Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

It's a real shame no one really talks about Banishers. It's a phenomenally written experience with the only complaint I have being the serviceable combat. It has one of the most interesting stories and settings I've seen recently and the best written couple in games. Red and Antea are believable as a couple, both with their own flaws, distinct personalities, and ways they show each other their love. Those elements really shine and make them feel believable, something most games get totally wrong. Another highlight are the moral choices in the game. Without getting into spoiler territory, there's many situations you'll find yourself in that the game requires you to make a choice in a morally gray situation. I found myself taking some time going back and forth on which choice I should make. There's always an argument for either choice most of the time. Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone looking to experience an action game & story that didn't get the attention it deserved. It's long (40+ hrs) and has a ton of side content that's mostly worth your time, but again, the combat is the weakest point here. That's not to say it's awful, it just gets the job done.

Sigh... This is the first time I have to place a game I'm reviewing at "Not Recommended". I usually don't bother because I tend to be rather forgiving. But since I played a few games from the studio before, I don't like where this is going. First of all, they should rename it to "Banishers: Hippies of the New Eden". Despite how much the developers like to loudly tell you how they aren't scared of undertaking grim and difficult topics, it is not the case at all. So, let's start from the obvious negatives. [list] [*]Let's address the elephant in the room: Antea. Not only is she absolutely unlikable character (unlike Red mind you) - she is constantly trying to sound bossy, criticises Red during combat non-stop, gets mad at him for no reason, etc. - but she is very unrealistic to be around so many people as a black person during 1600s and seems like nobody is paying attention to that. People used to be ruthless and discriminatory, it's a fact. [*]The devs keep trying to show how deep the relationship between Red and Antea is - you, as a player, are told this many times - but there is no substance there. I don't feel like these people are in love. It seems like developers forgot what a person who is in love should act like and replaced it with girl boss agenda. By no means am I telling a person can't be flawed - they should be, as it makes them more human. But this aren't it. They tried to explain why Antea is acting like that towards the end of the game, but IMO it failed. I am a woman myself and I like well portrayed women characters. Antea was simply so unlikable that I decided I am going to get rid of her rather early in the game. And my outlook did not change during 100+ hours I spent in this game. [*]Another thing is so many (yes, many for that era) lesbian and gay relationships are disclosed like it was a normality back them. They simply say that ye, people are judging them. However, that is not how people reacted to homosexuality back then and would not be willing to disclose this info so easily. It is just covered with a layer of modern paint, and it really bugs me. It makes it preformative and token-istic. [/list] Either you take difficult topics and actually handle them as appropriated, without your modern filters, or don't pretend that you created a world which is as brutal as it actually was in 1600s. A black woman should be extremely scared for her life at that time in that place; in the meantime, she is the boss of the banishers and nobody seems to care much, apart from a few rude remarks from a few characters. This discrepancy is extremely annoying and I am tired seeing this. I loved Vampyr and it was nothing like this when it comes to a historical vampire drama commencing during WWI, when people were still extremely judgemental. [b]More negatives:[/b] [list] [*]Yellow paint. [*]Invisible walls. [*]Traversing can be annoying, making you run there and back several times because oh something unlocked there as you unlock your skills. The rewards are simply not worth the effort. [*]Not the best enemy variety. [/list] [b]Positives:[/b] [list] [*]Genuinely interesting stories behind the people you meet. [*]Combat can be fun. [*]Your actions generally change the villages you visit over time, making your decisions matter. [*]Most of the characters are actually pretty compelling and nuanced but one, and you probably know which one I'm talking about. [*]I liked the world and environments. [/list] I want more Vapyr and less of this. The game fell into obscurity, nobody was talking about it and very few knew about it. Despite being at very positive on Steam, it only has 2.8k reviews, which, for a game of this scale, is very very few. I am not even in doubt there will be no second game but I wish they would get rid of all that preformative stuff because I personally am really fed up with it.

I liked the game at first, but the charmed faded away after the Hammer and tongs quest, which upset me beyond measure. [spoiler]If you ascend and not banish her husband's ghost, of which she can't have the knowledge whatsoever, for she is not adept in the dark arts or anything, she will gain ill-natured status with you, raising the prices in her shop, despite you saving her and her lover's asses. Antheya being a total hypocrite, freely changing her stances on killing innocent people and dealing with ghosts, doesn't help either.[/spoiler] It happens because of the twisted self-righteous logic of the person responsible for this quest, and later on the complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥-upness of the moral compass inside the scriptwriter's head becomes even more obvious. I guess it happens if you've been reading ♥♥♥♥ books instead of the classics and had no real-life interactions with real people outside of your city, and make an attempt at writing a story set in the dark and unforgiving times of our history, where people actually struggled to survive. Anyway, the narrative dissonance was so strong I was completely severed from the immersion and stopped caring about anything happening in this game. And I believe in a story-driven game this hiccup is much more dire than the problems with empty open world, tedious activities on the map and redundant RPG elements.

Meh. Very cool setting and lore are weighed down by inconsistent characters and often poor writing. Combat is mid but wasn't the worst, if writing was better I wouldn't care nearly as much. Many side quests are half-baked or bland yet the game pushes you to do side content to level, and way too much of it. By the end of the game I lowered the difficulty just so I could stop getting one-shot and focus on the last main story mission. Vampyr (same dev) had some similar flaws but I liked the combat more, plus the characters and writing are better/more consistent there imo

I just finished Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden after about 42.4 hours, unlocking 33 out of 43 trophies, and overall… I liked the game. But it’s clearly a game of huge highs and frustrating lows. Let’s start with the positives, because they are really strong. Visually, the game is beautiful. Not necessarily mind-blowing technically, but very solid overall. What truly stands out is the artistic direction and the universe. The setting, the atmosphere, the tone, it’s all incredibly well crafted. The game has a strong identity, dark, melancholic, and immersive. You really feel transported into this haunted version of New Eden. The story, the lore, and the core concept are honestly amazing. That’s what kept me playing until the end. The whole idea of dealing with spirits, making moral choices, investigating hauntings, and deciding the fate of people, it’s genuinely engaging. The investigations and narrative arcs in side quests are often very well written, sometimes even better than the main story. The characters also deserve praise. They feel alive, believable, and emotionally grounded. The voice acting is strong, and the relationship between the protagonists carries a lot of the emotional weight of the game. There’s real depth there, and it works. Now… the problems. The biggest one, by far, is the gameplay. It is extremely repetitive and honestly not very good. Combat lacks depth, variety, and impact. You end up fighting the same enemies, with the same patterns, using the same moves, over and over again. And the game throws a lot of combat at you; between the main story, side quests, and exploration, you’re constantly fighting. At some point, it becomes a chore. I stayed for the story and the universe, but I had to push through the gameplay, and that’s never a good sign. This leads directly to the second major issue: the length. The game is just too long for what it offers gameplay-wise. It follows a structure similar to a God of War-like semi-open world, with interconnected zones and progression systems. But unlike God of War, which has incredibly polished and satisfying combat, here the gameplay doesn’t support such a long experience. So instead of feeling epic, it often feels dragged out and exhausting. The RPG elements, crafting, skills, progression, are there, but very basic. They do their job, but nothing stands out or really enhances the experience in a meaningful way. The soundtrack is also quite forgettable. It’s not bad, but it never really leaves an impression, which is a shame given how strong the atmosphere and world-building are. In the end, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a frustrating game. It has an incredible universe, great writing, strong characters, and a genuinely compelling concept, but it’s held back by weak, repetitive gameplay and poor pacing. It’s one of those games where you stay for the story, not for the moment-to-moment experience. To much filling and Assassin's creed like trophies, I was thinking about 100% the game, but it's useless AF. For me, it lands around a 6.5 / 10. A good game with amazing ideas, but one that could have been so much better with stronger gameplay and tighter design.

I quit about halfway through. I spent quite a bit of time doing side quests, but eventually I got tired of them. The game isn't really open-world; it's quite linear, with very little meaningful exploration. If you try to explore ahead of time, you'll often run into areas that are blocked off. The game eventually leads you to all the points of interest through side quests anyway, so early exploration feels frustrating and unrewarding. Because of that, the gameplay started to feel like a chore, simply following the paths the game wanted me to take. In the end, the story wasn't compelling enough to make me come back and finish it. Got it on sale, which was fine.

Banishers ghosts of new eden is a supernatural action rpg made by dont nod . first i would like to tell what i feel good about this game . the story of this game is very good and it also has a really good choice system which i cant tell more about without spoiling about it . l the music in this game is very dark and emotional . however there are some major problems with this game , the open world activities and map navigation is a nightmare in this game . u literally have to open the map every 10 seconds to see where u are going next also there is so much backtracking in this game for side activities that it becomes a slog and the pathetic fast travel system does not help with that too. u can literally fast travel only through a campfire which there are not too many present on the map . the open world aspect of this game really holds back the true potential of this game . so if you are a completionist i would warn u that u will suffer so much doing the 100 percent of this game , i would suggest to enjoy the main story and haunted cases in this game that is where is this game shines the most . overall if you ignore the side content its a really good game . 8/10

[h1][i]Peine forte et dure[/i] [/h1] Каким-то образом Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden долго обходила меня стороной. Я вообще не знал о её существовании, пока она не начала попадаться в рекомендациях. Сначала подумал, что это что-то проходное, но всё же взял из любопытства - и ни разу не пожалел. Лично для меня игра ощущалась тяжело. В ней очень точно передана атмосфера безысходности, грязи и предательства. До самого конца не отпускает чувство горечи и гнева, которые тянутся через всё прохождение. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3718675877 Особенно зацепила история Деборы - своей несправедливостью и полным отсутствием шанса что-либо изменить. Это давило сильнее всего. Игра встречает нас тихой, почти романтичной сценой: Ред Макрей и Антея Дуарте лежат рядом, в предвкушении нового дела. Давний друг просит помощи - нужно изгнать духа. Главные герои - изгнатели. Их нанимают, чтобы решать конфликты между живыми и мёртвыми. И неважно каким способом. Здесь ты одновременно судья, присяжный и палач. Если нужно - караешь живых. Если необходимо - насильно отправляешь духа в иной мир. Я пытался искать компромисс, но это удавалось не всегда. Персонажи в этой игре далеки от святых, и порой они совершают такие вещи, что единственным верным приговором, по моему мнению, остаётся смерть. По прибытии в Нью-Иден сначала возникает сочувствие. Обычные люди: крестьяне, фермеры, торговцы. Они страдают - неурожай, вечная зима там, где её не должно быть, нападения теней. Кажется, что перед тобой жертвы. Но чем дальше продвигаешься, тем больше открывается правды. И в какой-то момент понимаешь - жаль уже не их. Те, кто казались добрыми и невинными, раскрываются с другой стороны: лицемерие, алчность, жестокость. И та, кто их терроризирует, уже не выглядит однозначным злом. В такие моменты выбор перестаёт быть между добром и злом. Остаётся только решать, кто виноват сильнее. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3718675842 Сюжет развивается неспешно, но с каждым делом и каждой найденной запиской открывается всё больше деталей. К финалу они складываются в один тяжёлый, неизбежный ком, с которым всё равно придётся столкнуться. Отдельно хочется отметить главных героев. Они ощущаются живыми и по-настоящему любящими друг друга. Антея - загадочная и сильная изгнательница с множеством секретов, которые она постепенно раскрывает. У неё мягкий, почти убаюкивающий голос, но за ним чувствуется сила и опыт. Ред Макрей - её ученик. Бывший военный, бунтарь, местами наивный. Он может шутить и разряжать обстановку, но в нужный момент становится холодным и решительным. Они неразрывно связаны - любовью или чем-то даже более тяжёлым. И наблюдать за их отношениями интересно на протяжении всей игры: от непонимания и отрицания - к ярости, затем к попыткам принять происходящее, и в итоге - к холодному, болезненному смирению. Несмотря на трагедию, Антея даже в своём положении остаётся живым человеком со своим характером. Иногда Ред может сказать что-то не так или неудачно пошутить - и она обижается, отстраняется, не даёт переключиться на себя. В такие моменты это выглядит прикольно и даже немного забавно - на фоне всей той тяжести, что происходит вокруг. [b]Что касается игрового процесса:[/b] Графика приятная для глаза - чувствуется, что это Новый Свет, ещё не обжитый и дикий. Локации разнообразные: от заснеженных деревень и фортов до густых зелёных лесов, разорённых укреплений, заброшенных хижин, заражённых шахт и таинственных пещер. Повсюду видны следы сражений между индейцами и солдатами. Мир открытый и наполнен точками интереса (привет витчер 3). В начале многое недоступно из-за нехватки способностей, но ближе к концу появляется возможность вернуться и исследовать всё пропущенное - если есть желание. Геймплей зрелищный и не надоедает. Боевая система разнообразная, с прокачкой навыков в разных ветках. Главная фишка - переключение между Редом и Антеей: есть два типа врагов - духи и одержимые тела. Против духов эффективен Ред, против телесных противников - Антея. Эта механика добавляет динамики и не даёт боям стать однообразными даже спустя 70+ часов. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3718675961 В итоге это действительно сильная игра, которую я смело добавляю в список своих фаворитов. Она может показаться невзрачной и легко пройти мимо, но если вы на неё наткнётесь не игнорируйте. Это тяжёлая, мрачная и очень человеческая история о боли, несправедливости и о том, какими на самом деле бывают люди.