Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Ever since Life Is Strange properly put the developer on the map, story over gameplay seems to have been the mantra at DON'T NOD. That's no bad thing; it gave rise to Life Is Strange 2 and Xbox exclusive Tell Me Why. However, with the likes of Vampyr and Jusant also in its back catalogue, there's always been potential there for the studio to happen upon something truly great. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is the realisation of that. Joining a captivating narrative and an enjoyable blend of combat and exploration at the hip, it's comfortably the French team's greatest achievement to date.

You play as the loving couple Red and Antea, two ghost hunters sent to New Eden in the year 1695. The town and its surrounding area have been engulfed in a haunting sending the populace mad, and they're there to investigate and conclusively put a stop to it. Things go south, though, when Antea succumbs to the curse and is killed, leaving Red on his own in the real world while his partner returns as a ghost.

This sets up a moral dilemma you must battle with throughout the entire game: as well as defeating the spectral torment, Red can choose to either help ghosts and ascend them to the afterlife, or banish them for their wrongdoings, which has the potential of killing the living and breathing host. If enough ghosts are banished, Antea is brought back to life. Their duty is to send the dead back to where they belong — the couple's motto is literally «life to the living, death to the dead» — but what happens when it's the one you love most?

The predicament manifests in both the main story and side quests (known as Haunting Cases), where you'll need to work out why a ghost has returned to haunt an individual and then judge who's to blame. A little like the recent Sherlock Holmes games, you'll scan the environment for clues and work out motives, forming your own conclusion at the end. Again, though, if you want to bring Antea back, you may need to go against what you believe is morally