Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, the new action RPG by indie developer Don’t Nod and Focus Entertainment, is finally here! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review Overview
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Great Narrative-Driven Experience Simple To Understand Combat Amazing Backgrounds and Setting |
Combat Lacks Depth, Variety, and Weight Performance Could Be A Lot Better NPC Character Design Leave Much To Be Desired |
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Overall - 74/100
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden hooks you in with the premise of love, hard choices, and the supernatural, and it delivers above and beyond the prejudices I had. However, the game is far from perfect. It has lackluster combat throughout the game, performance issues, and some graphical choices that really hamper the experience. It’s a game with clear positives and it may leave you a good experience if you’re in it for the story.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Story - 9/10
From the simple premise of having two duty-bound lovers making tough decisions to honor their duty or selfishly put their love first, comes with my personal prejudice of being too simple. I’m glad to know that I was mistaken on this part because the game definitely pushes a lot of its stories well. The game forces you to make consequential decisions immediately and reminded me of how The Witcher handled the side stories and quests throughout the game.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Gameplay - 6/10
I’ll be completely honest, the combat leaves a lot to be desired. This is definitely the game’s weakest aspect which is a shame because the other elements of the game are pretty good. That, and the progression of learning and maxing out your abilities is a slow burn. Outside of these two though, it’s a large open-world game filled with interesting enough side quests that are good enough to carry the combat.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Visuals - 7/10
It’s not the greatest-looking game out there, but outside of the human character designs, it doesn’t weigh the game down enough to call it out. The locales are great, the gothic-medieval-supernatural aesthetic is definitely inspired, and the main characters of the story carry the game’s art budget. It’s a good-looking game, but it’s not the main draw or appeal.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Audio - 8/10
The melancholic soundtrack and voice acting are amazing. The music always enhances the experience and keeps your guard up all the time with how the characters work with each other and with the people they meet along the way. The voice acting is pretty good as well, I just wished that the voices were done justice by the facial expressions and animations that the models currently have.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Value for Money - 7/10
For a $50/$60 game for PC and consoles respectively, it offers a good 20-hour experience for the main story and an additional 10 to 15 hours for a complete completion. It’s a game that’ll definitely keep you busy with its multitude of side quests as well as its amazing story. While one could argue that the game is worth it for the story alone, I’d understand passing on the game because of its performance issues and lackluster combat.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review: The Truth Shall Set You Free
This game was pretty good for a double-A IP from the makers of Vampyr and Life is Strange. The clear focus on storytelling and its narrative is undeniable in this action RPG experience. It’s ironic what happens to our main characters, Red and Antea, as their jobs require them to give closure to their clientele. But what happens when they’re the ones that need closure due to an untimely demise? The game explores how far you’re willing to go for someone you love.
Banishers are like exorcists and witchers minus the magical abilities of the latter. They’re contracted to do certain jobs, normally regarding the supernatural, and will be asked to deal with it however they can. The premise is simple, Antea is killed in action and Red is forced to quell the Nightmare plaguing New Eden town himself. In a cruel twist of fate, Antea becomes a ghost because of their love for each other. As a ghost, Antea now has supernatural powers however her hunger for living essence must be sated from time to time, or else she becomes a specter. They must now make constant decisions to keep Antea herself or choose to let her go in this gripping experience.
Unfortunately, while the narrative is absolute cinema, the combat is one of the things that weigh it down. As an action RPG, you expect certain things from the modern game, especially because of the amazing action RPGs that came before it. Personally, it reminded me a lot of the Witcher series with how it tackles the story and the side quests but pales in comparison to its combat. It has some special features with switching between the two protagonists in combat and even dynamic tag-teaming for certain attacks, but it doesn’t deliver on a lot of those fronts.
More on the combat, it lacks the weight and feedback that you’d expect the game to have. When attacking, the feedback isn’t that great when you’re swinging your saber and torch at the specters, bonewalkers, and more. Keep in mind that when I say feedback it isn’t just the visual aspect, but also the audio aspect of it. Attacks lack the weight and response that’s appropriate in such a heavy-loaded game which definitely makes it feel lackluster.
Additionally, the gameplay loop is hampered by its progression as well and the game is quite a slow burn, to say the least. This would lead to wanting to end combat scenarios as fast as possible, as the early game will have you spamming the same two or three buttons just to get through encounters. Leveling up and completing quests would allow you to dabble more into the skill tree, which in turn would allow more interactions in combat.
This is where the problem lies in both the combat and progression. With an already uninteresting combat system and the slow progression of your characters, it feels like an eternity before you actually become threatening to the enemies that plague America and New Eden. These, alongside the small variety of enemies throughout the game, add to the slog of going through each encounter with the same game plan as when you first started the game. While the game does get going in the latter half of its experience with more of the abilities and skills unlocked, it may be too little too late for players who have already gotten bored of the combat.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is definitely an interesting experience, and while it isn’t the perfect home run that you might be expecting, you can expect a great narrative-driven action RPG. Don’t expect too much from its combat though, as while it has its moments in boss fights, it ultimately falls flat as it's too slow, clunky, and unresponsive.
Pros of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
| Things Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Got Right |
|---|
|
Great Narrative-Driven Experience Good Twists, Sleuthing, and Detective Work Amazing Backgrounds and Setting |
Great Narrative-Driven Experience
Simply put, the narrative is the main selling point of the game. The premise is already interesting and uses this to set you up with tough decisions moving forward. A lot of the game’s cases of helping people get closure with the dead will have you questioning what the right thing to do right off the bat. While you could approach these events in black and white, the game operates in a moral gray area where you could be selfish and it would still be in character for the protagonists to do these things.
Good Twists, Sleuthing, and Detective Work
The side quests of the game are numerous and are another highlight of the gameplay. This is the main reason why the game reminded me so much of The Witcher series, as it involves going around for information on the client and their case and even searching for the ghosts responsible for the truth of the matter. There is more than meets the eye in each case that I’ve experienced so far, and frankly, I quite liked each case as well as the setup to these cases.
Amazing Backgrounds and Setting
While the character models may not be the greatest, the environment and setting are top-notch. I’m not exactly sure how to describe the theme of the game, but it definitely works. It’s kind of like a gothic, medieval, and supernatural vibe that is enhanced by the underlying themes of religion and demonology that are also explored in the game.
Cons of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
| Things That Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Can Improve |
|---|
|
Combat Lacks Depth, Variety, and Weight Performance Could Be A Lot Better NPC Character Design Leave Much To Be Desired |
Combat Lacks Depth, Variety, and Weight
The combat is definitely this game’s weak point as it gets repetitive and boring really fast. When you do get new abilities and equipment to try, it becomes slightly more fun. However, with the drip-feed of experience and new equipment, it becomes repetitive and boring again. This lasts throughout the game, as in a matter of hours the game will have already shown you all the enemy types. The game’s not a cakewalk per se, but it doesn’t make the experience any better.
Additionally, the lack of feedback from getting hit or attacking is a really bothersome thing for me. While it is apparent that both of your characters are hitting literal spirits, the blows really feel like they’re not connecting or just hitting air all the time. Even when getting hit, it doesn’t feel like you got hit as I only check my HP out when the screen turns black and white due to tanking several hits.
Performance Could Be A Lot Better
I played the game on the PS5, and even then the performance was still taking hits in different scenes. This could be because the game doesn’t have any pre-rendered cutscenes at all and continues on like this for the rest of the game. It’s obvious when the framerate dips and it does feel jarring when it does. Lastly, I also encountered bugs that got me stuck near walls and interactable terrain which had halted my momentum quite a bit.
NPC Character Design Leave Much To Be Desired
While I have no qualms about the protagonists and the main antagonist, the same could not be said for the other NPCs. Some of them don’t really have the same love and care the main characters were given, and it shows.
Is Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Worth It?
Play For the Story, Not For the Combat.
As I’ve said time and time again in this review, the narrative is top-notch. The combat weighs it down like an anchor, however, and it will definitely leave people desiring more from it like myself. I’m not the biggest fan of action RPGs, but I do expect a number of things from it. While it does deliver above and beyond from a narrative standpoint, it just doesn’t do it for me on the other half of its gameplay. If you’re interested in the story, I would say to go for it, but if not, wait for a sale or skip entirely.
| Digital Storefronts | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Epic |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
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| $49.99 | $59.99 | |||||
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Overview & Premise
The year is 1695, and within a place in North America called New Eden, dreadful curses run rampant and affect townspeople across the land. You will take the role of Red and Antea, two Banishers who can investigate said curses and free innocent victims from the malignant evils. The two will try their best to dispel any and all curses they are tasked with, all for the goal of instilling hope once more in their world consumed by darkness. However, throughout their trials and endeavors, both Red and Antea will be faced with difficult choices – choices that they will have to carry for the rest of their journey and their lives.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden FAQ
What did the developers of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden work on before this game?
DON’T NOD is the indie studio responsible for the narrative experiences of Life is Strange, Remember Me, Vampyr, and recently, Jusant, from 2023.
Who are the publishers of Banishers: Ghost of New Eden?
Focus Entertainment is the studio behind Evil West, Atlas Fallen, Atomic Heart, and the critically acclaimed Plague Tale series.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Product Information
 | |
| Title | BANISHERS: GHOSTS OF NEW EDEN |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 13, 2024 |
| Developer | DON’T NOD |
| Publisher | Focus Entertainment |
| Supported Platforms | PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Story-Driven, |
| Number of Players | Single-Player (1) |
| Rating | ESRB T |
| Official Website | Banishers Ghosts of New Eden Official Website |
