ghosts

What drew you to translate Trailokyanath Mukhopadhyay’s stories of magic realism? “Trailokyanath’s ghosts are of two kinds: the metaphysical and the metaphorical. The metaphysical ghosts are the regular definition of bhoot, they are the souls of dead men, women and children. The metaphorical ghosts are subaltern characters living on the fringes of mainstream Bengali society, which is genteel and complicated.” (Shutterstock) I did not plan on translating Trailokyanath’s stories when I read them back in 2011. My…

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden isn't one of those open-world RPGs you can spend 100+ hours in and then some, but it is a fairly lengthy game that requires lots of backtracking if you want to see everything it has to offer. This is because it has a very similar structure to the God of War reboot from 2018, acting more like a Metroidvania.The main story is split into four acts, known as Chronicles, each of which has several quests. Then there are the optional Haunting Cases, where Red and Antea must blame a…

Baldur’s Gate 3 fans have been left empty-handed after a patch, which was theorised to be dropping yesterday, didn’t surface. In response to a post on X (formerly Twitter) that was guessing the sixth Baldur’s Gate 3 patch will drop on Valentine’s Day, developer Larian Studios posted a meme of children’s television character Pingu which contains the text “well now I am not doing it”. As it turns out, this wasn’t a mere joke, but confirmation that the patch would in fact not be dropping on Valentine’s Day. However, if…

Within the first few hours of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, you have a very important--and difficult--decision to make. As Red, you must swear an oath to the now-deceased Antea on whether you will help her ascend peacefully into the afterlife, or resurrect her when her body has been retrieved from the meetinghouse. While the game does explain that resurrecting Antea requires sacrificing as many settlers as possible with a blame ritual, it isn't clear exactly what that means. Here's a spoiler-free…

A few hours into Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, you'll encounter Jacob Lynde, a young chap taking refuge in a makeshift shelter in the woods. Talk with him and he'll seem a little confused, explaining how his friend Ben has gone to hunt for game, and that he'd only slow the pair down if Jacob accompanied him. This is the first of many Haunting Cases you'll need to solve as Banishers and because it's the first, the decision you must make at the end on whether to blame Jacob, banish Ben, or ascend Ben,…

Before too long in Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, you'll be sick of the sight of creeping ivy. These weeds crop up frequently, preventing you from exploring various paths in this RPG with a very similar level structure to 2018's God of War. Since it's a Metroidvania you can always backtrack and clear the creeping ivy later down the line, but much like the destructible rocks, you need to know exactly how to get rid of it if you want to explore all New Eden has to offer. Here's what you need to know about…

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden has a very similar level structure to the 2018 God of War reboot, in that while it is technically an open world game, it's more of a Metroidvania. This means exploration is mostly through interconnected levels with branching paths, but there's usually only one route forward. From almost the very beginning of the game, you'll encounter paths blocked by destructible rocks that you seemingly can't get rid of. Here's what you need to know about breaking these rocks in…

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden MSRP $59.99 “Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden delivers both slick action and tough moral choices.” Pros Excellent worldbuilding Strong sidequests Engaging real-time combat Compelling choice system Cons Choices can feel too binary…

Google just released its long-awaited ChatGPT killer, Gemini, an ultra-smart AI chatbot that can finally match OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Early reviews of Google’s chatbot are slowly rolling out, and everyone is impressed. However, some can’t shake this eerie feeling that Gemini has more ghosts than a haunted house.No Google AI Search, I Don’t Need to Learn About the “Benefits of Slavery” “GPT-4 is full of ghosts. Gemini is also full of ghosts,” said Ethan Mollick, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of…

The sense of an ending is what this fascinating film delivers: an unimaginably painful ending and the moral reckoning that has to follow. This dreamlike satire from Georgian film-maker Tengiz Abuladze, was made in 1984 but suppressed for three years before release. This was not so much for its coded critique of Stalinism – of which the Soviet authorities had long since learned to parrot their regretful disapproval – but of the pusillanimous loyalty to the Stalinist memory that persisted in the USSR for generations, and…