Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

“I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I’m not kidding.” Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is an insanely frustrating game. It's hoisted to great heights by a strong narrative and then subsequently buried by its gameplay and structure. It’s a victim of the worst parts of modern game design and has entirely too much content, taking something that would have been an excellent 20 hour experience and turning it into a decent 40 hour experience. Now I’m not saying that Banishers is a bad game - it’s actually pretty competent. But the developers made a lot of questionable decisions that really bring the experience down, and it feels like they were aiming for something far more ambitious than what their budget allowed. I mentioned before that there is a lot of content. At the end of my playthrough, I had uncovered only 54% of the map. Unfortunately, a lot of it is not very interesting. Most paths beyond the main one will just take you to dead ends with crafting materials, leading to exploration feeling like mindless busywork. You can fast travel but only between campfires, which makes getting around the map a chore. Like other adventure game contemporaries, there’s a skill tree and you can upgrade your equipment with the crafting materials that you find, but engaging with either ultimately feels inconsequential. The combat. Oh, the combat. It’s probably the most frustrating aspect in the game. It’s slow. It lacks impact. There’s low enemy variety. Enemies are damage sponges which leads to fights lasting for far too long. You also can’t skip combat encounters, which makes exploration take longer. With that said, the combat is still competent and is fun for the first dozen or so hours before the repetition really starts setting in. A common sentiment is that you should turn down the difficulty setting so that you can focus on the story. Developer Don't Nod has an interesting pedigree. Life is Strange, their most well-known game, introduced the world to their brand of emotionally resonant storytelling and influenced everything that they've created since. This game continues this streak. It follows Red and Antea, the titular banishers. They act as liaisons between the dead and the living: the dead remain on the earth because of unfinished business and haunt living persons and it’s their job to help the dead reach the afterlife. During a mission, something goes awry which results in one of them being killed. You’re confronted with the first moral quandary of the game here: will you help your partner reach the afterlife or will you sacrifice living people to resurrect them? There are 23 haunting cases in Banishers to support the decision that you make. Some of these cases are pretty binary… There are characters that are clearly bad and the game not-so-subtly tells you that you should punish them but a majority of the cases feature characters that are morally grey. This is where the game excels, as you’re forced to make difficult decisions. Another area where Banishers excels is the relationship between Red and Antea. These two characters are bound together for the entirety of the game. Their relationship feels real and it feels like they really know each other, which is further aided by stellar voicework. As with any relationship, it ebbs and flows depending on how they react to the situations that they find themselves in. They both know that their journey will inevitably end in heartbreak, a fact that they have to contend with. So… Do I recommend Banishers? Yes, though softly. It’s worth playing for the narrative. Turn down the difficulty setting, explore minimally, and do all of the haunting cases. If you don’t care about the story, then I can say that you can probably skip this one.

Unnecessary long for it's own good. This would've done great as 12h long story driven action adventure, not semi-open world, wanna be RPG. You have 3 types of attack light, heavy and range for 20+ hours, that's it, nothing more. You collect 500+ of material and herbs to do +3 dmg on same 5 enemies throughout the game. Story is entertaining, even side missions are well written, but everything else is more than terrible. 4/10

[i]What's haunt when we can live a little longer?[/i] A game that is able to shine with his writing, where there are so many intertwined, moving stories, in a doomed end of 17th century US colony. I shed more than a tear, and I've completed all side missions and haunting cases despite how tedious it could be. Because, alas, the stellar writing is not matched by the gameplay: labyrinth style maps full of collectibles where you'll get lost all the time; lots of running between shelters (fast travel points) and an infinity of copy paste specters to be found on the roads, and those get [i]really[/i] annoying quick. Overall the fighting is quite fun but again, far from the writing. Do yourself a favour, play it, but focus on the human/ghost drama, because that's the real soul of the game and where it's worth. Oh, and it's set in the same universe as Vampyr, and there are Easter eggs about it :) I probably fancied dr. Reid more, but gotta say Red and Altea are a lovely couple, and their relationship really grows on you quickly. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3681249282

Action RPG that's kinda similar to the witcher 3. Hands down, the story and side quests are the best part of the game, followed by the satisfying combat. The map is big and diverse with a lot of loot and collectibles to be found. It's a bummer, you have to do so much backtracking and many of the fast travel spots are quite far apart so I'm not sure if having a gargantuan open world in this case is an advantage. The enemies at the beginning are pretty formidable, I struggled to defeat them even on the medium difficulty but the more you level up your characters the easier they become to the point that towards the end fighting supernatural beings feels more like a chore. Speaking of leveling up, the rpg elements are simple in comparison to other games in this genre, there really is just a basic skill tree and weapon upgrades, nothing else, having inventory seems completely pointless since you can't craft anything plus you carry everything with you at all times anyway. Lastly, considering the game is built on unreal engine 5 it obviously looks amazing and surprisingly is well-optimized. Overall, a fun experience with fantastic atmosphere - 8/10

It's an intense action game with an excellent very well-written story and characters you'll like, lots to explore and a lot of fun, i am very much enjoying it, i've already played 12 hours.

I’d give this game a 6.5/10. [h3]Pros:[/h3] * The voice acting is top-tier. * Great dark atmosphere and visuals. * The sound design is really satisfying — movement, footsteps, nature, armor, all of it. * Making story choices is actually interesting. * Beautiful locations. * Good character animations. [h3]Cons:[/h3] * For some reason, I just couldn’t get attached to the main characters, Red and Antea. They occasionally talk about their past, but there wasn’t enough there to make me genuinely care about them. Red is just a good guy. Antea is just a badass woman. And that’s pretty much all I can say about either of them. * The combat is repetitive and tedious as hell. By the halfway point, I was already sick of it. * You spend about 70% of the game wandering through forests and mountains picking mushrooms and flowers, 20% fighting the same monsters with the same “dodge–shoot–dodge–sword hit–dodge” routine, and 10% actually doing the main story and side quests. * Around 90% of the loot you find is useless. After a while, clearing and looting every area gets really pointless. Halfway through the game, I upgraded one gear set and just used it for the rest of the story because I couldn’t be bothered with loot anymore. * The ambient sound is great, but there’s basically no memorable soundtrack. [h3]Overall:[/h3] I don’t regret buying or playing the game. But I’m a very patient person, and I mostly play games for the story. Anyone who cares a lot about combat, pacing, and action will probably get bored and pissed off. Personally, I enjoyed wandering around in nature, soaking up the gloomy atmosphere and visuals, and deciding the fate of NPCs.

One of the few games I had to stop playing because of the repetitiveness. Combat is a joke, and the story keeps getting interrupted here and there while our focus has to be the antagonist of the game. It started strong but after a while there was no reason to continue playing. I don't regret buying and playing tbh but definitely not a game I can recommend in my right mind.

Первый часов 8 игры было интересно проходить задания, но после это стало очень тяжело играть, так как вы будите бегать и решать проблемы лесбух и странных личностей. В самой игре вы играете за мужика который как опущенец всех "СИЛЬНЫХ" женщин слушает и боится. Хотя он там не один такой, а по сути все мужчины слабаки и подлецы. Что могу сказать, я прошел эту игру, чтоб вам не пришлось тратить деньги на нее. А ну и да, выбор в игре вообще не существует и можете хоть резню устроить, ты все равно будешь тупым мужланом.