Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Reviews
This ghost story is stretched a little thin, but still well worth exploring.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden’s memorable story and inspired investigative cases help carry it across its rougher patches.
Don't Nod drops the melodrama for a poignantly performed story about grief and injustice, where the difficult choices tug at your heart and principles.
Some gripping ghost stories justify gathering around Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden's campfire, but an open world full of routine skirmishes and mindless repetition might just scare you off again. As Dontnod's longest game yet, Banishers underlines the value of a tighter focus.
A sprawling action RPG with a poignant love affair at its heart, whose enjoyable combat and supernatural detective work is all in pursuit of a morally ambiguous goal of your own choosing.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a love story about loss and sacrifice, propelling its choice-driven narrative forward amidst middling combat.
Banishers is a spooky, loving tale about two incredible people. I cried a few times, both for these two characters I grew to adore, and for the very sad stories of others just trying to make it in a difficult world. While the combat is not spectacular, and the graphics are middling, everything else makes this a very special game. With superb writing, excellent performances, a clever central mechanic, and thoughtful, engaging stories, Banishers is Don’t Nod’s best game yet.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a fantastic piece of storytelling, and it gives you a compelling world, people and lore for you to delve into. While it labours in some areas, you can put your own personality and feelings into this largely linear adventure, making this a game and a tale that deserves to be experienced.
It's not going to be the game of the year, but it's a great example of both light RPG adventures and those games that eat your brain out with their decisions. Pure Don't Nod with an extra bit of show.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is Don't Nod's most ambitious and solid game, and despite some flaws in pacing and repetition, it remains an action-adventure loaded with feeling and with a solid combat-system.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a story full of love, spirits and sacrifices. This game has a very satisfying and challenging gameplay, as it forces players to face a series of ethical dilemmas, following DON'T NOD's usual tone. Immersive and beautiful, this experience is capable of enchanting any type of player.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a powerful, emotional and compelling tale that shows off a side of Don't Nod that we've never seen so well-lit.
Don't Nod's new third-person goth-tragedy action-adventure RPG is full of swashbuckling ghost hunting, bound up in a story unironically about the power of love. Despite some repetition and busywork, it's a great time.
Banishers: Ghost of New Eden is a grim and gripping tale of two lovers coming to terms with love and sacrifice. Don't Nod have built another beautiful world to enjoy.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is in the spirit of high-quality AA games that should not go unnoticed. Banishers does 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 is the kind of game we don’t get very often; the kind that does a lot with very little, yet in a way that speaks perfectly to my tastes as someone who enjoys video games as a storytelling art form. Don’t Nod’s latest effort transcends anything it’s made before, in my eyes, being a narrative-focused single-player RPG that places its characters firmly at the forefront, fully leaning into its unique premise to the point that Antea and Red’s nature as ghost hunters influence everything from dialogue options and combat, to the upgrade system and of course the world.
While not a masterpiece, Burnishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a very solid game. And the unique dark fantasy setting is a huge advantage.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a splendid experience crafted intricately by Don’t Nod. The game starts off strong, but a bit of the allure wears off over time as you peek behind the curtains of the various systems within the game. That said, the game’s intriguing narrative, relatively tough decisions, and overall solid gameplay elements make Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden one of the strongest gaming experiences of early 2024.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden sees developer DON'T NOD reach a new development peak, as it marries an excellent narrative with engaging and enjoyable gameplay. Poor enemy variety and technical flaws hold it back from true greatness, but its excellent, story-focused side quests on the other side make a few drab combat encounters worth pushing through. The studio's best game to date, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a new IP we hope is here to stay.
There's little doubt Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is Don't Nod's finest action game yet. I would also venture to say it's one of their best games, period, and it's also a great action RPG in its own right thanks to enjoyable combat, a big world with lots of content to explore and interesting stories to experience, and particularly for the amazing couple of lover protagonists.