Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a brand new action adventure set in the 17th century. During the colonization of the new world, the player assumes control of dual protagonists Red Mac Raith, and Antea Duarte. They are lovers and partners in an organization of professional ghost hunters for hire. They are summoned to the new world at the behest of a long time mutual friend hoping to lift the curse that is plaguing the fledgling colony of New Eden. At face value the game bears an unmistakable resemblance to others in the genre, like the recent God of War titles. This is both a gift and a curse. It allows the story to shine and for the choices to feel like they have palpable consequences. However it also leaves it feeling like a low budget version of its contemporaries, most apparent with regards to accessibility in Banishers.
Easy mechanics, difficult controls
I cannot wholeheartedly recommend Banishers for players with motor-function impairments because simply put, the further along you progress the more difficult the game becomes. Gameplay generally consists of arriving in a ghost-infested area and finding the source of that haunting to purify the area. This source usually involves one or more individuals who have caused the death of individuals close to them. Discovering the source of their tragedy by gathering clues necessary find out what happened is the core of the game. Once the banishers discover what happened they have a choice. Give the ghost a peaceful ascension, banish them entirely, or absorb the life essence of the person who caused the death. Absorbing the life essence assists Red in his personal goal to resurrect Antea.
Mechanically speaking there isn’t much detective work to be done here. Many of the investigations consist of simply interacting with the highlighted object. There is no piecing anything together or any penalty for an incorrect accusation. However getting access to clues often requires solving a time-sensitive puzzle or beating an enemy. Both requiring too much dexterity for motor impaired players.
Not enough time
A prominent example is a late game boss fight requiring Red to destroy chains that sustain a ghost. But the weak links in these chains can only be destroyed when highlighted by Antea. Unfortunately the highlight only lasts 10 seconds, and you can only damage it using Red’s rifle. He does not aim at it automatically from longer ranges, it makes it extremely difficult to be victorious. This is complicated further by weaker foes who distract by flanking.
Fortunately combat outside of bosses is usually pretty straightforward. Red uses primarily a cutlass and an object resembling a torch, called a firebane, to fight weaker enemies. Other ghosts who possess corpses must be weakened by switching to Antea to break their defenses. They can then be finished off by Red’s blade. Easy mode makes Red resistant, but he still takes too long to rebound from damage. When a player takes a hit, it takes four presses of the attack button before Red even lifts his blade. A delay this long is unacceptable and heavily penalizes players who can’t press the Dodge button quickly.
In the later stages towards the end, there are roots that will grow from the ground to block Red’s progress. The heart of these roots must be destroyed by Antea’s entanglement projectile at which point the extremities must be destroyed before they retreat back into their protective shells. Not only is the window short, but 17th century tech is not fast. Options to reduce game-speed and an aim-toggle would rectify this. Over-reliance on these puzzles and broken hit-boxes will bring the game to a halt for the motor-impaired. Controls are fully customizable but short time-limits render this superfluous.
Visual accessibility is hard to find
Unfortunately visual accessibility is the weakest category as Banishers doesn’t contain many features that have become standard. It contains a compass that is reminiscent of the most recent God of War, however the function of this compass suffers without an option to point the character towards the optimal path towards the objective. This can cause long stretches of aimlessness or over-dependence on internet walkthroughs to guide you.
Many objectives place markers on the map, only to have you find a small object in a large area on arrival. Games of this type often provide a visual or tactile cue to signify proximity to the objective once you’re in the highlighted area. In Banishers, Red’s wrist will glow when he enters proximity of an objective. But this glow doesn’t get brighter as he gets closer or uses haptic feedback to signify proximity. Not only would this have made the game more visually accessible but also made completing objectives of this type less frustrating. It is a rather large barrier considering that this type of objective comprises the majority of the game. It does however mark objects that are crucial to progress with a blue icon. Unfortunately, as of writing there does not seem to be any options for color blind players.
Good subtitles, captions not necessary
Banishers contains very good options for subtitles. A multitude of sizes can be chosen and a high-contrast background for subtitles can be selected. Speaker tags do a very good job of identifying who is speaking. As well as a very well made directional indicator for enemy attacks.
Auditory accessibility shouldn’t be too much of a problem in Banishers. Nothing in the game depends on audio. If there is a small blemish, it’s that those who are Hard of Hearing will not be able to hear ranged enemies cocking their rifles. I don’t consider this a barrier because the game uses spoken word to warn players. This is shown in the subtitles so it’s not too hard to prioritize targets. While the subtitles don’t describe environmental sound effects, fortunately everything important happens front and center. So I don’t consider this too much of a barrier either.
Conclusion
To conclude, the new title from the makers of Life is Strange uses a historical backdrop to tell a powerful story about how far one would go to protect those they love. But Banishers drops the ball with regards to accessibility in the most crucial areas. It wears it’s influence on its sleeves and offers meaningful choices, but lack of now standard accessibility features like navigation assistance and aim toggle leave Banishers feeling like a low-budget version of its contemporaries. But there is fun to be had here for fans of this company’s style who don’t mind a few hurdles.
