In the past I’ve had differing experiences with Dontnod games… Vampyr was a delightful discovery, as you wrestled with your moral compass playing a Doctor both obligated to saving peoples lives, whilst quenching your thirst as a Vampire… whereas Life Is Strange was, to me, flat out garbage I wish I’d never played… the number of times I just stood there watching Chloe get nailed by that train was too many to count.
Banishers grabbed my attention, while it was obvious from the first trailer that the woman explaining the haunting can only see 1 of the 2 characters in the building with her, the idea that they were there to aid her in getting rid of a spirit, when one of the 2 was clearly a spirit themselves, appealed to me… it offers a very obvious good/bad moral dilemma… and I like that.
Even before they announced the Trophies/Achievements for the game you knew there would be separate unlocks for going down each path towards the end of the game… so unless these can be manipulated by time appropriate game saves, 2 runs taking a distinct path each time was looking to be the way to go.
In this version I intend to take the path where I stick to my oath, to banish souls/spirits to the other side and to protect the general populous, knowing that this means I will lose the love of my life in the process.
Beware, this will include spoilers.
February 12th
There’s a reason I use one particular online retailer for my games… and that is confirmed when the game arrives on the Saturday before the Tuesday release… 3 days early… sadly, as I try it out, the Achievements have yet to be activated so I play around 20 minutes and call it a day.
First impression… damn them for putting the “use health” action on the button usually used for attacking an enemy, so I end up drinking 2 of the 3 health items I have whilst testing the controls.
A couple of days later, when I see people have unlocked some Achievements I go back and restart the game, wary of the X button that drinks health potions… and really get into the game.
You’ve been asked by an old friend, Charles Davenport, to help remove a curse from the land of New Eden, and you arrive mid-June, to find the weather bares more of a winter tinge, you also discover that Charles has perished fighting the Nightmare alone.
By all accounts an actual Nightmare is a rare thing, stronger than any other Spectre or Ghost, and rumour has it they can’t be merely banished from the world.
In the early parts you switch between the two characters, starting as Antea the senior of the two characters, you investigate Charles home, and his wife gives you access to his study and papers, from there you move to the Cemetery where he met his end, the first “real” ghost you meet (that of an actual person wander than a non-descript wandering spirit) is Charles himself… he wants to help, but you know that Ghosts such as he, will eventually yearn for essence that can only come from a living being… they are not to be trusted.
Having ushered Charles onto the next world, armed with the knowledge that the Curse is being wielded by the Nightmare he has locked into the towns Meetinghouse, you retire for the night.
Here the first real character switch occurs, Red awakes to find Antea missing and heads to the meetinghouse to assist, believing this is where she has gone… in the early scenes before this Antea scolds Red for being a little to quick to rush into situations… and this is played out here, Red rushes into the building, unaware that Antea is not there… he has been lured by the Nightmare… boss battle.
I managed to take out 1 of the 3 life bars the Nightmare had before the cut scene kicks in, where Antea is mortally wounded and Red dropped into the Ocean… as he sinks into the depths the title screen kicks in.
What is (apparently) a couple of weeks later Red awakes in a cave by the sea, having been rescued by Seeker, an apprentice Witch, sent by her mistress to aid him, once she departs you explore the cave for equipment and the game knows this will happen, among the items you find is a note from Seeker mocking your inability not to be nosey.
As you leave the cave you hear Antea’s voice calling you… and you discover her spirit… you’re then into what is almost a second tutorial level, the first being your walk from the coast to the first settlement… as interactions and game mechanics with Antea are explained.
You decide that you need to meet the Witch who sent Seeker to help you… a few new mechanics are laid out for you explaining just why you need to switch to Antea at times, as a Ghost she can see different things in the world, can see clearly through the Spectral mist you occasionally encounter, and has a different range of attacks for different enemies.
And then, as was explained when you encountered the ghost of Charles, she starts to suffer from the hunger… she needs essence, and handily, you encounter your first haunting… a trapper named Jacob, scared in his shelter, awaiting his friend Ben, but consuming some very questionable food.
You search for Ben and discover he met an untimely end, at the hands of Jacob, who is now surviving on the flesh of his friend… it’s not a long “case” to solve, but explains the basics… and is also the point where you decide which of the two outcomes to Antea’s plight you will work towards.
With your help Jacob comes to terms with what he’s done, and he is prepared to pay for his crimes with his life… you can choose whether to maintain your Oath and, once the Nightmare has been killed and Anteas body reclaimed, ascend Antea to the next world… or you can use the essence of people to bring Antea back from the dead going against your own strict principles.
The autosave system here is good… having Banished the ghost and absolved Jacob, I save the game and reload an autosave and this time Blame Jacob thus starting on the path to resurrect Antea and I save in a different slot… it’s taken 4 hours to get here, 4 hours I won’t have to replay later.
Having taken the Oath to uphold the Banisher principles and make a promise to ascend Antea once the Nightmare is no more, you start the trek back to New Eden, not before a teleport mechanic is explained where Antea can use a spirit power to traverse broken bridges and large jumps… and I call it a day… from what I have played I’m going to enjoy this.
Nor will I go into quite so much detail over other hauntings I come across going forward… else this whole thing will balloon out of control to immense proportions… nobody wants that.
February 15th
I’ve had the chance to move the game on a little, 2 more hauntings cleared up and (so far) they’ve made it very easy to consider killing the person being haunted to bring Antea back had you chosen that path… both people being haunted will have given you reasons to kill them… a Spy and a murderer… I’m still following the Oath path so I’ve chosen not to… one ghost Ascended as they hadn’t meant to be causing any distress to their victim, another Banished as they were actively working on revenge… not that they didn’t have reason for wanting the revenge, but all things considered it seemed more apt to punish them.
All this has been done in a small settlement that will be the first location you really arrive at once you’ve left the cave where Seeker nursed you back to health.
There will be an element of back tracking later in the game, I’ve encountered pathways blocked by something I’ll obviously be able to clear at a later date… growths of reinforced wooden blockades… and the game does actually tell you the first time you encounter one that you do not have the requisite ability to pass that barrier yet.
I found my first Treasure map and collected the Treasure, a rare material needed to upgrade a piece of equipment, and I’ve cleared a couple of areas where there are a large number of spirits residing, both of which increased my stats permanently.
I want to complete as much as I can in my first run so that the Revival run can be as streamlined as possible… even if I were to be buying Final Fantasy Rebirth at launch, not a chance I’d be able to finish this in time to start it then.
February 18th
Per the map I’ve completed 11% of the game… if that’s accurate then I have a long way to go… progress continues, but having unlocked the ability to smash through some of the blocked paths I’m back tracking and exploring these areas, and also working on the remaining “?” symbols on the map I haven’t done yet.
Along the way I also unlock the ability to open some containers protected by spells, for which I have to collect 3 carved figures in the surrounding area before I can cast a new ritual to remove the spell and then loot the container.
Some of the newly discovered chests are hectic battles against a swarm (or nest) of Spectres and ghosts… or a scourge that turns out to be a smaller version of the boss battle against the Beast that is troubling the Trapper camp in the woods.
I’m fairly close to reaching the next main plot section, finding the Witch in the woods who sent Seeker to aid me after the first encounter with the Nightmare… hauntings continue to give you a justifiable reason to kill someone if you were working on bringing Antea back… all good thus far.