Summary
Banishers: Ghosts of New Edenis an action RPG title from developers Don’t Nod, the team behind theLife is Strangeseries. The title tells the story of two Banishers, Red and Antea, who are summoned to the settlement ofNew Eden to investigate a malevolent entity, The Nightmare. Banishers are trained in a variety of rituals and combat practices with which to investigate and judge ghosts, before sending them to the afterlife. The Nightmare is no different, and Red and Antea’s journey sees them unearth a horrific series of events involving many of New Eden’s most powerful figures.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Edensees Red and Antea investigate a series of hauntings across the settlement of New Eden. As they piece together the spirit’s stories, the Banishers explore the themes of love, life, justice, and religion. The investigations often lead to the discovery of great injustices, many of which befell the individual doing the haunting, leading to their death. However, no story is quite as dark and twisted as that of The Nightmare, as her death came as a result of corruption that spans the whole of New Eden.
Banishers’ Nightmare Stems from the Spirit of One Woman
AsBanishers’ Red and Anteajourney throughout New Eden, confront the settlement’s views on religion, sexual orientation, morality, justice, and sacrifice. It is during the most significant of these confrontations that they learn the story of school teacher Deborah Comenius, who was horrifically wronged by the settlement’s most powerful figures. Each of these individuals directly contributed to Deborah’s ultimate fate, in one way or another. By discovering the hidden truths that bind Deborah to each section of New Eden, Red and Antea can slowly free the settlement from The Nightmare.
Deborah’s spirit haunts multiple locations at once, as a result of those she haunts dispersing throughout New Eden Town’s surrounding areas. Red and Antea learn that she shared a forbidden love with Kate Newsmith, the sister of theHunting Camp’s leader inBanishers, Thickskin, who betrayed her out of fear of their relationship becoming known. Due to her unique lifestyle and knowledge of the natural world, an abandoned Deborah was later declared a witch by New Eden’s Governor, Fairefax Haskell, imprisoned by Captain Pennington, and put to death by New Eden’s citizens.
While these events are horrific in their own right, they shed a difficult light on the very real injustices that make upBanishers' central themes.
Banishers’ Mythological Curse is a Reflection of Real-World Injustices
While the universe ofBanishersis steeped in dark fantasy, the themes it explores are very real. The story of Deborah Comenius includes many of the period’s most strictly held societal beliefs, and each haunting that results from her death explores the ramifications those beliefs had on individuals that the larger community failed to understand. Deborah’s sexual orientation leads to her becoming isolated from the larger community, and her education and odd lifestyle see her branded a witch. For these “crimes,” she is imprisoned and later killed.
As was common at the time, the punishments and slander that befell Deborah were done in the name of a higher power. None, if any, are aligned with any actual spiritual teaching. Rather, they exist as tools to keepthe citizens of New Edenin line with the individual beliefs of its leaders. Deborah’s fate is one shared by countless individuals throughout human history.Banishers: Ghosts of New Edenuses this terrible history to reflect upon its central themes while forcing the player to confront just how much, or how little, has changed in society since.
