Steam desperately needs a maybe recommendation. Banishers has some really great things going for it. Like the main story and the voice acting are great. Initially exploring is a lot of fun too, but then comes the drawbacks. Far too much is blocked behind abilities you don't yet have. I love Metroidvanias but what makes backtracking fun is the traversal and the rewards. Here, there is just far too much running forward and when you get the new trinket, they are usually worthless. Side quests are boring fetch quests, with the occasional interesting story but there are more repeating themes than there should be. Combat is incredibly button mashy and dull with maybe 7 different enemy types so yet another nail in the backtrack coffin. I think Dontnod has the ability to make a solid action-rpg, with this and Vampyr starting to scratch the surface. I really hope they nail the formula next time.

TLDR - 4/10
It's too bad Steam doesn't have a neutral option for game reviews. I wanted to like the game but I found myself getting bored and just forcing myself to beat the game for the sake of beating it. Side missions and combat gets stale and boring after some time.

Story - 9/10
I think the story telling is really good. I did enjoy tying the different stories and solving the overall mystery behind the main game. The world building and character back stories were interesting and fluid. You start to feel the emotions and understand the characters as you go along.

Combat & Gameplay - 4/10
The combat was interesting at first but gets stale and redundant fairly quickly. I enjoyed it initially but you get into forced combat while exploring more times than you'd want. It's also not difficult so it makes it boring quickly imo. There isn't much in terms of enemy variety either so that doesn't help.

Side Missions - 3/10
At first, the side missions are cool since you want to learn more about the characters and the world. After some time though, they get somewhat repetitive and annoying since the map is large and they force you to travel from one place to the next. You can only fast travel at the rest points so you always have to run to the nearest one before you can fast travel. It gets fairly annoying and eventually, I just gave up on some of the side missions.

Variety - 3/10
A lot of things get reused so there isn't much variety. There's a handful of different enemy types that get mixed around to make it feel a bit different but you notice really quick there isn't more to it. The missions also get redundant and follow the same formula after some time.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a third person Role Playing Game about Red MacRaith and Antea Duarte, a married couple who hunt ghosts in late 1600s North America.

When Antea is killed by a powerful nightmare which haunts an entire town, Red must find a way to banish the nightmare with the help of Antea’s ghost. But this also gives Red a difficult choice to make. Will he help Antea ascend to the afterlife, or will he consume the souls of living people in order to resurrect his wife?


• The player can control both characters, and you’re able to switch between them at any time. While both characters can use melee attacks, Red has a rifle for ranged attacks, and Antea can use three magic abilities. Dash lets you instantly jump across long distances towards an enemy, outburst damages all enemies around you, while ensnare roots an enemy in place for a few seconds. These attacks and skills can be upgraded with bonus effects when levelling up.

• Combat feels slightly repetitive because there’s not much enemy variety, with just a few different ghosts who have melee or ranged attacks, the occasional pack of wolves, and a couple of unique bosses.

• While normal difficulty isn’t too challenging, at times I felt like some of the enemies have too much health, which makes the fights drag on a bit too long. Ghosts can possess dead bodies, which means you often have to defeat them twice to finish them off properly, and of course many fights will spawn extra waves of additional enemies.

• You can equip new weapons, armour, and other items which provide boosts to different stats, and can be improved further by crafting upgrades. While you can compare items in your inventory to see which is better, I couldn’t see how to compare items in shops to see if a new item is better than what I already own. This makes buying new items more difficult than it should be.

• Your journey will take you through small villages, forests, snowy mountains, and underground caves. Some areas have been corrupted by the nightmare, with ruined buildings covered in strange plant growths, and large areas shrouded in fog.

• The world map has a similar design to Metroidvania games, as some paths are blocked until you acquire the relevant skill to remove or bypass the barrier. Its worth exploring to find hidden items, passive upgrades, and elite enemies who reward you with rare crafting materials. Antea can see hidden objects in the spirit realm, which is also used in light puzzle solving.


• Story is well written and features many interesting characters, some of whom are hiding dark secrets. It takes place in roughly the same location and time period as the Salem witch trials, and the dialogue has an appropriately old timey feeling.

• Side quests feature detailed, unique stories involving ghosts haunting the citizens of New Eden. Talk to the living and the dead, search the area for clues, discover the cause of the ghost’s death, and learn what unfinished business is preventing them from moving on. Then you’ll need to decide whether to banish or ascend the ghost, or blame the living, which kills them. These moral choices are further complicated by the fact that your decisions will determine Antea’s fate.

• Voice acting is excellent, especially for Red and Antea.


• It took me 43 hours to complete the main story and all of the side quests.

• I didn’t have any problems with framerate, with most settings maxed at 1440p. (RTX 3080, i7-12700K, 32GB DDR4).

• The game crashed twice, but I think this is acceptable stability for the number of hours played.

• Controls are fully rebindable and work well with mouse and keyboard.

• I would advise disabling film grain, because its very distracting during cutscenes, and everything looks significantly better without it. However, there’s no option in the game menu, so you’ll need to search the forum for instructions.


Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a very enjoyable RPG. While the combat feels a bit repetitive, the story is excellent. This is easily Dontnod’s best game since the original Life is Strange, and you should consider buying it on a small sale.

The Banishers game is very good and in my opinion meets all the expectations of its genre. It's definitely worth people trying it out. I would personally rate the game as 8/10. The game was good, even very good, but there were elements that needed a little fine-tuning.

We play as Red, who as a Banisher faces decisions that are morally very difficult, he fights ghosts, demons, specters and tries together with Antea (his partner) to solve the case that darkens the city of New Eden in the new world.

Speaking of the new world.
The game takes place during the great colonization of America, from the 1500s to the late 1600s. The world that the developers have built is beautiful, filled with breathtaking scenarios in nature, well-integrated puzzles in the terrain. Interacting with objects feels very natural and fit well into the world and gameplay. Its not entirely an open world game, since it is divided into many regions. Each region is unique with its own town, biome, people, stories and even enemies. But I assure you, the world is BIG, the regions are BIG, so if you worry about how huge the map is....you dont have to. Trust me. The world, the characters and even the enemies seem very realistic, which is very important in this game and I think that this "factor" holds the game on its high spot. At least for me.

The story is interesting, although slow at times. However, towards the end, it can pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprise you with its twists and turns that Red and Antea have to face. The main idea of the story keeps the pace of the game going. As Red, we meet many characters who have their own stories and side quests. All of them are part of the climax of the overall endgame. Red and Antea decide their fate and how the game will end. Your decisions shape the gameplay, the story and even the world around you.

I noticed that a lot of people complained about the combat in this game. But in my opinion, most of them are overly negative complaints. The combat in this game is solid, and it even gets better as Red´s and Antea's abilities develop. You just have to grind a little. You can fight at close range with your sword, at a distance with your musket or you can combine it for some cool combos. Red and Antea can change forms and each form has its own abilities. Also each form has its own pros and cons, depending on how you develop your skill tree. ALTHOUGH...

What did I miss from this game ?

COMBAT - ...one thing I have to agree with the other reviews concerning combat is that it gets pretty repetitive after some time. It would require more enemy types, not always the same specters and ghosts. They are fun to defeat at the beginning but gets boring after you spend 50+ hours in the game. Also (this is just my opinion) they could have added more weapons...and by weapons I mean more weapon TYPEs, like spears, axes, crossbows etc. It would give more freedom to the combat.

MUSIC/SOUNDTRACKS - oh god...the music...lets forget about the combat for a sec....This GAME is seriously lacking in soundtracks and music. I think this is one is a great game, and music should be part of every great game. Its a missed opportunity...the developers were either not aware of this or maybe it didnt fit in their budget for the game...but the music is something that is MISSING from this game. There are so many scenes and moments in the game that with the right MUSIC could hit the spot and have been way more epic. Please developers...next time, dont underestimate the power of soundtracks and music for your game.

These two factors are the NEGATIVES for me.

FINAL WORDS

Other than that, it's a great game and anyone who likes this genre should definitely give it a chance. The end of the story has a moral lesson, it reveals the true nature of people and points out what happens when people lie and act without reason...and a game with a lesson and "good" ending is always worth to play. (If you like RPG, story telling games like me)

What a game. What a story. It has action, intrigue, moral choices and powerful voice acting. Does it drag a bit, yes at times, but those are choices you make, you don't have to dot every I and cross every T. It was worth playing, it was a great story told and I enjoyed it all. Wonderful Game, worth the price and hours spent.

Firstly I'm a big Don't Nod! Vampyr is hands down one of the best games they ever made. Now when I had my first playthrough of this game I was absolutely exhausted n skipped 80% of dialogue just to get through the quest. I own a decent rig, but somehow this game had huge issues running smoothly. The fps drops were so high around third act of the game it was barely playable. Even with settings toned down, game still had huge fps drop and stutters and one crash.

Let's talk about the story, they have/had amazing concept! The character design n enemy models in this game are absolutely gorgeous. Around the final act all pieces fit together and you get the full picture of how it all began and it's very well crafted. No issues with the story other than pacing.

My biggest issue, and their biggest fumble with this game was optimization and gameplay. Gameplay is super bland, it's just sad. The upgrades, new weapons barely made a difference to the gameplay. Only thing different was how spongy enemies get with highest difficulty. After finishing the story I went to go for full 100% achs n I cannot put it into words what a rough time I had backtracking in this game. They could've implemented a mode of transport like horse or something to make moving around faster. The only way you move around apart from sprinting is fast travel which is strictly limited to safe houses. Which are never near the check point or location you're trying to get to. This game has the most saddest traversal I have ever experienced. It's clunky, it's ultra-slow, it's just not efficient. Sometimes you need to reach somewhere and the game will literally fool you around some pathetic obstacles while the objective just above your head..like climb ten rock walls, cross across a big wooden log with as slow movement as possible and so on. When you're trying to collect all collectibles it shouldn't be a chore, I beleive the traversal and sloggy movement took a heavy toll on backtracking. By the end of this games 100% completion, I was just done. I beleive this game had potential and could've been way better than what they dished out.

I wanted to like this game, I think it has a really solid and unique concept. There are some parts that are good, but there were so many boring parts, and overall roughness to it. The combat is rough and basic, and it happens too often for it to be so rough. I think they should've focused on developing the detective parts more, since those parts and the love story are where its strongest. But some of the mystery/detective parts are brought down by a map that's too big, which lead to a lot of boring walks interrupted by repetitive combat.

"Banisher" is an atmospheric RPG that excels in creating a dark and immersive world. From the haunting landscapes to the eerie sound design, the game successfully pulls you into its gloomy atmosphere. The story builds gradually, drawing you in with a compelling narrative that keeps you intrigued as it unfolds. However, while the plot is engaging, the game’s combat system feels somewhat stiff and lacks the fluidity found in other titles. This can make battles feel less satisfying, especially during longer encounters.

The side quests in "Banisher" also fall short of expectations. They often feel repetitive and don’t offer much in terms of rewards, making them more of a chore than a meaningful addition to the game. On the neutral side, the game includes decision-making elements, but these choices don’t significantly impact the story, which may disappoint players looking for deeper narrative consequences.

The skill system is functional but not particularly deep, offering only basic enhancements rather than a fully customizable experience. Equipment can be improved and upgraded, and new gear can be purchased throughout the game, providing some progression in character power.

Overall, "Banisher" offers a strong atmosphere and story but struggles with some gameplay mechanics and lacks rewarding content in certain areas.

Interesting worldbuilding.
Branching dialogue options, morally gray characters, multiple endings.
Tons of collectables and lore items.

Gameplay encourages a active playstyle utitilizing your whole combat kit.
Certain gameplay mechanics incentivise changing around your gear and talents.
Quality of sidequests are not lower than main quests.

Light DEI components that feel forced, although this is a small part overshadowed by the good qualities of the game. I really got the impression the devs cared for what they created.

Game 100% before review, well worth the asking price
Vampyr DON’T NODs earlier release is also recommended.

DON’T NOD, thanks for the the demo it pulled me over the edge for buying the game.
Please make a demo available for your next game aswell.

Hauntings, horror, sorrow, and the pain of losing loved ones.
This game is truly an emotional rollercoaster. Even the side-quests are lore-rich and well written.
Reminds me a bit of the Witcher 3, but with waaay more tears.