PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Set in 17th century New England, ghost-hunters Antea and Red arrive in the small settlement of New Eden to help the local reverend deal with a particularly troublesome entity. When Antea is killed (not a spoiler, it’s in the trailer!), Red finds himself having to balance his job as a Banisher – saving the living while also taking care of the spirits – with his desire to bring his lover back from the dead, bringing an emotional aspect to the story and providing a unique twist as players swap between Red and Antea to utilise both characters’ unique abilities.
A surprisingly lengthy RPG, Banishers starts quite slowly, taking an hour or so to really reveal the full scope of the game. Its world is vast, but isn’t fully open – rather, you travel along linear paths that allow for plenty of opportunities to veer off and explore. And explore you will, as the game’s main questline sends you all over the map in search of ghostly goings-on. There’s a bit of puzzling to be done as you figure out how to access certain areas, resources to collect, equipment to find and upgrade, and plenty of paranormal punch-ups with all manner of spectral baddies. In the early going, combat feels good albeit slightly unremarkable, but after acquiring a few new skills and getting a few weapon upgrades under your belt, fighting enemies ends up feeling pretty great as you effortlessly switch between both characters to extend combos and pull off special attacks.
Dotted around the map you’ll find a variety of objectives to keep you busy. Banishers‘ main source of side quests comes in the form of haunting investigations, where Antea and Red are tasked with uncovering the truth behind some often very personal problems and deciding how best to deal with the spectre involved. As with many of the developer’s other games, the moral choices you’re forced to make can be quite tricky and have noticeable effects later in the game, altering the way Antea and Red’s relationship develops as well as potentially taking useful NPCs out of action… Elsewhere, the abilities that Antea learns can be used to access previously locked-off areas that contain new gear, upgrades, hidden items, and combat encounters. For a game that seems to have come out of nowhere, and might appear to be quite unassuming at first glance, there really is a surprising amount of content here.
Apart from maybe lacking slightly in terms of enemy variety, there aren’t really too many things to complain about. Banishers contains all of the usual elements that you’d expect from an RPG, along with a unique premise and setting, likable characters, fun combat and skills, interesting haunting investigations, moral dilemmas and choices that do actually affect what happens, and an exceptionally well-written story with characters brought to life by some fantastic voice acting. It isn’t one of those sprawling 100+ hour epics like Skyrim, but it’ll still keep you going for a good 30 or 40 hours if you want to see everything that the game has to offer. An absolutely magnificent game that deserves the highest of praise, Banishers might not do too much in terms of innovation, and the combat could be a little more refined, but it’s an easy recommendation. If you’re a fan of spooky goings on and action adventure games with some light RPG mechanics, it’s a must play.
