COGS & MARVEL

Banshees the Game


SNAPSHOT

165k page views in a week

292 press articles

Thousands of global players

Infinite craic

How does an Irish-founded experiential agency show up on St Patrick’s Day? We’re no stranger to telling a good story through immersive tech, entertainment, and gamification, but we needed to find the right story to tell. Some might wonder if the world really needed a retro video game adaptation of The Banshees of Inisherin, but with a workforce composed largely of Irish people, nerds, and Irish nerds, it seemed like an obvious choice.

From the pixel art, to the original soundtrack of chiptune Irish trad music, we built our 8-bit homage from scratch, giving the darkly comic tale of Irish emotional repression a joyfully over-simplified, over-saturated makeover: Banshees the Game.

A math problem on a whiteboard showing the equation 5 + 3 = 8, written in black marker.
A stylized cake shape with a black background, labeled '2023 Winner' at the bottom. The design features a two-tone brown and black color scheme.
Pixel art of two men facing each other with a scenic island and ocean in the background, text that says "Ranshee the game," and island graphics with a tower and trees.
Pixel art character with a green helmet, brown shirt, and black pants stands on a green background with a patterned border, with text that reads 'Pings!?' in white at the bottom.
Pixelated retro-style maze game screen with a maze, two characters, a house, and score display, with clouds and mountains in the background.
A pixel art image with a green background and a decorative border, displaying the text "Five bloody fingers! Collect them all!" along with an illustration of a severed finger with blood.

"There’s a plucky retro soundtrack, which is always a treat, and Inisherin’s comedy isn’t lost in translation… I’ll be spending the rest of today trying to beat the game and see its last few jokes."

-Rock Paper Shotgun

Capturing the Zeitgeist
St Patrick’s Day 2023 landed at something of an auspicious moment for Irish culture on the international stage. The Academy Awards, scheduled just four days prior to our national holiday, represented an unprecedented acknowledgement of Irish talent. A record 14 nominees hailed from our island, including a quarter of all of the acting nominees. As noted director and Star Trek-ruiner JJ Abrams put it, “seven million people on that island, and all of them are nominated.”

With two massive green waves colliding, we saw an opportunity to harness the excitement of a unique cultural moment, generate some buzz, and most importantly, ensure that the craic remained mighty. What we did not expect, however, was just how much a game about one man’s quest for a quiet pint would resonate with a global audience.

Image of Banshees: The Game video game cartridge and box. The cartridge is gray with a label showing a landscape with clouds, a hill, water, a house on fire, and a sheep in the foreground. The box has similar artwork with the title in yellow and red text.
Advertisement for Banshees the game, featuring an old computer monitor with a pixelated game display; background includes a cave, green landscape, and a logo with stylized text.
A pixel art style house with a brown roof, yellow walls, and stone foundation, set against a green background. Text reads 'Game On!' at the top and 'It's a race to the pub' at the bottom.
Pixel art video game screen from 'Babes in the Game' showing a scene with a green dialogue box and four characters in period clothing against a blue sky with clouds. The dialogue mentions locals being sick of urine and suggesting they collect five fingers for a swift nap.

Banshees: The Game went viral. With 150k unique players all competing for the high score, publications around the world started taking notice. Everywhere from GQ to NME, from Campaign to Gamespot, the global attention hit us like a severed finger chucked at a cottage door.

IMPACT

PRESS

‘The Banshees Of Inisherin’ has been transformed into a ‘Pac-Man’-style browser game [NME.com, 16/03/2023]

Go on a quest for “a quiet pint” in Banshees of Inisherin video game [It’s Nice That, 20/03/2023]

Banshees Of Inisherin Gets Unlikely Pac-Man-Inspired Browser Game [GameSpot, 20/03/2023]

Lovie Awards Winners Gallery: Websites & Mobile Sites General-Music & Entertainment [The Lovie Awards, 9/11/2023]

There’s more than one way to tell a story, and representing a brand narrative through an unexpected optic can really strike a chord with a wider audience; doubly so when that narrative can ride the wave of the cultural zeitgeist.  

What story are you trying to tell?

Let’s work together. Get in touch with us.

Pixel art depiction of a person with black hair, wearing a dark blue hoodie, facing forward.
Pixel art illustration of a woman with long dark hair and a serious expression, wearing a dark outfit.
Pixel art of a woman with brown hair wearing a red shirt and dark pants, standing with arms outstretched.
A digital pixel art image of a gray dog with floppy ears and a tongue sticking out, wearing a red collar.
Pixel art character with brown hair, glasses, wearing a dark blue top.

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