Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden review: solid action RPG dishes out some hard choices

12.02.2024 - 18:29 / digitaltrends.com / George Yang

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden MSRP $59.99 Score Details DT Recommended Product Pros

• Excellent worldbuilding
• Strong sidequests
• Engaging real-time combat
• Compelling choice system

• Choices can feel too binary
• Technical issues

I just couldn’t bring myself to kill a killer, even if I felt she deserved it. As justified as my violence might have been, her motive was to protect her sister before she contracted a deadly disease from a man. That was just one of many difficult moral quandaries that would test my values in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.

Developed by Life is Strange developer Don’t Nod, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a narrative-heavy action RPG set in the 1600s. That era isn’t a terribly exciting time to be alive, with a life expectancy of around 30 years. However, Banishers’ paranormal open-world approach makes it a genuinely fun time period to explore, filled with impactful choices to bolster its strong world-building.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden has an engaging overarching story supported by its excellent characters, further explored through engaging side quests. Even with a strong approach to choice-driven narrative in its standout main story, it falters when it railroads players into picking specific options.

In the name of love

Banishers follows Antea Duarte and Red Mac Raith, a pair of lovestruck ghost hunters, as they investigate a mysterious case in the town of New Eden. During their investigation, they encounter an incredibly powerful ghost called the Nightmare, which subsequently kills Antea, turning her into a ghost.

Antea and Red’s relationship is defined by conflicting ideals. Lingering ghosts suck the life essence from the hosts they haunt, so Antea believes that the ghosts need to ascend to the afterlife as soon as possible. Red has a more sympathetic view. Ironically, now that Antea is a ghost herself, she has to face the inevitability of having to leave Red after they complete their journey to defeat the Nightmare and lift New Eden’s curse.

The moral gray areas had me seriously contemplating what actions I should take

That creates some effective tension throughout the story, as Red’s secondary goal is to honor Antea’s wishes and help her ascend at journey’s end. Or, he can participate in a dark ritual that could bring her back to life — at a cost. Throughout the story, players come across side quests called Haunting Cases, where a ghost is haunting a villager. It’s up to our banishers to figure out why. You never know what kind of twist or direction they’ll end up going in.

Many start with a simple premise but then unravel, revealing more complexity behind both the ghost and the host’s motivations. For example, a simple shopkeeper’s store haunting ends up being