Coming out of nowhere is Don’t Nod and Focus Entertainment’s Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. While it might be flying under the radar for some, we suspect that will change very, very soon, as Don’t Nod’s first AAA game is a very ambitious one, and is just flat out filled to the brim with activities to do, ghosts to banish and more.

Note that our review will, for the most part, be spoiler-free, as Banishers has a pretty compelling story, and it’s best if players experience it for themselves. Ready to banish ghosts? Read on for our review, banisher!

Spectral Love Affair

Banisher’s entire plot revolves around a nasty specter you encounter very early on and what happens to Antea (not-so-spoilers: she gets killed). Throughout the game, you’re basically banishing ghosts (essentially sending them to heaven/hell), trying to get back at the main baddie and debating whether to resurrect your dead girlfriend or not. It’s not that cut and dry of course, as there are various twists and turns throughout the journey that makes this a compelling tale.

Fantastic writing that pours out every inch of the world. Be that sticking to the main story or venturing off on side quests, the world of Banishers is brimming with lore and characters to see and meet. Don’t Nod gives you a reason to care, love, and hate these characters that make decisions have heavier weight to them.

The tale woven involves not only a lot of dialogue, but a lot of reading too. It’s up to the player whether they want to listen or read through everything Don’t Nod has inserted into the game when it comes to lore, backstory, character profiles and more. If you’re not a fan of it, you can skip dialogue options and choose to not read the documents, books and other stuff lying about.

The story happening within the game’s various inhabitants are nicely done as well, as you’ll be caught up in tales of thievery, murder, a love triangle and more. Simply put: this is not your ordinary side quest fetch mission, but definitely so much more (more on this later in the review).

With multiple choices with different outcomes on not just the main story but even with regards to side quests and characters, and with multiple endings (I believe there’s 4-5 total) there’s a lot to chew on in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.

Get Lost, Banish Enemies!

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is HUGE. While it might not be fully open world like how it is in Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption 2 and whatnot, it’s still easy to get lost in the game’s locales. If I had to make a comparison, it’s game world is quite similar to God of War Ragnarok’s, in the sense that you can (almost) go anywhere, but it’s not technically open-world, and truth be told, I prefer my games that way. It doesn’t feel restrictive, yet it’s not too open that you get sidetracked on what you really need to do and where you need to go. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a ton of distractions to pull you away from the main story, but it won’t make you want to shut off your console/PC due to how daunting it all can be at a glance.

Speaking of distractions, there’s a lot of stuff to do in Banishers, and I mean a lot. Outside of the main story/campaign, players will be able to tackle Haunting Cases (think of yourself as a Sherlock Holmes for the dead), Haunted Grounds, Scourges, Void Walks, looking for the Altars (scattered throughout the game’s world in order to in raise your max HP) and loads more. You will see various activities pinpointed to in the map with a “?” and on the on-set, it can be a little overwhelming to see so many of these scattered throughout — at least the ones not covered by the fog.

While some of the side activities consists of going to a marked spot and opening a chest, triggering an Altar or something, the Haunting Cases are anything but by-the-numbers. These are well thought out side missions that involve their own cast of characters (all fully voiced, too!) and it involves various inhabitants of the game’s world. What’s even better is, completing these cases will sometimes even spawn new missions of its own and usually have an actual ending for that character’s story arc. It’s a nice touch by Don’t Nod and will make completing each one less of a drag (mind, some side missions take close to an hour to finish).

However, what spoils this fun trek through the game’s world is the map. Now, I admit, I’m not the best when it comes to navigation and whatnot, but Banishers is the only game where I have to constantly bring up the in-game map to see where I am since some of the locales look alike and have no distinct markers to let you know you’re in which area. There’s nothing in the map that tells you of your elevation status or your destination’s, so sometimes it’s marked on the map but it’s sectioned off since the area you need to get to is either higher up or below you. Couple that in with no marker whether you’ve already searched a place or not, this makes running through the game’s world (yes, there is a fast travel feature but no horses or the sort, so you’ll have to hoof it the entire game) a chore. Add in that there’s a slight freeze up of some kind whenever you zoom in the map (at least on PS5), and well, it is an annoyance — one that I am hoping gets patched out soon after launch.

But all these little niggles doesn’t take away from the game’s plethora of side missions and how great they’ve been crafted. It might not be in the same caliber of The Witcher 3, but they’re close.

Seeing Red

If there’s a “weak” spot to Banishers. I’d say it’s the combat. Now, I’m only using weak here in the sense that because the game does so many things well, it’s surprising that the combat isn’t as deep as I’d like it to be.

To put it in familiar territory, combat is a bit like Soulsbourne meets God of War, though not quite as deep as either of the two. It plays around with light and heavy attacks, with unlockable abilities to give it more of a cinematic feel. Red has his own (quite limited) moves set, while Antea has her “Manifestations” as the game’s version of abilities. You have to fill the spirit meter in order to play as Antea in combat, while Red has his banish meter which he can use for various combat effects (finishing move, acts as a barrier for damage, etc.)

It’s enjoyable, and there’s plenty of room for a variety of builds to make, but there’s also a bit of clunkiness to go along with it. While you can collect weapons, armor and the like, a handful of them aren’t really useful unless you’re trying something crazy, On the upside, the game has a unique item upgrade system which means whatever weapon you like using, you can have that as your weapon/armor for the rest of the game…just be prepared to collect lots of materials along the way.

A word of advice for those experienced with Soulsborne games (or even other third-person action games), I’d crank the game’s difficulty up a notch. I played and finished the game on Normal difficulty, and I’m not sure if it’s because I tackled a lot of side missions, but about midway through my adventure, my character felt overpowered — to the point that bosses (even the final boss) hardly presented a challenge. Now, while that might have been the case for most of my playthrough, it didn’t dampen the shock factor of the bosses. There’s not a lot of bosses to go through in Banishers, but what’s there stand out. Don’t Nod has managed to craft memorable fights with excellent use of visuals, dialogue and atmosphere that made me look forward to the next boss encounter.

Into the Void

Aside from unique boss fights, Banishers’ art style and visual presentation is topnotch. This looks and feels like a AAA experience through and through. Every character and interaction has their corresponding voice over. In addition to the amazing audio video work, Banishers offer a good amount of replayability as well, as it offers different choices throughout the game (both in the main story and side quests) that will dictated the fate of various in-game characters, and of course, the ending you’ll get.

During the game, players can choose whether they want to ascend or resurrect Antea. Choosing which one will influence the way you play the game in order to get the ending you want. Are you willing to sacrifice a living human being in order to make sure your lady love can be resurrected? Or will you be fair and just, and let Antea ascend into the heavens once everything’s over? The choice is yours. For now, we’re not sure how these choices in-game will affect the overall ending and outcome of certain scenarios, and we’re curious which ending will be deemed cannon by Don’t Nod if and when we get a sequel.

Life to the Living, Death to the Dead

To say Banishers came out of nowhere to surprise me is an understatement. Here I was thinking we were getting another by-the-numbers third-person action game, and instead, we got an action-adventure game with a compelling story, meaty side quests, excellent production value, and what’s in my opinion an early Game of the Year candidate.

Sure, there’s a bug or two that’s irksome, the combat could have been a bit deeper, the in-game map implementation could be better, but all these things aren’t enough to bog down an otherwise excellent game.

I have no experience in making games, but I imagine crafting a AAA experience on a new IP is not an easy task, and Don’t Nod manages to do that and then some. Prepare yourself for the first surprise hit of the year, and if the game’s quality is any indication, this looks like the start of a new franchise — one that I can’t wait to dive into yet again. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is one haunting you owe it to yourself to experience.

Score: 9/10

Pros:

• Sprawling in-game world with a ton of activities scattered throughout
• Excellent audio-video production
• Unique boss encounters
• Big focus no player choice that have signicant consequences and how the characters develop throughout your playthrough.
• Multiple endings to experience
• Side quests that are meaningful (some side quests are the key to opening even more side quests that are either connected to the original or not).

Cons:

• Map is confusing and needs better pathing for players to not get lost.
• Combat isn’t as deep and probably won’t knock anyone’s socks off
• Default difficulty might be a tad too easy for seasoned gamers.
• Skill tree and progression are not as seamless and rewarding. There’s not a lot of abilities but more on buffing the player, cooldowns, etc.
• Some stuttering, slowdown, and various bugs. (won’t ruin your experience) The PC experience is near perfect with a Nvidia 3080.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.