Banish is a first-person horror game that places the player in the role of a lone exorcist entering a cursed mansion filled with unsettling silence and supernatural presence. The game centers around performing a ritual to cleanse the building of a malevolent entity, all while navigating narrow halls, abandoned rooms, and cryptic symbols etched into the walls. From the start, the mansion feels alive—shifting shadows, flickering lights, and distant sounds keep tension high without relying on scripted scares. There is no one to guide you. No clear escape. Only the ritual and the thing that hunts you.

Discovery And Ritual Preparation

The gameplay begins with slow, deliberate exploration. Players must search the mansion for ritual items like candles, sacred mirrors, and marked relics. These objects are hidden throughout the house, and there are no prompts or map to help. Understanding your surroundings becomes crucial—every locked door, broken shelf, or bloodstained corner might hide something essential. The house doesn’t want to be purified, and the deeper you go, the more it seems to react to your presence.

As you explore, the core tasks include:

•         Locating specific ritual components scattered across the house
•         Using mirrors to reflect or repel the entity
•         Memorizing safe paths and locked door locations
•         Avoiding dark zones where the entity lingers
•         Completing the ritual before the entity grows more aggressive

These steps create a natural rhythm between searching, fleeing, and acting under pressure.

The Entity And Survival

At a certain point, the spirit reveals itself—faint whispers, a sudden chill, or a slam behind you. The entity doesn’t follow a set path; it appears when you least expect it, forcing players to rely on instinct rather than routine. You can’t fight it directly. Instead, mirrors play a critical role, giving you a brief chance to stun the spirit and escape. Hiding spots like closets and tight crawlspaces offer temporary safety, but staying too long in one place might backfire. The game rewards movement, timing, and awareness over combat.

Atmosphere And Design Choices

Banish uses muted colors, grainy lighting, and subtle particle effects to evoke a decaying, haunted atmosphere. Candlelight flickers unnaturally, old radios whisper static, and the sound of your own footsteps becomes a constant companion. The ritual itself feels physical—you must place each item, recite passages, and complete the sequence while the entity becomes more aggressive. The deeper into the ritual you go, the more the house fights back—lights fail, doors slam shut, and the air feels thick with pressure.

Banish is not about jump scares or gore—it’s about tension, presence, and pressure. It creates fear through helplessness and immersion, asking players to survive, and to complete something ancient and dangerous while being hunted. With no hand-holding, a reactive world, and an unpredictable enemy, the game offers a horror experience that is more about atmosphere and decision-making than action. In Banish, your only weapon is the ritual—and your own nerve.