One studio that has a good reputation is Don’t Nod, the creators of the first Life is Strange. The new studio title, Banishers: Ghost of New Eden, is a different kind of title from Life is Strange, but it still makes you decide key things to access different endings. Some very important decisions have to be made very early on in the game without any room to change this or the ending that will come for the path that you choose.
The more recent game from Don’t Nod, the creators of Life is Strange, Banishers: Ghost of Eden, is already available, and it has a complicated problem with the decision-making process that it uses. This particular game makes you decide way beforehand what ending we want for the story. A “good” ending or a morally gray ending, to see your beloved once again with you. The studio makes you do this at the beginning of the game without really giving time for the story to unfold.
This article has some spoilers for Banishers: The Ghost of New Eden is ahead.
Banishers: Ghost of New Eden has a very weird decision-making system
The most recent game from Don’t Nod released last week, and it has a complicated concern with the decision-making process that it decides. This particular game makes you decide way beforehand what ending we want for the story. A “good” ending or a morally gray ending, to see your beloved once again with you. The studio makes you do this at the beginning of the game without really giving time for the story to unfold.
Early on, you have to choose whether you will sacrifice the living to bring your beloved back or whether you can make a good decision and make all the dead ascend. This is very similar to a very popular game, Bioshock. In Bioshock, you also have to select the fate of the Little Sisters, whether you save all of them or consume at least one to have a bad ending. This is a complicated process to make the player do, but in Banishers: Ghost of New Eden, it’s very early in the game.
A spoiler-free path for decision-making would have been nice
Don’t nod; made a very strange choice. You know very early on what will happen according to what you pick. The process leaves no room for you to think more about this, and it has no weight on your decision-making process. All because you are not fully involved with the story yet. This was not the best way to introduce you to the game. Some narrative development is missing to make the decision more important.
This particular way of making the player decide so fast has critics with mixes and reviews for Banishers: Ghost of New Eden. On Metacritic, the game has a score of 78, way below average for others Don’t Nod games. This Paris studio is known for being controversial in their games and pushing the narrative a little further. In this case, it looks like they did not make the best decision.
Tell us what you think about the game. Have the Banishers: Ghost of New Eden chosen wisely?
