Banner Saga is a super unique blend of styles that creates a game unlike most I’ve played. Filled with a branching narrative, evolved Oregon Trail style travel, resource management, and grid based strategy combat, I had an absolute blast with Banner Saga.
First off, the presentation is excellent. Austin Wintory’s score is at times haunting and at others triumphant. I loved how well he executed something that was so different from what I’m used to hearing from him. The art and overall atmosphere was awesome too. My journey really did feel almost hopeless, and I really felt a connection with the characters as we struggled through our journey. The lore too was surprisingly deep. I had fun pulling up the map to check out the backstory of the places I would be traveling by or even to just take a look at other parts of the world.
The combat is similarly well executed. Think Fire Emblem with its hero characters ducking it out on a grid but with its own twists. First, units on either side alternate turns by unit and not by team. So instead of one team going and then the other, it swaps between your unit, enemy unit, your unit, enemy unit, and so on. This makes paying attention to the turn order even more important than normal and creates some distinct challenges. Also each unit’s health is also their strength in addition to armor. Take too much damage, and you can’t deal as much back or even break through armor.
Combat on Normal was exhilaratingly challenging. It definitely didn’t hold back which contributed to the atmosphere of the whole game but it wasn’t so overwhelming that I felt like I couldn’t win. I definitely pulled out some close calls though. Only exception to this is the final boss which was cool in concept but terribly aggravating in execution. Doesn’t help either that targeting enemies could sometimes be hard to decipher, and I ended up hitting the wrong enemy a couple times because it was just so hard to see where my unit was targeting.
As a whole, you’ll be going on journeys with different caravans filled with different characters, all of whom will come across all sorts of obstacles and encounters. It’s up to you the player to not only keep supplies up to support your caravan but also make difficult decisions. There are some pretty dire consequences if you choose wrong. I’d know since I made some pretty idiotic choices myself looking back. There are also some potentially great rewards too though. I never felt cheated by the choices either as results felt fair to each choice, and I looked forward to these tricky conundrums.
Overall, The Banner Saga is a great strategy narrative game that truly pushes the boundaries of creativity. There are some rough edges to sand off, but I think if the rest of the trilogy really improves on this, it could turn into an all-time favorite for me!
First off, the presentation is excellent. Austin Wintory’s score is at times haunting and at others triumphant. I loved how well he executed something that was so different from what I’m used to hearing from him. The art and overall atmosphere was awesome too. My journey really did feel almost hopeless, and I really felt a connection with the characters as we struggled through our journey. The lore too was surprisingly deep. I had fun pulling up the map to check out the backstory of the places I would be traveling by or even to just take a look at other parts of the world.
The combat is similarly well executed. Think Fire Emblem with its hero characters ducking it out on a grid but with its own twists. First, units on either side alternate turns by unit and not by team. So instead of one team going and then the other, it swaps between your unit, enemy unit, your unit, enemy unit, and so on. This makes paying attention to the turn order even more important than normal and creates some distinct challenges. Also each unit’s health is also their strength in addition to armor. Take too much damage, and you can’t deal as much back or even break through armor.
Combat on Normal was exhilaratingly challenging. It definitely didn’t hold back which contributed to the atmosphere of the whole game but it wasn’t so overwhelming that I felt like I couldn’t win. I definitely pulled out some close calls though. Only exception to this is the final boss which was cool in concept but terribly aggravating in execution. Doesn’t help either that targeting enemies could sometimes be hard to decipher, and I ended up hitting the wrong enemy a couple times because it was just so hard to see where my unit was targeting.
As a whole, you’ll be going on journeys with different caravans filled with different characters, all of whom will come across all sorts of obstacles and encounters. It’s up to you the player to not only keep supplies up to support your caravan but also make difficult decisions. There are some pretty dire consequences if you choose wrong. I’d know since I made some pretty idiotic choices myself looking back. There are also some potentially great rewards too though. I never felt cheated by the choices either as results felt fair to each choice, and I looked forward to these tricky conundrums.
Overall, The Banner Saga is a great strategy narrative game that truly pushes the boundaries of creativity. There are some rough edges to sand off, but I think if the rest of the trilogy really improves on this, it could turn into an all-time favorite for me!