Banishers: Ghosts of new Eden is a game for a unique type of player and no one else

RATING
[75] - ☑️ Good

THE GOOD:

• Well optimized and no bugs
• Fitting, atmospheric music
• Gorgeous loading screen art
• Awesome voice actor performances
• Impressive character animation
• An unique macro level morality system that gives the decisions weight
• Fleshed out side haunting cases with tough choices

THE BAD:

• Lack of chemistry between the two main characters makes the main plot feel less hardhitting
• Bloated final act with some tedious backtracking
• Very clunky gameplay and camera focus
• Sound design in combat lacks impact making it feel unsatisfying
• Exploration does not get rewarded with any meaningful gear
• Tedious map traversal that takes up a lot of the gameplay loop
• Asset reuse and repetitive world design make the world less memorable and visually more uninteresting

PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT
There are a lot of things I could name here which is why I am just going to list them all: The unique macro level morality System, the decisions at the end of haunting cases, the music, the voice acting and character animation and the artworks in the loading screens.

VERDICT
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a very charming and emotionally heavy Game with great Stories and Atmosphere but it gets dragged down by clunky Combat, tedious traversal and repetitive World design that just doesnt feel right.

CATEGORY RATINGS
[86] - 📺 Performance & Playability
Going into this Game I was hoping for a stable and smooth journey and from a technical standpoint it holds its ground admirably well. The optimization is solid and the playthrough through New Eden is largely free of game-breaking Bugs or any severe friction to really speak of. Even the Loading screens dont bother you because they put incredibly detailed and impressive Artwork in there that keeps you anchored in the Games grim aesthetic while you wait, which I thought was a really nice touch.

[77] - 📖 Story & Characters
The Story is a very compelling study in moral gravity and these self-contained Haunting cases are unquestionably the crown jewels of the whole experience. Having to make these Decisions makes you genuinely weigh justice against forgiveness and making the wrong call actually feels bad in a way that I really appreciated. I cared about the stories of the side haunting cases a lot but the overarching main Plot stumbles a bit in my opinion. Red and Antea surprisingly lack the necessary spark to fully sell their tragic Romance and the final act suffers from this bloated Pacing that demands a lot of tedious backtracking which made me pretty sad because the foundation was strong.

[50] - 🎮 Gameplay
The mechanical loop is definitely the Games weakest link and something about it just doesnt feel right. Combat feels fundamentally clunky and stiff and the very uncooperative lock-on System turns encounters into obstacles you just have to endure rather than challenges you can actually enjoy. This made playing the Game a bit of a pain at times and it doesnt help that a tedious Map traversal system aswell as a loot economy that actively disrespects your time and punishes exploration with rewards that never are worth it, pile on top of that aswell. For a game with 30-40 hours of playtime, having unsatisfactory gameplay, be it the traversal or the combat, is a though one to even out, which should tell you how much I value the things this game actually does well.

[72] - 🌄 Visuals
New Eden offers some genuinely striking moments of atmospheric beauty like the eerie mystique of Sirideans island but it really struggles to maintain this visual intrigue across its whole runtime. The world-building gets hampered by very blatant asset reuse and repetitive Level design which is a bit disappointing. When distinct Settlements like The Harrows feature Cave systems that are entirely indistinguishable from the military mines of Fort Jericho the believability of the world starts to fracture and the environmental graphics end up feeling a bit dull overall.

[72] - 🎧 Sound Design & Score
The Audio landscape is kind of a tale of two halves. The background music and ambient tracks succeed in weaving a safe but effective melancholic and eerie Atmosphere that perfectly suits a world plagued by Ghosts. The sound design in Combat on the other hand mirrors the physical stiffness of the mechanics and melee strikes just lack any visceral acoustic punch. Only the crack of the Rifle and Anteas spectral dash give you any satisfying auditory feedback.

[85] - 💡 Innovation
Where the Game truly pushes the genre forward is in its macro-level morality System. Tying the overarching and endgame-defining consequence of Anteas ultimate fate to the micro-level judgments of the localized Haunting cases is a brilliant execution of delayed consequence that opens up a whole new layer of emotional investment into what could have been a fairly standard Action RPG. Using Anteas spectral abilities to alter world traversal and solve Puzzles also adds a clever dual-layered approach to environmental interaction even if it cant really salvage the Combat.

[78] - ❤️ Enjoyment
I think Banishers is a game for a specific type of player that cares about stories, likes making decisions that impact the game world and is fine with subpar gameplay. If one is that type of player, this game is worth checking out and I really do value the uniqueness of the micro and macro morality system this game brings to the table because I have never seen something like this in a game before, which is a big reason why my Enjoyment rating is higher for this one than the purely technical rating for the game.

AVERAGE CATEGORY SCORE: 71

OVERALL RATING: 75