I have a soft spot for niche games. Even among my colleagues at TheGamer I often get blank stares whenever I describe my favorite indie deckbuilders and tactical roguelikes. When I was a teenager I went to a Modest Mouse concert before Good News for People Who Love Bad News came out, and the high I got from being able to tell people that I liked them before they got huge every time Float On played on the radio shaped my personality more than I’d like to admit. I never get tired of reminding my coworkers I was the first one to discover Balatro. I’m a video game hipster and proud of it.
One of the best parts of my job is getting to highlight under-the-radar games. From PSX-style horror game Mouthwashing to the retro game that is the most games ever, UFO 50. It’s been a great year for discovering weird little games. I know my taste can be niche, especially when it comes to games with cards, FMV, and turn-based strategy (if some one can figure out how to put all of those together, I’ll be in heaven) but if I can help one other weirdo like me find a game they’ll love, I’ve done my job.
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Is Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden Worth It?
If you’re on the fence about whether Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is worth it, let us help you decide.
The most overlooked game of 2024, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, is nothing like those games. Don’t Nod’s cinematic RPG has all of the elements of a big triple-A hit, and yet few people have heard of it and even fewer have played it. What’s most perplexing of all is that it’s really good. High-budget cinematics, fantastic writing, strong performances, and a unique approach to third-person combat – Banishers is exactly the kind of game that should’ve been on Johnny Gamer’s radar this year, but for some inexplicable reason, it wasn’t.
What Happened To Banishers?
I’m at a complete loss over why Banishers had no impact this year. It reviewed positively with an 80 percent on OpenCritic (same as TGA Game of the Year nominee Black Myth: Wukong), and it comes from a studio with a lot of name recognition, especially among fans of narrative-driven games.
Banishers has even more mainstream appeal than Life is Strange thanks to its emphasis on combat, RPG systems, and semi-open world exploration. It’s Witcher-esque both in presentation and gameplay, and I really thought that would be enough.
I don’t think it’s a marketing issue either. You may have forgotten about Banishers by now, but it was revealed during The Game Awards in 2022 and had another trailer at The Game Awards in 2023. My Twitter feed was filled with ads for it in the weeks leading up to and right after it launched. If you’re in the know you would have known about Banishers, but with so little word of mouth and a peak player count of just 3,791 on Steam, it’s hard to imagine it was a success.
Sometimes The Best Games Don’t Get Their Due
I knew there wasn’t any buzz around the game when it launched in February, but I still hoped it would get a little boost from end of the year awards. Any category having to do with performance, writing, or story should absolutely include Banishers among the nominees, but it wasn’t nominated for anything at The Game Awards, and I haven’t seen it nominated anywhere else.
TheGamers own awards, The Game Aces, aren’t until early January, but I’m hopeful Banishers will get some of the recognition it deserves there. As a February game it was bound to go under the radar to some extent – and launching two weeks before Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and a week after Helldivers 2 certainly didn’t help Banishers break through – but these days there are just too many games and too little time. Some games, even great ones, are going to get missed sometimes. It’s just weird to see such a mainstream game get totally ignored.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is an all-new action RPG from Don’t Nod, creators of the Life is Strange series. Featuring a deep narrative in which your choices matter, you play a pair of ghost hunters exploring the town of New Eden in 1695.