One developer that gets me excited every time I see it alongside a new title is DON’T NOD (that stylisation though). A company with a handful of delectable and varied looking titles cooking in the oven, and the one that excites me most is Banishers: Ghost of New Eden. A story-driven, third-person action-RPG backed by publisher Focus Entertainment set to release on November 7, 2023, I was able to get a taste of what DON’T NOD has in store for players. I went hands-on for roughly 90 minutes with a preview build, and let me tell you, it tastes good – this has cemented itself as my most anticipated game still to come this year. A big call to make, but I’m not afraid to make the big calls.
So what’s all the hype about? Banishers is set during the late 1600s in the fictional location of New Eden, Massachusetts and sees you play as Red Mac Raith and Antea Durate, who are lovers and Banishers – ghost hunters tasked with protecting the living from spirits. However, tragedy struck during their last mission, with Antea fatally wounded, and as a result she finds herself walking among the spirits rather than the living. Together, the two must find a way to bring Antea back to the physical world, solving cases they come across while exploring New Eden.
The preview build gave us a look at an early mission from the game, which sees Red and Antea arrive at a camp set up in a forest outside New Eden in search of the camp’s leader, Thickskin Newsmith. Much to the chagrin of Thickskin’s sister Kate, Red is tasked with tracking down and killing a beast (one that Thickskin thinks is merely a wolf or bear) that has been causing havoc in the forest.
DON’T NOD has a strong reputation when it comes to narrative experiences, and right off the bat you can tell that the studio’s commitment to storytelling is flowing through Banisher’s veins. Long dialogue sequences that require choices to be made are a regular occurrence, with some choices simply opening up more responses, while others move the conversation forward. From what I’ve played, the writing seems fairly solid, but some stellar voice acting by Red (voiced by Russ Bain), whose Scottish accent is captivating, and Antea (voiced by Amaka Okafor) does a lot of heavy lifting.
While others aren’t able to see Antea, Red is able to thanks to a special ring he wears that allows him to see those in the spirit world. Antea will frequently assist Red in his investigation, either by making observations or suggestions, and the two will often engage in discussion about the information they’ve learned or events of the past.
Antea is able to see things that Red can’t, and by interacting with them they become accessible in the living world. Furthermore, there are times when Red is physically unable to move ahead due to roadblocks, and Antea will need to fling Red across using her supernatural powers, but in order to do so you’ll need to solve a minor environmental puzzle.
The world design is redolent of games like The Last of Us, with expansive areas that you can explore for lore, narrative items, and loot, but Banishers is still a linear journey at heart. A neat little feature I like is that Antea will tell you that there is more to discover in an area before you can move forward, not unlike the recent player guidance seen in titles like God of War Ragnarök.
Combat is a mixture of styles, with Red’s arsenal consisting of a sword and a firebane for light and heavy hack-and-slash combat, as well as a musket for gunplay. Whereas Antea is more about the fisticuffs and the supernatural, with her light attack getting her knuckles dirty, and her heavy attack an ethereal-like blast that damages and knocks enemies to the ground. Swapping between characters during combat is not only fun but integral, and if you spend too much time as Red, Antea will make a quip about giving her a chance to get in on the action.
Attacking and defeating enemies as Red will build his Banish Gauge, which once full allows him to Banish an enemy, essentially a free kill for most enemies or inflicts a lot of damage for those harder to put down. In the preview, I came up against basic spirits, to more challenging ones that could possess others. Overall though, combat was not too challenging (on both normal and hard), but was enjoyable. However, I do hope that the game mixes it up and offers up some new and exciting weapons or powers.
Given its RPG leanings, Banishers will have a levelling system and a bunch of stats that come with it, and players will be able to use skill points to upgrade Antea’s powers. Each of Red’s items will be upgradable with resources found in the wild and can only be done while resting a fireplace, which are scattered around New Eden.
The bulk of the preview was spent exploring the forest and tracking down the beast, occasionally engaging in combat and learning about the events that had taken place. Eventually, it was time to face off against the beast, and if I’m being honest, this was probably my least favourite part of the preview. The beast had three health bars, and annoyingly the fight was more time consuming than it was challenging, with the beast’s attacks following the same pattern. As this was an early stage in the game I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, but hopefully, these moments get more challenging as the narrative goes on.
After defeating the beast and learning more truths about the events at the camp, we are faced with a difficult decision – a staple of DON’T NOD’s design – to either sacrifice or spare a particular character. Given the information I discovered, you could make an argument for either choice. But as it was merely a preview I decided to listen to the devil on my shoulder and chose sacrifice. What happened next was an emotional scene that showed the consequence of my decision and reminded me why it’s so important to take the time and consider your choices in DON’T NOD’s games.
Sometimes it can be hard to glean how a game is going to turn out based on a preview sampling. But from my brief time with the game, it feels like DON’T NOD could be onto something special with Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. I’m fascinated by the world of New Eden and the characters in it, and I love the use of romance and dual characters as the foundation for the game’s premise. I can’t wait to explore and uncover more when the game launches in November.
Previewed on PC // Preview code supplied by publisher
