Review of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden – tragic love horror

Banishers is that rare and enjoyable case of a game that immediately captivated many players with its very first trailer, revealing both a very interesting theme and its very stylish and promising execution. Set in a relatively realistic depiction of American colonization history, Exorcism takes on a whole new dimension when your life partner and love switches sides. Interesting horror for some, tragic romance for others, but a promising plot and story for all – especially since French studio Don’t Nod has a habit of letting you influence the story quite fundamentally with your choices in their games.

• Platform: PS5 (review) XSX|S, PC
• Publication date: 13/02/2024
• Manufacturer: Don’t nod (France)
• Genre: Action adventure game
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Download data: 45 GB
• Game time: 15+ hours
• Price: CZK 1539 (Playclub)

Until the death separates us

New Eden, 1695. The miserable life of the settlers, in addition to the merciless desert surrounding them, is also complicated by supernatural forces that gradually claim the lives of many of them. To help, they call a couple of “Exiles” (the Czech equivalent of this name could be, for example, Zazenavatsi), lovers Anthea Duarte and Red Mac Wright. They take their job very seriously, but they underestimate the enormous power of the demon plaguing this community of settlers. As a result, Anthea loses her life, and when she returns in disembodied form, Red must decide whether, even under these circumstances, she will continue to follow the desired rule of “live by the living, die by the dead.” “Under certain circumstances, Anthea’s spirit could remain with him forever… or even return to the living. But would the price be too high?

The setting and plot are certainly interesting in their own right, but what makes a good story is good characters, and I can happily confirm that both main characters are absolutely excellent. They act as mature individuals who are aware of the dangers of their work and, moreover, enjoy the reliability, trust and comfort in each other’s arms. But almost all the other characters in the story are also well-written, even those you meet only briefly as part of optional side passages. More or less everyone in this world has a certain common misfortune caused by the cruel and dangerous life in the desert. But the connections between them are often even stronger, and unfortunately, your task often breaks those connections, leading to some truly dark events and difficult decisions.

But will the price be too high?

Just like the original trailers, the game itself more or less captivated me from the first moment. The atmosphere is absolutely breathtaking, the audiovisual design is very decent (for the games of this studio there is quite a noticeable shift from relatively “cartoonish” stylization to realism), the acting is at the highest level, and, perhaps most importantly, the chemistry. between Red and Anthea is absolutely believable. Perhaps my only nitpick seems to be a certain change in their mood in the second half of the game, I was not too happy with this, given their previous behavior, but it is possible that I caused this with my own choices – after all, you influence the story in almost every chapter with the help very fundamental decisions, and thus you can expect one of five significantly different endings. For the best ones, I highly recommend not skipping the side quests, which shouldn’t be a problem since their “small stories” are often just as impressive as the main one. In many ways, the game reminded me of the series In Demons, which also works well, mainly due to the excellent chemistry of the central love couple.

Life for the living, death for the dead

Based on previous games and demos, I expected Banishers to be a “cinematic” adventure game in the style of the Life is Strange series, which these authors are also responsible for. Instead, it’s an action-adventure game with light RPG elements. Apart from the impressive audio-visual design, the gameplay has also improved compared to previous games (eg Vampyr). Particularly noteworthy is the combat system: in addition to the ability to hack and shoot, it allows you to instantly switch between two characters during combat, which leads to some pretty impressive combos. While the production side of the game isn’t that great, I was repeatedly reminded of the current/Nordic God of War series during combat, including some impressive boss battles. You also collect and upgrade your equipment and abilities here, but it’s not a very deep or complex system.

At the same time, adjusting the difficulty will allow you to turn the game into an adrenaline fight for your life or, on the contrary, to complete it without much effort, more like a movie performance. The game map is relatively large, but individual locations are a fairly closed collection of all kinds of corridors and clearings, so you can never get too lost. The game will also feature new side quests so you don’t accidentally miss them. I’m highlighting all of these things mainly because I believe the game’s central theme will attract even relatively casual players to it who might not otherwise reach a game of this type. It’s no coincidence that the game comes out on Valentine’s Day.

It’s no coincidence that the game comes out on Valentine’s Day.

Adequate length is also important for the overall impression. The game will take you about fifteen hours to complete, but this time can be significantly increased by completing all side quests or playing on a higher difficulty. But it is likely that you will want to play this game more than once. The end of your story doesn’t just depend on some choice at the end, you influence it from the very beginning of the game – so if you want to see a different one, you need to play through the game again. But it will be easier for you if the changes are visible already in the process. On a console, you have the option to choose between graphics settings for quality or performance, of course, I chose the latter and was pleased with the smoothness and overall technical condition of the game.