Profoundly intimate and often thought-provoking,Banishers: Ghosts of New Edenis an impressive game that has a knack for sucking players into its story. From its opening moments, which cast an engrossing 17th-century occult atmosphere, to its thrilling closing chapters, it was hard to pull away fromBanishersat any moment, even with occasional missteps. Routinely presenting interesting questions and themes about what we do for love and how we process the death of those we once loved or still love,Banishers: Ghosts of New EdenbyDon’t Nodproves that when a game has a vision and executes it well, it can stand above its flaws.
At first glance, it’s clear thatBanishersis a mix of a few different concepts from across multiple mediums. The game is practicallyThe ExorcistmeetsThe Witcher, set in 1695 and presented in 35mm. Picture Father Kerras meets Geralt of Rivia, and that’s basically who the main character, Red mac Raith, is. In gameplay,Banisherswill be familiar to anyone who has played games such asGod of WarorHellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, making it an approachable but occasionally derivative experience. However, as development studio Don’t Nod has proven many times over, the strength of its games comes from the story, and the story ofBanishers: Ghosts of New Edenis well worth the investment.
The Story of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Few games can say they set their tone as effectively asBanishersdoes early on and can keep that momentum going throughout the whole thing. In its opening sequences, Red and Antea set foot in New Eden Town as a murder of crows flies overhead while a giant pale moon casts its glow over a cathedral spire, crafting an eerie atmosphere dripping with suspense. A 17th-century Puritan settlement outside of Boston isn’t exactly the most vibrant place on Earth, butBanishersplays to the strengths of New Eden’s candle-lit melancholy to great effect. Somewhere between spooky and cozy is whereBanishersoperates, and it’s that type of atmosphere that keeps the game’s world so interesting. However, it’s when speaking to the settlers and kicking off the narrative that the game starts to get good.
Without getting into major spoilers,Banishers: Ghosts of New Edentells the story of Red mac Raith as he deals with the passing of his wife Antea at the hands of a gruesome Nightmare that has been terrorizing the settlement of New Eden. The Nightmare’s influence across New Eden has resulted in the whole settlement being subjected to hauntings from specters of the recently deceased, but there is generally more to the story than that. Red and Antea’s love in the face of tragedy is the overarching theme inBanishersand the game goes to great lengths to explore love in all its forms.
Throughout the game, there are several side missions called “Hauntings” that Red and Antea will find themselves solving, each with its own spin on the game’s themes. For example, something like the local blacksmith’s strange disappearance can end up being a rabbit hole involving an aggrieved woman who saw no way out of a bad situation. In other instances, the theme of love can extend to a brooding captain who loved his crew but found that they had to make some sacrifices to save as many lives as possible.Banisherstakes the theme of love and explores it in as many ways as it can, and then it all comes back to the story of Red and Antea as they grapple with their romance in the face of death and dealing with letting go.
Writing a love story can be a tough task, often skirting too far into melodrama or otherwise writing portrayals of love that feel a bit too fictitious; however,Banisherswrites love with a deft hand and makes it feel grounded–even with ghouls and ghosts running amuck. Red and Antea act like a couple whose relationship feels lived-in and full, but like any real couple, they’re still constantly discovering things about each other. There is awatertight narrative that Don’t Nod has createdwithBanishersthat is commendable for how well the studio was able to stick to a vision and ensure that everything in the game works toward that end.
However, some narrative stumbles throughout Banishers occasionally take away from the experience, namely in its decision-based gameplay.Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden’s main story and side quests rely on a branching decision-making process, often having the player decide whether the living or the dead should be considered guilty of whatever happened to the recently deceased. Red and Antea act as judge, jury, and executioner as part of their Banisher work, and the game explains that these decisions will have a direct impact on how the main story unfolds and ends. But it winds up feeling more disjointed than compelling in the end.
Banisherswrites love with a deft hand and makes it feel grounded.
Banishersstruggles here because it constantly presents storylines that are narratively complex and thought-provoking but boil down the final decision to a binary good or bad choice, explicitly stating so at each juncture. Players will likely find that they never have to worry if they made the right choice because the game reassures them that they made the choice they need instead of the choice they may feel is right. Disappointingly, the lack of nuance in the final decision of these Hauntings takes a lot of wind out of a set of stories that feel like they could be straight out of a season ofprestige television.
In keeping with the premise of prestige television,Banisherspunches well above its weight class when it comes to presentation. Many of this game’s cutscenes are shot with an emphasis on unique and dynamic cinematography, clearly inspired by film and television but done so with a great directorial eye. There is always something interesting to look at when it comes toBanishers,as it never keeps the camera static outside of gameplay and puts a finishing touch with some tasteful film grain for that old-school movie feel. Even standard NPC conversations occasionally position the camera in a way that highlights expressions of sorrow or anger with whoever Red is speaking to instead of the usual over-the-shoulder angles players are likely familiar with. The only real issueBanishersfinds in its presentation is its poor lip-syncing, which takes away from spot-on voice acting from the whole cast.
Banishers Combat Feels Inspired by the Best
Banisherstakes a lot of its gameplay inspiration from giants of the narrative third-person genre. And while it doesn’t have the same level of punch as those giants,Banishersdoes well at crafting a combat experience that can carry it through to the end. Structurally,Banisherstakes a wide-linear approach to its levels with all sorts of mini-bosses and puzzles to keep players busy between main story missions. There’s not that much new on that front, but it’s always well worth the time to kill a boss or clear a nest for its rewards. There is minimal bloat inBanishers;everything has a purpose and is worth the time to do, and that keeps the game’s progression moving at a good pace.
Combat relies on the usual heavy and light attack buttons players are likely familiar with, while defensive strategies involve dodging, blocking, and parrying in time with the enemy. While this is all routine for an action game at this point,Banishersdoes give the combat system a twist by allowing players to switch between Red and Antea on the fly. Antea is generally best equipped at handling demonically possessed corpses, while Red can go in for the finish once the corpse has been exorcised.Banishersmakes its combat system a fun juggling act between clearing ghosts as Red and beating down possessed enemies as Antea while also dialing in the action so that neither character hogs the playtime for too long.
In its back-and-forth combat rhythm, Red and Antea each have their own set of skills that intertwine through a handful of skill trees. As each skill tree grows, new possibilities open up to make swapping between Red and Antea a much more engaging affair. Some abilities that Red can unlock can buff Antea when she is active and vice versa. Unfortunately, it takes some time for the combat to open up so that players can truly synergize with both characters. It wasn’t until around the halfway point of the game that all its systems started working in that way, leaving a lot of the early game to rather boring hit-and-dodge gameplay. Eventually, there is a nice groove as players swap between Antea’s punching and exorcism skills and Red’s finishing moves to banish foes on the battlefield, but not without some slog in the opening chapters.
Ultimately,Banishersdoes struggle to keep enemy encounters interesting in the long run, though, as there is a limited pool of enemies throughout most of the game. A decent chunk of the time, players will just be fighting possessed corpses and standard ghosts with varying intensity levels, depending on the scenario. Past the first few hours, players will have seen almost every type of enemy, and it simply becomes a matter of level-gating towards the end. However, the main boss fights ofBanishersare to be noted as exceptionally unique in how they switch up the combat formula and present engaging scenarios that regularly took us by surprise. There aren’t too many main boss battles in Banishers, but the ones players will experience are nice visual spectacles coupled with refreshing combat sequences. As a whole, combat inBanishersis polished enough to keep players going despite not being very revolutionary in any one aspect.
Polish is a key term that comes to mind withBanishers: Ghosts of New Eden.Banishersisn’t necessarily reinventing the third-person narrative action game, but it doesn’t want to, and it doesn’t need to. The core of the game is in the story, and everything else is done well enough to carry the story and keep players locked into Red and Antea’s journey without much fuss. There is a leanness and simplicity toBanishersthat can be refreshing at a time when many games want to go bigger, badder, and larger.Banishersis easy to pick up, easy to get drawn into, and incredibly focused.
However, despite all of the praise thatBanishers: Ghosts of New Edenearns, it can be hard to recommend to everybody. It certainly is a niche title overall, and not everyone will be as gripped by its love story and supernatural Puritan setting as others. Perhaps only those with a significant appreciation for all things regarding demons, witches, and17th-century gothic aestheticswill get the most out of it. Undoubtedly, though, what Don’t Nod has here is a title that is finely tuned for its target audience and arrives polished to the tee.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Edenis in the spirit of high-quality AA games that should not go unnoticed.Banishersdoes not necessarily break any new ground with its systems but it keenly focuses on a single vision with its narrative and ensures that everything else is working in rhythm with it and working well.In the end, love is the driving force of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, and anyone who thinks that they might be interested in Red and Antea’s story is undoubtedly in for a good time.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
WHERE TO PLAY
New Eden, 1695. Antea Duarte and Red mac Raith are lovers and Banishers, ghost-hunters who vowed to protect the living from the threat of lingering ghosts and specters. Following a disastrous last mission, Antea is fatally wounded, becoming one of the spirits she loathes. In the haunted wilds of North America, the couple desperately searches for a way to liberate Antea from her new plight.Immerse yourself in a beautiful, intimate and powerful story between two fated lovers. As Banishers, enter the lives of New Eden’s communities and solve haunting cases in a mystical, lore-rich world plagued with supernatural creatures and ancient secrets. Use your wits or combine Antea’s spiritual powers and Red’s arsenal to defeat and banish the souls tormenting the living.Challenging decisions will lay on your path, dramatically impacting your story and the fate of New Eden’s inhabitants—be they living people or wandering souls. How much will you compromise your ghost-hunting vow for the sake of your lover who became one of such spirits?
Banishers: Ghosts of New Edenreleases on July 13, 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Game Rant was provided a PC code for the purposes of this review.
