Image courtesy of Don't Nod Entertainment
It's rare that a game will captivate me so thoroughly and profoundly. If you have already been here before, then you're probably well aware that I play quite a bit of games. From the ugly to the gorgeous, the trash to the glorious, they can cover the entire range of the gaming spectrum. Banishers is a game that is very clearly on one side.
Don't Nod's venture into the New World focuses on two characters who are as intertwined and in love as can be. Red Mac Raith and Antea Duarte are married in every sense of the word, as long as the word doesn't involve church bells and priestly ceremonies. They work together as banishers, a name given to those who expel ghosts and conquer hauntings in exchange for a bit of coin. They don't have Dandelion singing for everyone to toss a coin to their nearest banisher, but in this version of the 17th century they don't really need him. Everyone is well aware of what a banisher is and what they do, and just like real life there are those who give them praise and those who shun them as atheists at best and devil-worshiping occultists at worst.
It's all in a day's work.
Our story begins with a particularly grisly case of haunting that has spread through an entire colony on America's east coast. This colony is ironically named New Eden, and it doesn't take very long for us to see just how devastated the area is under the control of a type of ghost aptly named a "nightmare." It's in the early set-up of the game that Antea is killed (don't worry, that's not a spoiler, it's literally in the trailer) and it is up to Red and his ghostly wife to try to diminish the influence of the specter while solving hauntings and saving townsfolk along the way.
The Good
There's a lot here, so bear with me.
I'll start with something easy. The visuals. They are superb. For a AA game, Banishers looks every bit like a big budget title. From the scenery design to the individual reactions of the characters, and even down to the fingernails and creases on characters' knuckles... Don't Nod clearly heaped a massive portion of its budget into how the game would look. That doesn't mean that they skimped on anything else, though.
The audio is fantastic. Composer Trevor Morris nails every scene with his score, and the editing department laced in the dark tones with such finesse that everything sounds like a film in its execution. Coupled with the score, there's the voice acting. Red and Antea are the stars of the show here, but there isn't a single voice actor/actress in the game that took me out of the immersion. They all played their roles with precision, and I felt the anger, melancholy, confusion, joy, and horror as it gets conveyed throughout.
Gameplay for Banishers works as a step forward from Don't Nod's Vampyr. This includes a combination of investigating and swashbuckling as you banish ghosts left and right. The controls are very similar to the new generation of God of War, with dodging, parries, light/heavy attacks, as well as the occasional blast of a musket for good measure. Switching from Red's physical prowess to manifest Antea (as she technically haunts her beau) allows you to combine sword-swinging and ethereal power-punching. Those combinations sum up to a lot of fun in every interaction with the monsters we come across.
Like Vampyr, there is a lot of dialogue in the investigation of different hauntings across the colony, but it never feels overwhelming. This is all part of an extraordinary narrative. Almost every single haunting is well-written and brings a greater sense of immersion that pulls Red and Antea deeper into the community of New Eden. They get to know the ins and outs of the townsfolk and what has caused such a catastrophe for all of them. People are fleshed out and real, with no saints among the bunch, and that's what drives Red's quest along to either resurrect the love of his life or be able to say farewell as she crosses into the afterlife. It's a beautiful story, and you get to live it your way.
The Bad
Now keep in mind I play these games that I review when they come across my plate. I'm not paid by anyone to do these reviews and as such, I have no deadlines to meet. This means that I don't often play these games in their first iteration. There are typically a lot of patches and updates that have happened before I actually sit down to enjoy them, so many of the glitches and kinks are worked out by then.
That said, there were only a couple minor issues in Banishers. A couple of times I got stuck in the side of a wall. Once there was a character who was on a stroll while I was speaking to a merchant and that strolling character decided to waltz right in between us. And there he stayed, staring straight ahead like a man of determination while his legs carried him nowhere. That's a bit of an immersion break...
Other than that... I literally have no complaints.
The Mac, The Raith, The Legend
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is by far the greatest game that I have played in 2025. It covered all the bases for me. Gameplay was excellent, exciting, and fun. The score was creepy and eerie to kept me immersed in the world of New Eden from start to finish, and that ended up being a whopping 61 hours after I did every side quest and solved every haunting along the way. The setting was unique, and Red's dynamic with Antea and all the NPCs presents a refreshing take on a protagonist that I've never seen before. There's a franchise here, if Don't Nod is willing to take the leap and ignore the lack of commercial success of Red and Antea's story. Even if it just ends up being a standalone, though, it remains a beautiful tale that every gamer should experience.
10/10
Legendary
To see my own foray into earlier centuries and the swashbuckling therein, check out Leatherneck.
Fantastic game!
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