Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Review (Xbox Series X|S)

How much of what you believe in are you willing to sacrifice for the person you love? It's a question we very foolishly weren't expecting to be slapped in the face with during our time with the latest action RPG from DON'T NOD, but it's one that Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden presents as a constant throughout it's captivating and heartfelt campaign.

This latest indie gem from the French devs behind such delights as Life is Strange, Vampyr, Jusant and (lest we forget) the rather excellent Remember Me, continues in much the same vein as we've come to expect from the studio's past offerings. It's exquisitely designed, nails the atmosphere, doesn't overstay its welcome and gives you a story so well written and acted that any small niggles you may have about the relatively stiff combat end up taking a firm backseat. That'll do nicely.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden tells the tale of a pair of lovestruck ghost hunters, Antea and Red, who've been summoned to investigate a right spooky old curse in 17th Century New England. Now, when we think of ghost stories, honestly, setting one in a quaint New England town during a period of puritanical insanity and mad lads with silly hats burning innocent folk for being witches, well, it's kind of our whole vibe, and so we admit to being predisposed to enjoying what's presented in this one. However, if you're not instantly drawn to it as a premise, rest assured that the high quality of writing and acting on display here will have you neck deep in no time at all.

Indeed, things do get gripping remarkably quickly here. Within minutes (and slight spoiler warning for the early game) Antea has been killed when the pair unwittingly walk into a trap, so it's now up to Red - plus Antea in phantasmal form - to solve the wider mystery at the heart of the region's curse. It's at this point that the game introduces light investigative work which sees Red and Antea combine their skills in order to reveal motives and truths behind a spate of local hauntings. There are lots of dead people around, you see, and they need to be banished one way or the other, which is cool because we love battering the undead. Unfortunately in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, ghosts talk a lot, and they make us think and have 'feelings'.

Of course, as it turns out - and this is the real crux of the game - a banisher's job is to banish the dead without hesitation, and so Red and Antea have a serious problem. It's up to you to decide, during the course of each of these investigations, what course of action you'll take against both ghosts and the people that they're haunting. There are some morally complex tales to be told here, with abusive dead spouses demanding justice amongst other things, and the whole thing is impressive in how it never simply presents you with bland black and white choices.

This was a seriously troublesome period in history, a time full of truly horrendous opinions and beliefs, and the game isn't afraid to explore these things, either. In the end, your difficult decisions will result in Antea either being released into the afterlife proper or resurrected - an outcome only obtainable through the sacrifice of others. So, how far are you willing to push your own internal boundaries, not to mention break the rules of your profession, to save the love of your life?

Top-notch writing and a pair of hugely likeable protagonists ensure that these narrative aspects hit harder than expected - we don't want to spoil anything, but this game packs an emotional punch - and even though the combat isn't exactly Bayonetta, it manages to hit all the points required to provide a decent action experience on top of the very satisfying storyline.

In fact, there's actually something to be said for the less finicky style of action DON'T NOD has gone with here. Unlike, let's say The Witcher 3, from which this game absolutely takes some cues, there's no big learning curve or forgetting if you haven't played in a while. Antea and Red make use of simple-but-satisfying combos of light and heavy attacks, mixed with a few very cool period-specific weapons, and there's enough variety in enemies and bosses to keep you digging around the large world map for action hotspots when it opens up enough to let you do so.

All in all, it adds up to another tasty indie surprise to add to your current pile of must-play games, and one of DON'T NOD'S most well-rounded efforts yet. A great time for fans of emotionally engaging spook stories, then, and anyone else who enjoys their action-RPGs to stick with them for a little while once the credits roll.