Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review: Is It Worth Playing?

What is Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden?

Developed by Don't Nod, the studio behind narrative-driven titles like Life is Strange and Vampyr, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a third-person action-RPG with a heavy emphasis on story and moral choice.

Released in early 2024, the game casts you as a duo: Antea Duarte and Red mac Raith, partners in life, death, and profession. They are Banishers, itinerant ghost-hunters for hire.

The premise is immediately compelling: after a tragic encounter, Antea is killed and becomes a spectre herself. The couple journeys to the cursed settlement of New Eden in 1695 North America, ostensibly to solve a haunting plague, but with the deeply personal goal of finding a way to restore Antea to life — or to help her ascend.

The Core Moral Hook

The central narrative hook is the "Ascend or Resurrect" dilemma. Every major haunting case you solve culminates in a weighty judgment: you can help the ghost ascend peacefully, often requiring a sacrifice from the living, or you can violently banish it for experience.

Most crucially, you can choose to "blame" a living person for the tragedy, harvesting their life essence to fuel Antea's potential resurrection. This choice is the game's moral and mechanical backbone, creating a constant tension between your compassionate instincts and your desperate, personal love.

Gameplay

The gameplay is a serviceable but sometimes uneven blend of exploration, detective work, and combat. The core loop involves arriving at a new area of the New Eden wilderness, investigating a haunting by using Antea's spectral vision to uncover echoes and clues, and eventually confronting the manifestation.

The investigation segments are classic Don't Nod, requiring you to piece together stories from environmental cues, which is often engaging.

Combat System

Combat is dual-focused. You control Red, who wields a rifle and a sword for physical attacks, and can instantly switch to Antea for spectral powers that damage ghostly enemies and break their shields. Swapping between them mid-combo is essential and initially satisfying.

However, the combat system lacks depth. Enemy variety is limited, and encounters can become repetitive over the game's lengthy runtime. The RPG-lite progression, where you spend points on two separate skill trees for Red and Antea, offers some customisation but rarely feels transformative.

Where the Depth Lies

The real depth lies in the narrative choices. The game forces you to live with the consequences of your judgments, affecting the fate of New Eden's settlers and, ultimately, the ending you receive.

The learning curve is gentle, perhaps too much so for hardcore action fans, but the game is clearly designed to keep the focus on its story and the emotional weight of your decisions, not on punishing combat mastery.

Who is Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden for?

This is unequivocally a single-player experience for those who prioritise narrative and world-building over tight, challenging gameplay.

It will resonate most with players who enjoyed the investigative, choice-driven pacing of Vampyr or the relationship-centric storytelling of Life is Strange, but who also want a more traditional action-adventure framework. Fans of darker, folk-horror atmospheres akin to The Witch or The Blair Witch Project will find the setting compelling.

Who Should Skip It

It is not for players seeking a deep, complex action RPG like Dark Souls or a fast-paced combat spectacle. The combat is functional but simplistic. It's also not for those who dislike slow-burn storytelling or extensive dialogue.

In our estimation, it occupies a specific middle ground: an action-adventure with the soul of a narrative adventure, which explains the divisive reception. The stark contrast between its respectable 78 Metascore and its poor 3.9/10 Steam rating suggests a significant gap between critical appraisal of its narrative ambitions and player frustration with its technical execution and gameplay monotony.

Banishers is an action-adventure with the soul of a narrative adventure, which explains its divisive reception.

Graphics and Performance

Visually, Banishers presents a mixed picture. Its greatest strength is its art direction and atmosphere. The gloomy, rain-swept forests and claustrophobic settlements of 17th-century New England are beautifully realised, creating a palpable sense of dread and melancholy.

Character models, particularly for Red and Antea, are detailed and expressive, selling the emotional core of the story.

Technical Issues, Especially on PC

On the technical side, however, the game has been plagued with issues, particularly on PC. At launch and for some time after, persistent performance problems included stuttering, inconsistent frame rates, and a variety of bugs.

These technical shortcomings appear to be a primary driver behind the overwhelmingly negative user reviews on Steam. While patches have addressed some concerns, the reputation for poor optimisation persists.

On consoles, performance is generally more stable, though not without occasional hiccups. The world is handsome and atmospheric, but the technical execution can undermine immersion, making this a significant caveat for PC players.

Value for Money

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a substantial game. A single playthrough, including thorough exploration of side cases, can easily take 25 to 35 hours.

The narrative is designed for some replayability, as the major choices leading to multiple endings encourage a second run to see different outcomes. However, given the repetitive nature of some activities and combat, not all players will feel compelled to do so.

Priced as a premium AAA title at launch, the value proposition is contentious. For a player fully invested in the story, who connects with the central relationship and enjoys methodical investigation, the length and emotional payoff may justify the cost.

For a player primarily interested in action or who encounters performance issues, it will feel overpriced, especially in a crowded market. The significant discount the game received shortly after release indicates the market quickly adjusted to these perceived shortcomings.

Verdict

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a fascinating, flawed experiment. It succeeds most as a poignant love story and a morally complex tale of grief and sacrifice, wrapped in a superb folk-horror aesthetic.

The central choice mechanic is genuinely impactful, and the performances of Red and Antea carry the experience.

What Holds It Back

We cannot ignore its failures. The combat and progression are underwhelming, the gameplay loop becomes repetitive, and the technical performance — especially on PC — has been a legitimate point of criticism that tarnishes the overall package.

Who Should Play It

• Play it if: you are a patient player who values narrative depth, atmosphere, and meaningful choices above all else, and you can play it on a platform where it runs smoothly.
• Skip it if: your primary interests are in refined action, deep RPG systems, or polished technical performance.

A game defined by its ambitious heart, but held back by its unambitious mechanics and unstable execution.