Red and Antea, the first few chapters offer some variety to the gameplay. However, soon after, the overall experience degrades and almost becomes a chore. Mainly due to its linear plot script, the rigid environmental layout and failed attempt at free exploration gameplay, the player feels pushed in one direction, often hindered by the copy-pasted groups of enemies spawning in from nowhere. Each new region, fresh Haunting cases are tossed onto the map, centered around the removal of lingering ghosts. To achieve this goal, all available hints need to be uncovered first, with or without the help of your Bane rings which can disclose hidden secrets.
During the lifespan of such a Haunting case, at least one ritual must be performed when the required resources are acquired. These rituals can entail making the lingering spirit — or its echoes from the past — manifest, or more frightening, summoning the devil that haunts the place to fight it. Just like in many of the main quests, when arriving the point of closure, the player must decide whether to spare, blame, ascend or to banish the involved settlers. When someone is blamed, Red will kill that person and award the leftover soul to Antea, in an attempt in contributing to her resurrection. Completing these quests also offers additional Essence (for Antea) or Skill Points (for Red) which can be consumed to level up. At the same time, as the story progresses, Antea automatically gains additional special powers, like ensnaring enemies, travelling through ethereal portals and a for the environment devastating Outburst.
Limited Combat, Combined With Difficulty Spikes = ?
Despite the choice between several modes at the start of the campaign, the difficulty spikes at later moments in the game cannot be ignored, constantly stimulating the player to grind even more time. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden sucks a shitload of your precious time to invest in combat, in Sherlock Holmes-alike investigation and environmental research, just for some additional perks.
Most of these are passive perks, as Red can immediately parry, roll and dodge as good as Geralt of Rivia. Later on, melee receives upgrades too, as Red’s sword initially just disposes of a timid Light hit, and a more powerful but slower Charged strike. Ranged attack becomes a viable option as well when a rifle is added to Red’s arsenal. This rifle disposes of infinite bullets, but reloads very sluggish in return. Weirdly enough, Antea can only trade blows with her ghostly, but bare fists.
Yes, if there’s one thing to be said about the combat, is the fact that it’s very limited and quite repetitive, and the brutality and small variety of enemies doesn’t salvage this defect either. Luckily, after cumulating a sufficient number of combos, there’s still the Banish gauge which can be addressed — when full — for a powerful finishing move. However, that particular fatality proves itself to wear out very quickly as well. The combat gameplay really suffers from the lack of some button combinations that provide access to special attacks. On top of that, enemies are also very unforgiving and too numerous for the lower difficulty levels and, later on in the game, in comparison to the limited amount of available healing potions.
A Basic RPG, in All Facets
As a linear adventure game, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden offers a rather basic RPG experience, which explains perfectly why there’s no crafting involved in the whole gameplay loop. Red can only upgrade his equipment with the collected resources or refill his limited decoction potions when resting at the shelters. Yes, occasionally, Red and Antea discover a special item which provides a permanent upgrade of their Health or Spirit Gauges. However, there’s no compare option for the current items in the trader menu, and the inventory menu doesn’t display any vital information, like available coins, either. On first appearance, the skill tree also looks somewhat confusing, at least until understanding the need to chain the skill points of both protagonists to unlock the perks further down the forks.
Graphically powered by Unreal Engine 5, the game instantly impresses with its detailed environments and sharp assets, but absolutely not with its character animations during combat and dialogue. Even though both protagonists their faces’ express emotions vividly and are complemented with mostly strong voice acting, the bland face of many of the NPC’s and their less-than-perfect lip-sync detract more than just slightly from the overall visual experience. In this pc edition, Nvidia’s DLSS 3 Frame Generation really contributes to a leveraged performance, although traversal stutters and occasional flickering stay noticeable.
In conclusion, despite its flaws, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden maintains a strong moral theme of how far one would go for unconditional love. While the game doesn’t present a unique story, it still pans out quite intriguing, with the strong audio backdrop and very atmospheric visuals enhancing the overall experience. Unfortunately, it falls short of its potential, especially after a few hours. For players seeking a ghostly adventure with a love-driven narrative or some brainless challenges in a mesmerizing setting, the game may still provide a lot of entertainment. Its shortcomings prevent it nevertheless from really standing out, especially due its tendency to force the player to grind and the rather unbalanced, very repetitive combat gameplay, both contributing to the thickest layers of frustration.
Reviewed on PC.
Download code provided by the publisher.
