Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a ghost hunting adventure that sees players visit a haunted colony in New England to resolve the spooky goings on. Here’s what we thought of the game.
Before we played Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden we were surprised by the lack of buzz, chiefly caused by a low-key marketing campaign. This is often a bad sign with some games, but a massive promotional push also doesn’t always lead to a successful game either. So, we were pleasantly surprised by Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and came away from the experience like we had just read a series of short ghost stories.
To set the scene, Banishers is set in a small New England colony roughly a century before the Revolutionary War. The town was thriving, but a malaise has fallen over the community leading to some people whispering that the colony is cursed. The local priest is luckily a former ghost hunter and recognises the signs of a haunting, but unable to resolve it himself, he calls in the big guns, his Banisher buddies from England, Antea and Red.
Combat is electric in Banishers, but it’s not everything.
Banish or Ascend?
Antea is the senior ghost hunter with her lover, Red, being her pupil. Red also has a tendency to view ghosts sympathetically while Antea is of the belief that lingering spirits need to be banished to the afterlife – whether they want to go or not. You see, even friendly and well-meaning ghosts can unwittingly prey on the living, causing their loved ones to slowly perish.
All ghosts in Banishers are bound to a person, item, or family and over time, they’ll begin to drain the people they haunt of their life force. As a spirit lingers, it becomes hungrier and hungrier for this life force and will soon essentially become a predatory force, draining those they once loved so that they can linger in this world a while longer. Banishers exist to put a stop to this, either by helping a ghost accept their fate and solving any unfinished business they may have, or by simply forcing them away through a banishment ritual.
Ghosts who agree to go quietly can be quietly ‘Ascended’ but those who turn hostile and refuse to move on will need to be ‘Banished’, a much more aggressive process that seemingly hurts and potentially destroys the spirit. However, unlike an Ascension, banishing a ghost permanently severs its connection to the material world. Much of the content in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is build around this premise, as while you solve various hauntings around the colony, you’ll need to decide the fates of the ghosts you encounter, but also of the people being haunted.
Antea and Red have some agonising choices to make.
Murderous intentions
As the game’s box art and trailer make clear, Antea becomes a ghost early on in the story of Banishers, leaving Red with an agonising decision to make. Does he Ascend his beloved and teacher? Or does he engage in a bout of human sacrifice to resurrect her – betraying everything the pair stands for as Banishers? At the end of every haunting, the player will need to make a choice. Do they banish the ghost, ascend them, or blame the living person, stealing their life force and giving it to Antea? Each murder gets Antea one step closer to coming back to life, but at the cost of dozens of lives.
Whatever path you choose, the haunting will be resolved either way. Antea also can’t be ascended straight away, as the hostile ghost causing the haunting is in possession of her body, and is using it to keep Antea bound to this plane of existence. If a ghost lingers without consuming life force, they they eventually degenerate into a mindless and hungry spectre until they’re banished for good. Therefore, Red and Antea need to decide on a path and try to stick to it, but the game’s difficult moral choices make this difficult at times.
Simply banishing ghosts is also not always easy, some ghosts are victims of murders and seek justice, while other spirits are much more gentle. Others however are hostile to Banishers and will refuse to be ascended. In other cases, you’ll find yourself sympathetic to the ghost and the one they’re haunting will turn out to be the villain. It’s these cases when the sacrifice option becomes incredibly tempting. There are also cases where nobody is at fault and this can often be the most difficult ones to resolve, depending on the path you’ve committed to.
Some ghosts in Banishers are truly frightening.
Vengeful spirits
The hauntings are the most interesting, fun and rewarding part of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, but the game also marries detective work, third-person combat and exploration into one exciting package. It also manages to maintain a survival horror vibe that will really appeal to fans of Silent Hill and other creepy games. It’s worth pointing out that the third-person combat, be it the game’s hack and slash battles or shooting mechanics have been done far better in other games, but it’s never dull. These moments also don’t outstay their welcome, as there is much more to Banishers than it’s combat.
While Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden borrows from various gaming genres, it does so artfully and sparingly, never relying on one gameplay loop or buckling under the weight of the multiple plates the game is spinning. It’s also a game that makes talking to NPCs fun and rewarding. Every character is a possible new ghost story waiting to be told and we found every one to be an original and engaging discovery.
Simply exploring New Eden and soaking up the spooky atmosphere will please horror fans, but if you’re a fan of games like Bioshock, Life is Strange, Fallout and other games that put the player in tough moral quandaries, then you’ll love Banishers. The game’s boss fights also feel like Soulslike titles at times.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden isn’t going to be for everyone, especially not those who are looking for a high-octane thrill ride. This is a game for those who like to be told a ghost story on a dark, cold and rainy night.
