https://youtu.be/6H3WvLleCdc

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, is a narrative action game from the devs behind Life is Strange.
You play as a couple of lovers and Banishers, Red and Antea, who have been tasked with uncovering the mystery behind a paranormal curse that plagues the land of New Eden. The situation is worse than they thought, and Antea loses her life as a result, coming back as a ghost, the thing she swore to banish from the land of the living.

The strongest aspect of the game for me, was its narrative. As Banishers, you continue to solve hauntings throughout the land, piecing together clues found at the scene of the crime, talking to culprits, ghosts, and watching moments from the past. For the most part, solving a mystery is a linear experience. It isn't like LA Noire where you can piece it together wrong, and accuse someone innocent, but that wasn't a problem for me, as every case was super interesting, and presents a tough choice at the end.

Solving hauntings for other people also has an effect on Antea's fate. You see, at the end of a typical case, you can for example, help a possessed villager by violently banishing the ghost that haunted them. However, by digging through their history, you might understand why the ghost did what it did, and choose to peacefully help it ascend from the realm of the living. There is also a third option though...

You can cast a "blame" ritual that kills and absorbs the life essence from the living target, with the aim of bringing Antea back to life eventually.

The choice isn't easy, as cases are usually quite complicated without a clear victim. That is the main problem you have to juggle throughout the game, which I found very intriguing. I even thoroughly enjoyed the side-quests in the game, and found them to be worth my time for the most part. All of this is heightened by the fantastic voice actors, and likeable personalities of the cast.

Banishers isn't purely a narrative game though, so let's talk about the gameplay too.

Combat is really fun. Red uses a sword with a light and heavy attack. It can also parry, and he has a rifle for longer range combat. Antea can utilize powerful spells, and avoid permanent health damage. You are encouraged to switch back and forth during combat, as they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, Antea deals more damage to possessed bodies. However, when she attacks, her spirit bar drains. In order to refill that, Red needs to deal damage.
The constant juggle back and forth feels super fun, especially when you pair it with interesting talents and equipment that further reward certain playstyles. It's great that your talents aren't locked in, and you can freely move your selections around on the go to try new playstyles. Unfortunately, upgrading gear doesn't have that same freedom, so I found myself a bit scared to commit to upgrading certain items in fear that I'd just find something else I liked and wasted my materials. Another minor gripe I had, was that many of the attributes attached to equipment, and what they do are not explained.


Navigating the environment is quite restricted, however through enough exploration you can unlock shortcuts. The maps have a metroidvania-esque feeling to them, as you retread a lot of your steps after obtaining new abilities in order to access new places with hidden loot.

I'm normally someone who likes to fully explore and collect everything, which I did here too, and enjoyed for the most part, however there were times where I found the backtracking to be a bit tedious. You can only fast travel from one camp to another, you might not always have the materials you need to start a side-task, and so on. But for the most part, I had fun with it.

Overall though, I really loved playing through the game, as I enjoyed the characters and world. In my opinion, it's biggest strength by far is the interesting narrative. The combat is really fun, but I would only recommend the game to someone that is intrigued by the premise of ghost-mystery solving and dealing with moral dilemmas, which in my opinion, Banishers does incredibly well!

(BONUS: The game looks beautiful, and I've had no bugs or performance issues.)