Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

[00:00:00] Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another episode of The Pre-Order Bonus Podcast.

[00:00:14] I'm one of your hosts, Cameron Warren and I've joined as always by Jacob Price.

[00:00:21] Jake gets March 20th, 2024.

[00:00:25] Interesting news that has come out in the past weeks since we've chatted.

[00:00:35] How about that Captain America Black Panther game?

[00:00:40] What do you think?

[00:00:41] I was like, whoa, superhero game that's not Spider-Man that I'm interested in.

[00:00:47] I don't know.

[00:00:48] Maybe it's because it's Amy Henning who is at the helm of that project but I watched

[00:00:54] that trailer and I was like, I kind of dig it.

[00:00:57] If you're a long time listener of the podcast you know that I'm not like a super big superhero

[00:01:02] fan and so I don't know.

[00:01:05] It caught my attention.

[00:01:07] Yeah, I mean we knew this was coming.

[00:01:12] I knew that this existed.

[00:01:13] They had announced the details of it that their Amy Henning was leading the project.

[00:01:18] If you don't know who Amy Henning is, Amy Henning was the game director for the first three

[00:01:24] uncharted games I want to say?

[00:01:27] Yes.

[00:01:28] And then she moved on from that to a Star Wars game that never saw the light of day.

[00:01:33] Do you remember when that prototype just came out though?

[00:01:37] Yes and it looked insane.

[00:01:40] It was like.

[00:01:41] It was like a Mandalorian thing.

[00:01:43] It was like a Mandalorian thing and the prototype footage was it was like gameplay from the introduction,

[00:01:50] tutorial mission and you're like, you know, it was over across a bunch of it was like

[00:01:55] a big rooftop chase.

[00:01:57] I was like, dude, this looks sick.

[00:01:58] Oh wait, this game's never happening.

[00:02:01] This game is...

[00:02:03] And then she might have been on another Star Wars game or I'm conflating the two of

[00:02:09] these and she was not actually on the one that I'm thinking of because there's been

[00:02:13] multiple AAA Star Wars games that have been canceled.

[00:02:16] There was another like Mass Effect style for player, not necessarily for player co-op but

[00:02:23] like RPG Star Wars thing that also got canceled.

[00:02:27] So anyway, it looks like this project is actually happening released a gameplay trailer Unreal

[00:02:31] 1.5, Captain Black Panther's The Voice Actor from Ezekiel from The Walking Dead if you've

[00:02:40] ever watched that show does a great job.

[00:02:42] I'm actually like, I think this is cool.

[00:02:45] I'm one of those people though.

[00:02:47] I have to admit that when they only show cinematics I just...

[00:02:54] I'm super jaded against that.

[00:02:57] You're not quite tuning out but...

[00:02:59] I'm just...

[00:03:00] I mean, I'm super hopeful that this project turns out super great.

[00:03:06] By all accounts it's like a co-op or two player where you switch off between Captain America

[00:03:14] and a world war...

[00:03:16] It's set in World War II so killing Nazis or beating up Nazis.

[00:03:22] Captain America and a regular soldier and then Black Panther and like a Wakanda spy.

[00:03:30] So there's this dichotomy between superhero gameplay and normal person gameplay.

[00:03:35] Anyway, I'm super hopeful but when they don't show gameplay and people get super excited

[00:03:39] I can't help but be like a Debbie Downer and be like well we didn't see anything about

[00:03:43] it.

[00:03:44] The cinematics looks really cool but...

[00:03:47] We've been just let down so many times.

[00:03:49] I just can't help it myself.

[00:03:51] We've just been let down way too many times from cool cinematics.

[00:03:53] Am I wrong on that?

[00:03:55] I don't think there's anything wrong with that approach.

[00:04:00] You want the hype to be there.

[00:04:01] Obviously the marketing team wants the hype to be there which is why they put out that

[00:04:05] information.

[00:04:06] You want it to be on people's radars as we've talked about in the process, how much of

[00:04:11] this is really just...

[00:04:13] It's less about the gamers and more about hiring.

[00:04:16] Right?

[00:04:18] Hey, this is the direction that this project is going to take if you want to.

[00:04:24] I mean they're probably hiring big right now, right?

[00:04:28] MS.

[00:04:29] In the GDC...

[00:04:30] So GDC is going on right now in game developer conference.

[00:04:32] Lots of interesting things coming out.

[00:04:34] I'll talk about another one in a second that I saw just peek out of somebody posting

[00:04:39] some photos of PowerPoint slides.

[00:04:41] But anyway, this was in a presentation.

[00:04:43] It sounds like they're saying 2025.

[00:04:45] I think that means 2026.

[00:04:47] For a game with this high fidelity visuals and the issues that have been going on like

[00:04:55] with budgets and the fact that EA just had massive layoffs, like dude forget it.

[00:05:00] This is either going to be a five hour video game with amazing cinematics or it's going

[00:05:05] to be a $350 million game again to Spider-Man 2 problem because it just looks freaking expensive

[00:05:11] for that 30 second thing that we saw.

[00:05:14] Right.

[00:05:15] Right, yeah.

[00:05:18] Yeah, shoot I lost my train of thought so that train I'm watching it.

[00:05:23] I'm sorry this is me being demy downer but just let me be clear.

[00:05:26] I think any cool Marvel game that we can get is awesome and I think this is a super interesting

[00:05:32] concept.

[00:05:33] I hope they pull it off.

[00:05:34] Yeah, really hope they pull it off.

[00:05:35] It could be cool.

[00:05:36] Well, yeah, it's definitely wait and see.

[00:05:38] I'm definitely worth you though.

[00:05:39] 2025.

[00:05:40] Yeah, we'll see about that.

[00:05:41] We'll see about it.

[00:05:43] So the other thing I saw GDC was actually credit to oh my gosh.

[00:05:52] I can't remember his name but he hosts the Rebel FM video game podcast.

[00:05:57] He's a writer for Wirecutter Shoot New York Times.

[00:06:00] Camera that I have from half functioning brains and with our brains together we can't

[00:06:04] come up with these names.

[00:06:06] Anyway, he was sitting in a GDC presentation where they were talking about dude.

[00:06:12] I would love to be a GDC right now.

[00:06:14] That just looks like so fast.

[00:06:16] That is going on.

[00:06:17] It feels like we should have why don't we go to GDC?

[00:06:20] Can we get in by tonight?

[00:06:21] Can I careful?

[00:06:23] I'm about to do a quick little rant here actually.

[00:06:26] Okay, go for it.

[00:06:27] Guess what folks, I learned that GDC cost a whopping $2,500 to get in.

[00:06:36] Woo.

[00:06:37] And folks expensive.

[00:06:38] I've actually heard that too.

[00:06:39] So I'm actually about to go to an academic conference and it's a huge one national level.

[00:06:45] And you want to know what the conference fee is?

[00:06:47] It's one tenth of that.

[00:06:48] It is one tenth of that.

[00:06:51] It is $250.

[00:06:54] And I have the benefit and I know not all developers have this benefit.

[00:06:58] Sometimes the studio, I'm sure, is footing that bill but a bunch of these developers aren't

[00:07:03] have to put that bill themselves.

[00:07:05] Yeah, it's psycho.

[00:07:07] It is outrageous to me that it costs that much.

[00:07:11] And listen, I'm not trying to, I am making the price point comparison.

[00:07:17] I'm not trying to say that GDC is better or worse than just like your average national

[00:07:21] academic conference but what on earth is happening with that money?

[00:07:25] I have to know.

[00:07:27] I have to know how much they're spending and I get it that like venue space is going

[00:07:31] to be quite different because you have giant booths and you're doing these huge presentations

[00:07:35] and typically at like a national academic conference you'll have a big, the ballroom

[00:07:39] of a hotel is used as sort of like a book fair.

[00:07:42] And then but the rest of the presentations I imagine are the same across the board where

[00:07:46] you just go to different conference rooms at a hotel and there are different presentations

[00:07:51] and panels and everything like that.

[00:07:53] And so I would, some day I would love to go to GDC as well but I saw that price point

[00:07:58] and I thought that is highway robbery because in academia things tend to be overpriced

[00:08:04] and I just thought to myself they must think that they get these big companies to foot

[00:08:11] that kind of a bill.

[00:08:13] And so I'm going to end my rant with this point.

[00:08:16] It's just outrageous to me that it would cost that much just to get in and it very much,

[00:08:22] you are very much catering to a very specific type of developer to actually attend that conference

[00:08:28] and it's the one who can afford that and I think that's stupid.

[00:08:30] Okay, I'm done.

[00:08:33] No, it's definitely, I've actually heard that as well and it's for an independent dev who

[00:08:37] wants to go and kind of learn and also market and show off their game because they do a lot

[00:08:45] of indie game showcases around GDC.

[00:08:47] I know kind of funny did one.

[00:08:48] I think there was another one.

[00:08:49] They did it just in a different job.

[00:08:51] Yep, there it is.

[00:08:53] Which are super cool events but yeah, I mean if you're like an independent dev,

[00:08:58] that's 2500 just to get in the conference.

[00:09:00] Not only that but you're in San Francisco.

[00:09:02] So flights, who knows how expensive and then your hotel is probably 500 a night for downtown

[00:09:08] San Francisco like near the wherever they're holding it.

[00:09:12] Anyway, that being said, I think Jake, there's there is a press pass ironically.

[00:09:20] Oh my gosh, I would feel probably some version of guilt if like we got in with that type

[00:09:26] of the past.

[00:09:28] But yeah, I'm also technically a developer technically you could never mind because we're

[00:09:34] not really allowed to talk about Cameron's work here so I'm going to just leave it there.

[00:09:38] But technically there's an end maybe.

[00:09:42] The interesting PowerPoint that I saw and I'm actually going to pull it up because I just

[00:09:47] feel like this is just super interesting given of what we've been talking.

[00:09:52] It's Arthur Geese from Rebel FM.

[00:09:55] Nice, we got to work so wire cutter.

[00:09:57] He used to work at IGN, Big Gaming, bro.

[00:10:01] Okay, so he shared, if you go check this Twitter out, Jake afterwards.

[00:10:06] 90% of new gameplay time in 2023 was spent.

[00:10:10] This is a slide from some session he said again.

[00:10:13] 90% of new gameplay time in 2023 was spent on 48 titles.

[00:10:18] 73% of that was 25 titles, all of which were live service paid apply.

[00:10:27] And then even more so that's the one

[00:10:33] of total play time outside of live service

[00:10:40] 3.5% for triple A games.

[00:10:44] So like Diablo 4, Hogwarts Legacy and I guess Diablo 4 is part of it.

[00:10:49] So top new release is by play time Diablo 4, Hogwarts Legacy,

[00:10:54] Bultersgate 3, Elden Ring, Starfield, 3.5% of total play time across all gaming.

[00:11:00] That bull for 2020.

[00:11:02] So the Diablo 4, I'm assuming here and I don't think we have the information.

[00:11:07] I'm assuming they mean campaign related tasks,

[00:11:13] right? Like not live service content.

[00:11:16] That's why they're lumping in there.

[00:11:18] I think that's, I think it's just,

[00:11:22] I'm not sure on the Diablo 4.

[00:11:23] I think that's just...

[00:11:26] You know what, they probably...

[00:11:27] I think they're just lumping Diablo 4 and like with the rest of the numbers.

[00:11:30] No, I think you're right. I think they are lumping it because that's the only way

[00:11:32] that Diablo 4 is going to get ahead of Hogwarts Legacy, right?

[00:11:35] Yeah, yeah. So I think Diablo 4 that includes all the life which just shows

[00:11:39] that like that game is not from a play time standpoint.

[00:11:44] But dude, you're talking like...

[00:11:47] That's, I mean so...

[00:11:50] Fortnite killed video games.

[00:11:53] Like this is what this chart is saying and this is what everybody in the industry is looking at

[00:12:01] and people like us hardcore gamers,

[00:12:06] we are that 3.5% and the rest of the world is doing some totally different way off in left field

[00:12:13] and we're just these last vestige of hardcore.

[00:12:15] It's just like hanging on and that's just the reality is people buy their Xbox

[00:12:21] and they use it to play Fortnite, FIFA and Minecraft.

[00:12:24] Minecraft, yeah.

[00:12:26] Yeah, that is a super, super interesting statistic.

[00:12:29] And I would just like to reiterate that if you're angry about video games on social media,

[00:12:33] you're probably speaking into that vacuum of 3.5% people, right?

[00:12:39] If you're the people who are just so mad that some game is hitting 55 FPS instead of 60

[00:12:45] on your console of choice or whatever it is,

[00:12:47] you are screaming into a vacuum and guys, the vacuum is tiny, it's 3.5%,

[00:12:53] the reverberations are loud and they're really annoying.

[00:12:56] If you haven't caught on yet.

[00:12:58] So, okay, that is super fascinating and I'm glad that you share that as well because

[00:13:03] it further sheds light on this ongoing conversation that Cameron and I've had.

[00:13:06] I feel like all of our episodes in 2024 have started with this

[00:13:10] about massive layoffs and why things are kind of shaking out the way that they are.

[00:13:15] You show this number to any C-suite, right?

[00:13:19] You show this chart to the top dogs at whatever company and you're saying this is how people

[00:13:24] are playing their games. To them, I wonder if it just doesn't feel like all that big of a risk

[00:13:30] despite how crowded the live service market it is and despite how hard it is to shift players

[00:13:35] around. They're like, oh 73% or whatever that was or 25 titles. We could be the 26th title.

[00:13:44] We just need one of our eight games in development to be the 26th title or to bump one of those

[00:13:50] 25 titles out and then you know what, we've made our money.

[00:13:55] So I think those numbers help us understand that mindset a little more clearly. Of course,

[00:14:00] this camera and I have also said this has this creates problems lots of problems in the gaming

[00:14:06] industry and it's where when that game doesn't bump out one of those top 25 right who pays for it

[00:14:12] it's the people down below it's the devs they're the ones who are kind of they're the scapegoats

[00:14:17] right in that scenario but those are some outrageous numbers man.

[00:14:22] Yeah, I think what it says is two things number one we are lucky that these other games even exist

[00:14:33] and number two number two is like four night roblox, Minecraft,

[00:14:44] Call it a defy fa. They are basically like their own thing at this point I almost think like as

[00:14:53] in industry like we need to separate those out of the conversation right like that they're

[00:14:58] completely different it's like Matt Booty was saying like these games are no longer games

[00:15:03] are platforms right but like people exist in anyway yeah I don't need to say anymore about that

[00:15:12] but kind of depressing but you know we're still going to get stuff that we like right we may not

[00:15:18] get as much of it it may not be as expensive as it was before I think we'll still get stuff it's just

[00:15:23] you know there they're still a huge market three and a half percent of a ginormous market is still

[00:15:28] a lot of money and people want that money but right and to not totally be a dead horse one thing

[00:15:35] to say about that is that that's three and a half percent of play time right where live service

[00:15:41] games by nature are just going to consume so much more play time as somebody who used to play a

[00:15:47] live service games almost exclusively when I look at the play time of even like my play time in

[00:15:53] Elden Ring or Stardew Valley two games that I have played a ton of it is a fraction of the time

[00:15:59] that I have that I have spent a live service game right so that play time doesn't always translate

[00:16:05] two dollars perfectly right but part of that that appeal certainly is going to be that oh the

[00:16:13] longer somebody spends time in a live service game the more likely they're gonna spend more money

[00:16:19] on micro transactions on cosmetics on whatever on expansions whatever that live service game is

[00:16:24] offering in its monetization model so yeah super fascinating because like for example

[00:16:32] what game just a bilotro just hit a million players right this is a huge oh nice this is

[00:16:38] a huge indie viral hit it's like this year's vampire survivors if we wanted frame it in that way

[00:16:43] so just hit a million players that is a game it's not live service it's a roguelike you know and

[00:16:51] sure I would imagine that people are spending like five to 30 hours in that game kind of like

[00:16:58] vampire survivors that would be my assumption for that game which just is gonna pale in comparison

[00:17:04] to somebody who plays fortnight every night right so the three and a half percent like a play time

[00:17:11] but what I'm trying to get at is like but you would spend 15 bucks on bilotro and you might spend

[00:17:17] 15 bucks on v bucks in fortnight right the real difference when it comes to money is that I'm only

[00:17:23] buying bilotro once I might buy it on mobile so I might buy it twice but even then if I were to buy

[00:17:29] like two copies of bilotro versus continually buying v bucks in fortnight the money that you get from

[00:17:36] fortnight does correlate I think to the play time in fortnight as well

[00:17:45] yep this is the world we live in so you know so play video remember that you like these video games

[00:17:51] but most other people they just every night they get home they log in they do their fortnight

[00:17:58] daily they turn the Xbox off they do it again the next day and they do that every day through

[00:18:01] in the 65 days a year yep that's it so if you're listening to this podcast you're probably

[00:18:08] an anomaly meanwhile dragon zogma 2 reviews have dropped sitting at a cool 92 on

[00:18:17] medicaretic for pc overall I think 89 is that right Jake 89 was the last number that I saw as well

[00:18:25] pretty solid outing for dragon zogma sounds like there's some divisiveness

[00:18:30] because this game goes the best way I saw it put was this game where other games zag this game

[00:18:37] zigz right which I'm actually quite intrigued by so I'm still very interested and

[00:18:44] excited to dip my hands on this the one thing I'm hearing that I don't like and I'm ready I'm

[00:18:50] just preparing myself mentally is that basically the game doesn't start until you're about like

[00:18:54] 15 hours in yeah I've heard it's a it's a rough start it doesn't hand hold at all so you

[00:19:02] you have to wait into the deep a little bit and then you start to swim um but man I don't know

[00:19:10] this is capcom right and capcom did monster hunter world again that I really enjoyed and it looks

[00:19:16] like it looks like the version of monta hunter world monster hunter world that I want really

[00:19:21] I liked monta hunter why am I saying that wrong I'm forgetting the s sorry I have a tendency to

[00:19:26] leave out my asses monster hunter world um this is a game that uh I really enjoyed it got a little

[00:19:34] old it got a little grindy for me and I feel like dragon zogma too is going to be the experience that

[00:19:40] I really wanted there so I'm really excited for it I think it's gonna be a good time

[00:19:46] absolutely excited to play that one a couple days but in the meantime we've been playing Jake and I

[00:19:51] another game uh and that is I think it's gone a little bit of the radar it came out not that many

[00:19:58] people talked about it but I think it deserves your attention I actually do it's banishers

[00:20:04] of a new Eden Jake how are we gonna break this one down this is going to be a fun time so we're

[00:20:11] gonna talk about banishers ghosts of new Eden in our four main categories if you are first time

[00:20:17] listener to the podcast this is what we do with all of our regular episodes I also just want to

[00:20:21] warn you that we cover only about 20 25% of the games narrative so minor early game spoilers but

[00:20:29] we rip rarely if ever talk about how games end and that's our first category first category is

[00:20:35] the narrative uh the second category is mechanics so this is what you're doing within the game how

[00:20:40] you're interacting with the game and yeah that that's really it um here we'll be talking a whole lot

[00:20:46] about combat and crafting the third category is gameplay loop so this would be essentially sometimes

[00:20:53] gameplay loop defines what maybe a play session is gonna be but also gameplay loop is something that

[00:20:58] just the things that keep you entrenched in the game things that keep your interest in the way that

[00:21:04] the pacing sort of functions within a game and then finally we'll be talking about impact on the

[00:21:08] industry camera and I like to speculate a little bit here we like to think about who's taking what

[00:21:13] notes from the games that we're covering um and a lot of times well you know we'll just kind of come

[00:21:18] back maybe to conversations about video game industry as a whole and where we think a game like

[00:21:23] banishers ghosts of new Eden fits into fits into the game industry as a whole fits into games in 2024

[00:21:30] and that's how we will end tonight's episode but first narrative oh my goodness man um this is

[00:21:40] it this is from don't nod right don't not is it don't make the uh the life is strange

[00:21:49] those story games yes life is strange so it's a don't nod game so you are expecting story here

[00:21:56] uh Cameron what did you think of this story

[00:22:02] banishers of new Eden

[00:22:06] and then make great and i'm a banisher

[00:22:10] so i believe that this is the same voice actor as the dwarf character in divinity original sin too

[00:22:18] wait what dude i'm so bad with voice actors yeah yeah and there isn't i know that

[00:22:24] because when you play divinity too or um i can't remember the exact line that he says but he

[00:22:30] repeats it like a million times it's like uh he does he says like some rhyme and so as soon as

[00:22:38] I heard uh the main characters voice i was like oh yeah i know this anyway you're a Scottish dude

[00:22:46] and you've got your girlfriend slash wife you're partner i think you are like the best word to

[00:22:53] describe the relationship partner yes your partner but you also on love with

[00:23:00] and you show up to the new world uh this is like early did they say the year jake is it 1600

[00:23:09] late 1600 so 1695 yes very late 1600 so you're in like you know um pre revolution america

[00:23:24] up in like you know northeast woodland area and you show up to this little town because you got a

[00:23:30] letter from this town it's like hey we need the banishers to come in there's some crazy stuff going on

[00:23:36] you show up i don't know if i want to spoil the beginning because it kind of starts off with a bang

[00:23:41] but like spoiler yeah that's fine it's been yeah i feel like you probably kind of half

[00:23:46] there to explain sorry but anyway you show up there's this crazy dark ghost lady chick

[00:23:53] who's haunted the town you have a battle a face off and your partner your main characters partner

[00:24:00] and i already i'm the worst at names jake so we're gonna have every one of them

[00:24:05] tell you again and te aduarte and te aduarte and who's the the main guy i'm a banisher i'm red

[00:24:14] me craze sorry did red macrez you start about red macrez have about a thousand conversations with

[00:24:21] mpc and everyone's like hello and he's just like i'm red macrez oh my

[00:24:28] macrez from scotland yeah and they're just like only you can change your fate and he's like

[00:24:35] i'm a bana sher sorry i heard i saw a reddit thread recently of somebody

[00:24:45] i saw reddit recently of somebody from scalan saying how they hate living the united states

[00:24:50] because almost every single person when they learned of their scotish comes up with them and does

[00:24:53] a scotish we've offended sorry if you are from scotland we've already deeply offended you i

[00:25:01] listen it's so hard not to try you know what i mean like you just can't help yourself you can't

[00:25:06] i'm so sorry i have to i have to atone a little bit here because i have a really good friend who's

[00:25:11] from scotland but has lived here in the states for a long time and i gotta say

[00:25:18] i i've tried for the longest time to not say anything stupid but no matter what if you're an

[00:25:25] american talking to a scotish person you're gonna say something stupid you're gonna call them

[00:25:30] english you're an accident and you know you're gonna you're not gonna understand the difference

[00:25:35] between the united kingdom and the british isles um you're you're gonna do some stupid accent you're

[00:25:41] gonna quote fat bastard from austin powers like i'm so i just want to apologize to all the scotish

[00:25:49] people out there but our scotish listeners i am so sorry that you just have to endure us and

[00:25:54] i'm probably gonna still continually offend you and say i'm a bana shatter

[00:25:59] jigg i feel like this podcast deserves a austin powers watch and then analysis is that worthwhile

[00:26:07] that could be our first foray into film discussion start with austin powers no i mean the first

[00:26:13] one let's see the first one there's no scotish people in it the spy who shagged me oh my gosh

[00:26:19] anyway we're so sorry i'm just spit out we're so sorry anyway we apologize this is still gonna

[00:26:26] it's still gonna happen so the ghost witch shows up and she's hot in the town and her and enthea

[00:26:33] no she takes out enthea kills her you fight you're like trying to avenge her

[00:26:40] and you just get thrown off the edge of a cliff you wake up and you find out oh crap

[00:26:45] my boo is a ghost now but because i'm a bana shatter for for girlfriend right

[00:26:53] yeah but because he's a bana shatter he can talk to her and he can communicate with her and

[00:26:58] it's like hey okay i've got a choice now like we can go two ways i can bring you back

[00:27:05] but i'm gonna have to do some really kind of nasty stuff i'm gonna have to banish some people

[00:27:13] i'm gonna have to banish some bad people and resurrect you to like get the spirit power up enough

[00:27:19] so to resurrect you and or i can release you by going and doing a bunch of good deeds

[00:27:25] yeah it's um i like how the story started off um uh in that it gives you stakes right away and i

[00:27:35] think don't know how it is really great at that right they they really want you yeah i thought the

[00:27:40] the beginning just quick comment on that i think this starts off really hot like out of the gate

[00:27:46] which is just this is fantastic i also i also think bana sh is a really great example of strong

[00:27:53] world building because world building can feel really cumbersome when a game or a story begins and it's

[00:28:01] just like an info dump of you know exposition on on the player or the audience whatever the audience is

[00:28:08] and uh the game could quite easily go through like this is what bana sh are and this is what they've

[00:28:15] been doing and this is the kind of magic they use and there's a little bit of like a voiceover

[00:28:19] at the beginning that does a little bit of that but it's tied into a cutscene i think then

[00:28:24] that's done really well and what i liked is just that like you come to know not just know i guess

[00:28:32] but you really come to feel and understand what a bana sh or does and what their tasks are

[00:28:37] and what their responsibilities are and the their big sort of what's the word i'm like motto is

[00:28:46] death to the dying and life to the living and that's kind of their creed that's how they handle

[00:28:52] things and they try not to make too many moral judgments but rather a bana sh's job right is

[00:29:00] if someone is haunted meaning that there is a dead person who just won't be dead

[00:29:07] they're just they're back for whatever reason and they're haunting somebody that's where bana

[00:29:11] sh was coming and and those ghosts that haunt people can be really dangerous and they can be

[00:29:16] vicious because maybe what's tethering them to the life or to the living world is anger or is

[00:29:23] some sort of injustice and so i what i really liked about the world building in bana shers is that

[00:29:30] yeah i mean this is stuff that we maybe in popular culture and like a popular understanding of ghosts

[00:29:36] we think okay ghosts are still here because they have some sort of unfulfilled feeling desire

[00:29:43] responsibility and i just feel like bana shers made that sort of popular understanding of ghosts

[00:29:50] feel much more at home within this setting of you know colonial new england um and so i felt

[00:29:58] really comfortable in this games world building really quickly on and uh and i think it's because

[00:30:03] the exposition wasn't over the top and don't nod to has a fantastic job of just creating

[00:30:09] extremely human relatable likable characters and you throw that all in the pot together and i think

[00:30:15] you just get something really wonderful so i really liked how the game started yeah and you'll

[00:30:19] have to excuse me air conditioning just went out i'll go off in a second um

[00:30:26] yeah i 100% agree i think like you said jague they did a great job of establishing stakes

[00:30:33] exploring kind of the idea super deeply of what it means to be a banisher um

[00:30:39] and yeah i want this tv series to be honest like this would be such a great like serial tv series

[00:30:46] where you have the setup of like okay you show up in a little village you know you've got

[00:30:51] some sort of ghost story and then okay we gotta go track down like the ghosts so that they can reveal

[00:30:57] the truth of what happened and there's these like little mysteries that that happened throughout

[00:31:01] the game and i think that's where that's where this game really shines is those little

[00:31:07] stories and there's a billion of them like everywhere you go there's a bajillion of these little

[00:31:13] side quest investigation mysteries where you're doing banish your stuff and then you do the investigation

[00:31:20] you get the answers uh one example being you know there's a you show up to a little village and

[00:31:29] there's a uh blacksmith and his wife and but everything is not all as it seems and so you chase

[00:31:38] down the ghost and i'm gonna spoil this one just so you guys get idea really early on yeah there's

[00:31:44] a super around but basically you find out that um the actual ladies husband was killed trying to

[00:31:54] remember exactly killed by this new guy who is now impersonating the husband and so it's this whole

[00:32:01] thing and so then you get to the end and then you have to decide okay do i uh banish the ghost

[00:32:11] because the ghost guy was actually like a wife beater and like super abusive or do i release him

[00:32:17] he didn't do anything wrong they killed this guy and and what was done to him was unjust

[00:32:23] and so you're basically become like judge judge jury and executioner and have to make that decision

[00:32:28] like that moral decision of like what happens to them that's where this game shines that's like the

[00:32:32] meat of this game and narratively does a really good job of like setting those stakes and making those

[00:32:37] decisions feel impactful um and yeah and the overall just like general pull of hey i'm trying to

[00:32:45] figure out how to like there's obviously the witch lady at the beginning which who's the big bad

[00:32:50] so you kind of want to figure out what happens with her but then also what's gonna happen with my

[00:32:55] with my partner because the decisions that you make in this side quest are gonna decide if

[00:33:01] she is resurrected or if she's released like we already mentioned so yeah i

[00:33:06] great story setup and plot driver and just yeah i just i just did a great job all around with this

[00:33:15] and like you said i think you see those chops that come through from there uh what's

[00:33:20] man i keep reading the name of the series the life is strange the life is strange series yeah yeah

[00:33:26] i mean i really enjoyed it there's a lot of conversations you have to be i think to really enjoy

[00:33:30] this game you have to want to go through a lot of dialogue options and listen to people talk and

[00:33:37] glean information um and what i really like about this game is i mean people will lie to you but it

[00:33:44] it all feels super human i mean i think the characters are done super well um people are

[00:33:49] will give you partial truth because they want to hide embarrassment and one of the major themes

[00:33:54] of this game is closure just getting closure on these unresolved issues right and that manifest

[00:34:01] super naturally through these ghosts being here i think the early haunting that camera pointed out

[00:34:05] was a really fantastic example of this where you come across his blacksmith and everybody in this

[00:34:11] in this it's like a hunting village campout they're like this blacksmith this new blacksmith really

[00:34:17] sucks they're like something's going on with him like this dude can is not a mass surface craft

[00:34:23] and it's funny because one it is funny you're like oh my gosh a blacksmith that sucks that's

[00:34:29] pretty rare in video games typically the blacksmith is your best friend right and and they're

[00:34:33] really good at what they do um because it well it works you know it has multiple functions one

[00:34:38] it's pointing it's the way that everybody is like pointing you towards hey there's this quest over

[00:34:43] here investigate what happened with the blacksmith it's humorous but then you get there and then

[00:34:48] you're like okay well let's figure out why and then you come to uncover that like oh this guy

[00:34:53] actually killed somebody and is now impersonating him and you're like well that's bad right and then

[00:35:01] you discover the ghost and when you finally you know do enough in the quest to make the ghost manifest

[00:35:07] and you you know have a conversation with this ghost that's that taunting his killer and his wife

[00:35:13] you're like this guy is a scumbag he probably deserved to die and it'll show you a scene in which

[00:35:18] you know he's raising a blacksmith hammer against his wife and then you get to this moment and

[00:35:24] this this is probably my favorite part of this game is when you have a haunting like this which is

[00:35:30] like an episode in the TV series of the game you all everybody's present and everybody gets

[00:35:37] the truth out and I love the dialogue options because red and on taeah are just like no cut the BS

[00:35:43] we've done our homework we know what happened but it is essential that you all say what happened

[00:35:50] in that then it's all out in the open everybody knows and then a decision is made

[00:35:57] and then there's closure and so i'm a huge fan of that this game is that's the number one theme

[00:36:02] is like closure okay and why closure is healthy and important so people can move on so it's like

[00:36:09] grieving closure and then having the ability to actually move forward with one's life

[00:36:16] and the great irony of all this is that red is being haunted by on taeah because she died at the

[00:36:24] beginning of the game and so while you are out here being a banisher either granting these ghost

[00:36:31] ascension or you are blaming them which there's actually really cool with man and mechanic without

[00:36:36] that'll get to in a second um you're doing this and you're doing this banisher stuff and it's so

[00:36:41] funny because in your face is on taeah the whole time and you're like well red macrath if you were

[00:36:48] doing your job you should have found closure with on taeah a while ago so i just love that the

[00:36:54] characters are great there's a huge you know hypocrisy hanging over the main characters which I really

[00:37:00] liked i thought it worked really well so yeah stories being told really well there's a so many

[00:37:05] hauntings if you could spend hours and hours in this game yeah doing the detective work which blows

[00:37:11] my mind um but yeah that that's kind of what i'll say about that um the the last two themes

[00:37:18] I want to get out there real quick and i can't get into this without spoiling too much is that the

[00:37:23] game tackles in a really neat way themes of prejudice and um just cowardice when it comes to

[00:37:31] watching injustice occur which um i think is a theme that last one is not touched on very often

[00:37:39] and i think banishers does a cool job of it i think that takes us into mechanics because it ties in

[00:37:47] so i think there's two games here there's the banisher ghost detective game which we basically

[00:37:57] already described where you're reading notes and you're using your banisher ghost powers to

[00:38:03] discover you know the echoes of hauntings and revealing messages and doing your investigation

[00:38:11] and asking questions there's dialogue and then ultimately deciding based on that evidence

[00:38:18] who should be you know elevated i don't know if that means like go to heaven it's or go to hell

[00:38:23] it's sort of like a quasi in between something yeah it's the call it like ascension

[00:38:28] and but right despite the games very like puritanical vibe because of the setting and who all these

[00:38:34] people are it doesn't say that the ghosts go to heaven or hell no it does not it's different

[00:38:41] it doesn't quite sort of like religiously agnostic there's not even like

[00:38:47] mention of Christianity really it's interesting yeah yeah

[00:38:52] um is there i don't think there is i didn't run it there's one part there's a loop obviously it's

[00:38:58] you know put you're in uh new world america so it's like everywhere but yeah i would say that um

[00:39:06] the discussion of Christianity in that sort of brand of Christianity of that time period

[00:39:11] it does get mentioned and it's absolutely part of the culture of the game and all the different people

[00:39:15] that you encounter but um i would say the game doesn't necessarily substantiate Christian claims

[00:39:23] if that makes sense right right yeah and the banishers aren't like some kind of priests

[00:39:28] no that's not how they're represented correct yeah which is interesting super interesting to

[00:39:34] anyway um yeah so so mechanically like you do all those things you're making these decisions

[00:39:41] you're doing the dialogue and then you're kind of doing your investigation and then

[00:39:46] there is a whole action RPG on the side yeah and this is where i think

[00:39:56] i think fall apart is a very strong word because i don't think it falls apart by any means but

[00:40:02] what i mean that is that it's like it's two different games and i think one game is a lot stronger than

[00:40:08] the other yeah and i think that game is the paranormal investigation discovery secrets puzzle-solving

[00:40:16] game and then the other game is the action RPG god of war want to be game and i don't think the god

[00:40:26] of war want to be game in my estimation like works particularly well i thought you have combat that

[00:40:35] is very very reminiscent of god of war like you can tell that they took a lot of inspiration

[00:40:41] of that which is not a bad thing i don't think they necessarily pull it off um it just it doesn't

[00:40:47] there's not a lot of enemy variety first off yeah second off it just like the mechanics just don't

[00:40:52] feel as quite as snappy or high impact as you want them to ever it just doesn't there's just not a

[00:41:00] lot of weight to everything and so you see what they're trying to do they're trying to make i see

[00:41:07] the vision of what don't know i was trying to make here right right and i totally absolutely

[00:41:11] respect like what they were trying to do and i think in a lot of ways they they did pull it off

[00:41:15] they got really close and this is not to say the combat is bad i do think it's serviceable but i

[00:41:19] think it kind of seems like they have the split between these two games and the one

[00:41:26] kind of took away maybe some quality from the other where maybe they end up kind of both suffering

[00:41:31] a little bit that's sort of my estimation obviously i could be completely wrong on that but that was

[00:41:35] just my take on as i was playing it kind of how i felt where the combat sort of ended up just being

[00:41:41] a slog to me that i had to get through didn't feel super fun the progression systems didn't feel

[00:41:47] very impactful it just wasn't fun to fight stuff and so i just wanted to kind of get to the

[00:41:53] meat of the story and experience that what i the feeling that i kept having was like you know what

[00:41:59] this would be like a really good as like a telltale style game or what the games that they already

[00:42:04] do which is life of strange style game like in this setting which i hate to hate to say because

[00:42:11] like that's obviously not what they're going for they wanted a more mainstream which

[00:42:17] totally makes sense right you want to get more audience you want to get more people playing your game

[00:42:23] show them that it looks like a lot of other games that they want to play

[00:42:28] and then you can kind of show the great story and like adventure style story telling that

[00:42:35] you have going on for you along with this sort of action gameplay but i just don't think they pulled

[00:42:41] it off it's yeah i'm i'm gonna try to keep my my comments super focused on mechanics but i am

[00:42:48] gonna bleed a little bit into gameplay loop just because of how things function yeah i agree the

[00:42:53] detective portion of the game when you're doing hauntings with the haunting cases the game is on

[00:42:58] fire and it it does an incredible job i felt like the haunting cases all felt interesting at like

[00:43:05] mildly interesting at worst you know stellar storytelling at best and so the range there i think

[00:43:12] is really high it's got a high floor and it's got a high ceiling for quality and when you're doing

[00:43:17] those haunting cases there's a bit of puzzling that you have to do right like um you switch off

[00:43:23] playing as red or antea and antea can see because she's a ghost she could see sort of spectral things

[00:43:29] and that's essentially how things get highlighted and you can figure out maybe what to interact with

[00:43:35] how to move through a specific location um so the one location that comes to mind is mid game

[00:43:41] so i won't give narrative details so i won't spoil but essentially you come across this like farmhouse

[00:43:47] and it's dilapidated and you need to get through and you are essentially poking your way

[00:43:53] around this house trying to figure okay how do i get into this house and then how do i get to this

[00:43:57] next area that i need to to get to and it's just a bunch of mini puzzles and it's kind of like

[00:44:03] okay well if i pull this lever then this thing happens and then i can move around this place and

[00:44:07] then oh look there's a thing i need to shoot that's in the distance and so it's a little bit of

[00:44:11] puzzling in these like mini level designs are mini like set pieces for level design and i thought

[00:44:17] that that like pacing worked really well because it's like oh great now after i made got through

[00:44:23] three steps of this puzzle i get this narrative piece here oh and i'm gonna need this is an important

[00:44:28] clue for the haunting case that i'm working on and that stuff didn't take all that long i think it

[00:44:34] it just took like each clue probably took 10 minutes max to kind of figure out what you needed to do

[00:44:40] another example that comes to mind again this is middle light games i won't talk narrative details

[00:44:44] but essentially going to an old mill and it's same sort of thing it's like oh crap i need to

[00:44:49] access this part of the mill how do i do it and then you figure it out and that works because

[00:44:54] the payoff comes in the clues that you pick up along the way when you have enough clues to make a

[00:44:59] ghost manifest you make that ghost manifest and they you have a conversation with that ghost you

[00:45:04] get a whole lot of information and then you work towards the closure moment so very cool

[00:45:10] but the combat here's here's what i think in a i think camera does nail this it's two games and one

[00:45:17] and banishers ghost of new Eden is freaking huge now i mainlined most of this game and it took me

[00:45:25] 25 hours and i think i ended with a 30 percent completion rate i there are so many haunting cases

[00:45:32] i didn't touch it's crazy this game is huge and so to kind of my assumption was in order to help

[00:45:40] with the pacing so you're not just doing haunting cases all day they have this combat in here

[00:45:46] but the combat does not progress it does not pace nearly as neatly as the haunting cases do

[00:45:55] and so it felt like when i was going from one clue to the next and i suddenly had two or three combat

[00:46:01] encounters in between it felt like oh boy here we go again and the combat isn't bad

[00:46:08] and i agree it's absolutely pulling from like the the god of war reboot that type of combat

[00:46:14] it just didn't have any punches it didn't have a lot of weight um enemy variety is extremely thin

[00:46:24] way too thin and honestly so i played and beat this game on normal

[00:46:29] and i would recommend playing this on the easiest setting and i think the combat will feel a lot

[00:46:35] less tedious if you can mo through enemies quite easily um a few of things about the combat mechanics

[00:46:43] essentially you're mostly playing with a sword you do get a rifle later on and there's a ton of

[00:46:48] abilities that you can use and you can fight as mainly as red but enthea also has abilities

[00:46:53] that you use in battle and there's a build crafting i would say in this game but abilities are not

[00:47:00] even and builds are not even by any means you could like unlock a note of a tree and it would give

[00:47:08] you highly situational with small benefit perks to some abilities or you could get like massive

[00:47:16] AOE with stunning power and so combat was just way too uneven i think in every kind of

[00:47:23] facet like every kind of combat mechanic sometimes it was cool sometimes it wasn't sometimes it was

[00:47:28] impactful sometimes it felt like it did nothing and so it just felt too choppy going between haunting

[00:47:34] cases the really strong stories and detective work and then into combat where you're kind of like uh

[00:47:40] okay there was one boss that i really liked actually i will say that but um combat is not this game's

[00:47:47] strong suit no it is not let's talk about um the gameplay loop we've alluded to this but you

[00:47:54] essentially have what you have here is a uh open zone ish thing uh very very reminiscent of like

[00:48:07] God of War style right like you have i wouldn't even know if i'd call it up in zone it's like

[00:48:12] it's like a levels that you can go back through and kind of maneuver around and then you're solving

[00:48:18] these mysteries and there's a main objective and usually when you can put the main objective you can

[00:48:22] move on to like the next yeah big area uh and then there'll be like another set of side quests

[00:48:28] and a main quest rinse and repeat and that's that's pretty much the loop you solve the mysteries that

[00:48:35] adds to the story you do some combat upgrade a little bit camp out um and yeah nothing like super

[00:48:44] crazy or super interesting here very kind of buy the numbers run on the mill which is you know

[00:48:52] what works it works i i think maybe the more interesting conversation is like you mentioned the length

[00:48:59] it just feels like this this game's kind of a scoping problem

[00:49:04] yeah like and it always now when i see these games that are so big

[00:49:10] and and we're in the environment that we're in and i maybe people are tired of us talking about

[00:49:15] this and if you are like let us know and i'll just stop talking about the state of the industry

[00:49:19] because maybe it's too depressing but i just can't help but think about like the scope issue

[00:49:25] and a lot of these games that i see a game like this that's really not

[00:49:29] executing at a super high level and the things that it's setting out to try and do

[00:49:33] and then you know jakes j completed at 25 i only put in like 15 i want to say

[00:49:43] and then you know you're only at 30 percent completion that's like my goodness

[00:49:46] this is just massive right and and said you just you wander around the scope like is it was it

[00:49:53] too big because they not deliver on the vision that they wanted for specific things

[00:49:57] because it just got away from them right and the core the core specific piece of fun

[00:50:05] and that's what you know that's what a video game is meant to be it's meant to be something

[00:50:08] fun right that core piece of fun just like kind of just a little bit got away from them

[00:50:14] and i feel like i've seen that you know you see that in a lot of games especially games like this

[00:50:19] that it's from a studio who's known to do a specific thing they want to get bigger broader

[00:50:24] appeal to a bigger audience they're good at what they do and something that i expand they have

[00:50:29] like massive scope third person action RPG like right in the wheelhouse of kind of the big

[00:50:36] popular genre and then they just don't quite pull it off that it just feels like a scoping issue

[00:50:42] yeah i yeah just my brief summary of gameplay loop before i get to that point is

[00:50:50] you have the main story the haunting of red mccraith by you know his lover his partner

[00:50:58] his the fellow banisher and taeah and you go to three major areas and you solve one big haunting case

[00:51:05] that ties back into the original specter that kills on taeah right and and so the game does

[00:51:14] chunk down into like three main open area hubs there's really a fourth one but there's no major

[00:51:20] haunting necessarily associated with it um so but yeah each one of those areas takes a while to

[00:51:30] complete and what i do like about the way that this game is set up is that like once you complete one

[00:51:36] of the main hubs um the main haunting of that hub that contributes for the main story is there's

[00:51:42] plenty to do in that hub and so you can keep doing hauntings and you can keep finding things and

[00:51:48] there are really cool hidden secret optional areas in this game with gray i think level design

[00:51:55] puzzling and and sometimes you know they got some great loot too that you can use um

[00:52:02] and so kind of spending your time in this world i think is absolutely worth it um but the game

[00:52:11] is too stretched it is just too stretched and part of that even comes down to when you're traveling

[00:52:17] from one main hub to the next one even when you're sprinting with all the combat encounters that

[00:52:24] happen between one hub to another hub it is just taking too long and if you don't like

[00:52:30] the combat which camera and i think were relatively lukewarm on i think i had

[00:52:35] huge range of emotions towards the combat sometimes i had a good time and sometimes i was just like

[00:52:40] no not again let me let me just get through um it's just too stretched i actually think that the world

[00:52:48] like the world map was physically too large i think you spent too much time going from one place to

[00:52:55] another especially because this is very much like god of war or the plague tail series where if you see

[00:53:02] um like a resource in there kind of like it looks like a shimmering light that's on something

[00:53:06] that you can gather you're gonna run over there so you're zigzagging your way through like this

[00:53:11] too long of a road to get from one area to another and i i honest like yeah so i'd be this game in 25

[00:53:20] hours how this game been 15 hours i would have loved it i think i would have enjoyed it so much more

[00:53:29] um but keep that optional content because it's those optional hauntings that you want to stay

[00:53:36] in the world for and so i just think even as the type of player that i am which just to clarify i know

[00:53:42] we say this quite a lot camera and i are unusual gamers because of the way that we run our podcast

[00:53:48] and so i want to get this game to completion before we do the episode on it but if it's a game i

[00:53:53] like i want to do the optional content and i just felt like with banishers if i knew the main story

[00:53:57] was closer to 15 hours i could have easily spent the same amount of time 25 hours in this game

[00:54:03] but i would have done way more optional content because it would have felt maybe a little more available

[00:54:09] and it would have felt like okay i want to spend excuse me more time kind of doing what the game has

[00:54:15] to offer so it's a shame i think it was a scope issue i totally agree with that um because what the

[00:54:23] game i think offers on paper is really fantastic um but yeah if you fall off of it i totally know why

[00:54:31] let's talk about the impact on the industry of this one um yeah this this is like

[00:54:39] i think this is a double-a game i'd probably classify it that way right it's maybe even leaning

[00:54:45] closer to triple-a probably and its size and scope and i mean it i think it still looks beautiful

[00:54:54] yeah i don't know it's i don't know what the impact of this one i think it probably falls flat

[00:55:00] i think this is one of those that like doesn't really make a mark where it was like hey we tried

[00:55:04] to do something we tried to kind of take our model of story-driven experiences of um

[00:55:12] life is strange that we've been successful with and we try to do something that could get a little

[00:55:17] bit bigger right we tried to make the action RPG something a little bit more mainstream

[00:55:23] i mean it's that's what it was right like it's pretty clear that's what they're trying to do

[00:55:27] am i am i off base on that like they that's why they went action RPG so i don't think so

[00:55:32] um i did a little bit of reading on it and i have it pulled up here um it says here that focus

[00:55:37] entertainment the people who uh distributed who published this game um and do not entertainment

[00:55:44] they created a new deal after they had released vampire and so this was supposed to be

[00:55:50] vampire vampire thank you sorry um this is supposed to be some sort of uh maybe it is vampire

[00:55:56] i mean i whatever am i pronounced around it's v-a-m-p-y-r right correct i assume vampire because vampire

[00:56:03] right maybe it's just vampire and i'm i'm probably wrong you go ahead anyway it definitely feels like

[00:56:10] they tried to do a little bigger at a little better um which this is i did i did a really long

[00:56:17] episode on this uh for our patreon where you want we want games and studios to do exactly what

[00:56:25] don't nondid with banishers we want them to try something new something a little outside of their

[00:56:30] comfort zone because one it could be a major hit it could be something that they're really awesomet

[00:56:36] i would say obsidian and grounded which is like camera and i go to example for everything

[00:56:40] is a great example of a studio who tried something new and it was in in incredible success and

[00:56:46] you know hats off to them because what that does is that it makes their game plan devs their employees

[00:56:52] just much more versatile it gives them much more creative opportunity and they get to just do more

[00:56:59] and they get to try new projects and green light new ideas and these are all really good things

[00:57:04] now the problem however is when those those experiments happen and they don't quite land right

[00:57:11] because you want them to learn from those mistakes the example that comes to mind for me

[00:57:16] is the debut game from pixple um eastward which eastward is a fantastic game but it has plenty of

[00:57:24] flaws and because that pixple got their feedback from eastward i'm convinced that pixples next game

[00:57:33] is going to be knocked out of the park because they are going to have learned so much from making

[00:57:39] that game and so when it comes to don't not experimenting with like banishers i'm like

[00:57:43] okay yeah but banishers too like if they follow this up or they follow it up with another like

[00:57:49] sort of spiritual successor they take all that feedback and they make an even better game so we want

[00:57:53] games like this to happen but it also doesn't feel great it's not like i want to spend full price

[00:58:01] buy a brand new game that i'm only going to somewhat enjoy you know what i mean

[00:58:06] you know i can't as much as i would love to i cannot drop 60 to 70 dollars and every single

[00:58:14] brand new double a title that comes out um just because i want to support them and i want all

[00:58:19] these good things to happen for them i got my own time and my own interests that i need a balance

[00:58:23] with that as well and so i think banishers is don't not as in a better situation here because don't

[00:58:29] not already as quite versatile and so if banishers isn't like this huge commercial success for them

[00:58:35] they can they could probably you know take that and then take that below that setback if it's that

[00:58:41] bad and they can continue moving on forward but this could crush another studio which is just really

[00:58:46] sad to think about focus also did play tail correct not same developer that was no a focus entertainment

[00:58:57] was also the publisher for it if i am who's the differ not mistaken play tail wasn't it a sobo

[00:59:07] a sobo that's right who finally enough also is doing Microsoft Flight Sim 2024

[00:59:14] I just don't know how they're doing those two yeah i mean i think this is super this is very comparable

[00:59:22] to i think a play tail but a play tail just i think for whatever reason just pulls off what it's

[00:59:33] trying to do way better in my opinion it's a 15 hour game there may be other what's that it's a 15

[00:59:39] hour game right yeah yeah it's also way shorter so not not the scoping issue that i think this

[00:59:45] one how it has not even close way less emphasis on the combat that they're trying to do like it

[00:59:52] still has combat but it has kind of its own dumb down system that i think works quite well

[00:59:58] mostly stealth with combat and i think that's a big help yes and it's like a stealth so

[01:00:06] anyway play tail requiem screws the three million players yeah so that game was a hit um yeah

[01:00:13] yeah what was the sales of this this game uh banishers or have play tail banishers

[01:00:20] eat or something i don't know i haven't seen any numbers on it which is a little worrisome right

[01:00:26] yeah no announcement of that um yeah i don't see anything no one's even talking about it so

[01:00:35] oh okay here's something exceeded forecast good this is i'm happy good

[01:00:42] that's uh so we need that's what you want that's my biggest fear right just as somebody who's

[01:00:47] interested in you know if you're a long time listener you know that i love underdogs i love

[01:00:52] indies and i want them to succeed and this isn't an indie game by any means right but

[01:00:57] you want games and you want game studios to succeed and if it exceeded forecasts i'm happy

[01:01:02] 20,000 copies in the first week which i mean it's not like earth shattering but i don't know

[01:01:10] what the budget was it looks like kind of expensive i don't know so impact industry wise i probably

[01:01:17] not gonna do much but i appreciate the games like this exist i supported it pay full price for

[01:01:22] this on steam uh i'd want games like this double double a-ish style games like this play tail

[01:01:34] banishers i feel like this this what should have been a great candidate for game pass i'm almost

[01:01:39] like perplexed why this did not go on game pass to be honest it's kind of funny because banishers and

[01:01:45] flintlock siege of dawn both got a lot of xbox marketing but only flintlock is on game pass and that

[01:01:51] that comes out this summer yeah and i did see that banishers also had 320,000 steam wishless which

[01:01:56] is a lot so i don't know if they they met that number but yeah i don't know not not a clear like

[01:02:03] conclusive thing but going back to just my summarized by points i think maybe a scoping issue with

[01:02:09] this one maybe went a little bit too hard into like hey let's make our god of war and not quite

[01:02:17] enough of enough juice to kind of make it stand on its own which you know made i think the coolest

[01:02:23] parts of the game which is the murder mystery ghost investigation stuff like suffer just a little

[01:02:29] where that maybe could have been a bit more flushed out um and at the end of the day you know i

[01:02:34] you know i hope this game does well enough for him i don't think it's gonna blow up anything

[01:02:37] from an industry impact perspective though yeah it sounds like it's just it's a game that came out

[01:02:43] i know it's going to find people who absolutely love it and i think there are some people

[01:02:48] who are going to fall in love with this game and they're going to 100% it and if you were that person

[01:02:53] please reach out i'd love to talk to you about your experience doing that um i would say my final

[01:02:58] thoughts one i just remembered i said i was gonna mention something about mechanics and i didn't

[01:03:03] probably one of the coolest mechanics i think of this game is so you have the option at the end

[01:03:08] of like each of these closure meetings with these ghosts to ascend them or to blame them

[01:03:13] and if you ascend um a ghost it's that you just kind of send them off it's fine now if you blame them

[01:03:22] um i don't know mild spoilers here but um you can encounter

[01:03:28] them again there is a space in the game where you can encounter ghosts that you have blamed

[01:03:36] and it is it is interesting i think the fact that that mechanic is in this game is very cool um

[01:03:44] unfortunately that is buried under so much content that this game offers

[01:03:50] that you might not get around to it so like i didn't get around to it nearly as often as i

[01:03:56] would have liked and this gets me back to just my last summary point and this is just repeating

[01:04:02] myself at this point but i think that the idea everything on paper for banishers goes some new Eden

[01:04:08] is spot on it is well thought out it is awesome but the execution everything was stretched a bit too

[01:04:15] thin and um i just kind of wish it was all a bit more compact i think it would have elevated

[01:04:22] this game quite a lot and and that the funny thing too is like i want i would want the game to be

[01:04:28] more compact but when it comes to like narrative and story stuff i don't think that there is very much

[01:04:34] said i would want to actually cut i don't feel like there's even that much fluff on that side of

[01:04:39] the game it's the other side of the game um and so that's why i say if you are interested in banishers

[01:04:45] at all i personally would highly recommend that you play just play it on easy don't don't give

[01:04:51] yourselves more problems with combat than you need just play it on easy and really focus on

[01:04:56] the story and i think you'll enjoy it more than i did and i enjoyed it i did like this game

[01:05:03] and with that ladies and gentlemen this has been another episode of the Prieto bonus podcast

[01:05:06] talking banishers ghosts of new Eden it's out consoles pc check this one out check this one out

[01:05:14] again just remind everyone if if you're on pc you can play a game for up to two hours and then return

[01:05:20] it so try it out and if you don't like it i hope this one comes to game pass i think this is a

[01:05:25] perfect game pass candidate man like i i hope that those talks are happening and that this comes

[01:05:31] to game passes some i agree and i think one of the best things about game pass is that um

[01:05:37] if if don't not our focus entertainment needed to get more uh recoup right on this game

[01:05:43] get that check from xbox man yeah absolutely just cut that check with xbox put on game pass for

[01:05:48] six months you know 100 percent get that cash 100 percent speaking of cash you can support us

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