Banishers: Ghost Of New Eden’s Combat Takes Inspiration From God Of War

Santa Monica Studio’s relatively recent God of War games, including the one from 2018 and Ragnarok — the latest in the franchise — are two games that are unequivocally going down in history as genre-defining masterpieces. It’s no wonder that they’ve paved the way for other developers and their subsequent games to draw inspiration from them, with the latest one in line being a new Don’t Nod IP. 

Known best for its work on the Life Is Strange games and Vampyr, Don’t Nod is a French developer and publisher as well, and is currently looking to push out a new game called Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden on November 7, 2023. In recent times, the Creative Director to the title Philippe Moreau sat down in an interview with PLAY Magazine and revealed an interesting bit of info to the general public (thanks MP1st).

Phillipe iterated that Banishers employs a combat system that’s built from the ground up, so at the start of its development, the God of War games were taken as inspiration. In verbatim terms, he says, 

We decided very early in the development to just begin a new fight system from scratch. So we took God Of War as the main inspiration, [particularly with the] game feel and how the camera is close to the character and [you] can move by strafing. Compared to Vampyr, it’s a big improvement.” 

Checking out the official extended gameplay trailer of the forthcoming RPG, we’d say no different. When the rebooted version of God of War came out in 2018, it took players along a newfound journey of Kratos—one that we’re pretty sure no one saw coming for the Ghost of Sparta. With the adventure of the father-son duo, came an excellent combat system with a ton of depth and freedom. 

Call me biased, but the bar that God of War, and its subsequent sequel God of War Ragnarok, have raised is nigh impossible to surmount as far as the richness of its combat mechanics is concerned. And, of course, the inspiration is right there for anyone trying to get somewhere with their game in the industry, including Don’t Nod, which has evidently featured likenesses to God of War in Banishers to some extent. 

Other Content to Check Out:

• Don’t Nod Announces Profits In the First Half Of 2022 With Eight Games In Production
• Life Is Strange Devs Teasing New Narrative Game
• Focus Entertainment Acquires “Isonzo” Developer, Blackhill Games

For those not in the know, pre-orders for the title are live, allowing you to make a choice out of the game’s three different editions. These include the base edition of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Red Echoes edition which comprises “an ancient, leather-effect notebook illustrated with Red’s memories, an ink writing set, the game on the platform of your choice and the Wanderer Set DLC.” 

Lastly, there’s the massive Collector’s Edition of Banishers up for grabs too, costing about $200 and coming with two modular statuettes of the RPG’s two protagonists, an official book, two Banishers signet rings, and the aforementioned Wanderer Set DLC, along with the base game, of course. The entire thing comes inside a specialized collector’s box as well. 

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is coming out on November 7 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.