Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden review

What is it? A story-focused action RPG where you play as a ghost-hunter and his spectral partner.
Release date February 13, 2024
Expect to pay $50/£45
Developer DON'T NOD
Publisher Focus Entertainment
Reviewed on GeForce RTX 2060, Intel Core i7-10750H, 16GB RAM
Steam Deck TBA
Link Official site

Banishers imagines a world where the restless dead are a common occurrence, be they wisps, giant monsters or chatty ghosts bearing unfinished business. Much as you’d call a plumber to fix a leaky pipe, here you send for a Banisher to remove a troublesome spirit, either by hacking it to bits or peacefully ascending it to another plane of existence. They’re basically Witchers, but without the genetic experiments that leave them emotionally bereft.

If anything, Banishers is a game that goes the other way, practically wallowing in the full emotional palette as you aid a landscape that has been torn apart by trauma. There’s the trauma of the resident ghosts – many of which are literal manifestations of anger or sorrow – but also the trauma of the two main characters, Antea Duarte and Red mac Raith, who have recently been separated (in a manner of speaking) by Antea’s death.

That death occurs shortly after the couple arrive at New Eden, a colony in 17th century North America that has been beset by a terrible curse. A permanent winter has taken hold of the place, and the veil between life and death is wafer-thin, resulting in intrusions by violent spectres and the sudden death of their old friend, Charles Davenport. He has been killed by a powerful spirit that resides at the town meetinghouse, and so it’s there that the Banishers head to, well, banish it.

Alas, it doesn’t go to plan and poor Antea is killed by the vengeful spirit, leaving Red alone on the outskirts of town, where he comes to after being heaved into the sea. So begins the long journey to both find the means to destroy the spirit, and return to town to reclaim Antea’s body, which Red will need before he can send her spirit