The Banner Saga

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 833 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 606 out of 833
  2. Mixed: 166 out of 833
  3. Negative: 61 out of 833

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  1. deadsanta
    Jan 16, 2014
    2
    Well, now we finally have the Banner Saga RPG, and I have to ask: What were they doing in the year between this release and the free combat multiplayer? Because it doesn't look like they were doing much at all, honestly, the game looks like it was abandoned at about the 70% completed mark, so sparse is the gameplay, dialogue, plotting and yes, even the vaunted artwork.

    I've heard how    Well, now we finally have the Banner Saga RPG, and I have to ask: What were they doing in the year between this release and the free combat multiplayer? Because it doesn't look like they were doing much at all, honestly, the game looks like it was abandoned at about the 70% completed mark, so sparse is the gameplay, dialogue, plotting and yes, even the vaunted artwork.

    I've heard how there are "10 hours" of play time in this $20 title, as if that's even defensible in an RPG, but I have to say that that isn't the case, the playtime is extended artificially by a series of unskippable cutscenes, travel scenes and battle scenes that add nothing to the game except to drastically slow the pacing in order to pad out what little was delivered at release.

    Serious issues:

    -Poor story, minimal player choice, remarkable little "dialogue" given that text is the cheapest content a game designer can offer, and this designer offers little except for text. I figure there's under 10 pages of normally-spaced text in this game, and I doubt you'll see more than 6-7 pages of it in a given playthrough.

    -Beautiful artwork that quickly becomes copypasta after the first couple chapters. The game is "oregon trail" style, just a long slog down a dangerous road, and once you pass the 3rd or fourth copypasta'd landmark (godstones) or village you realize that the art talent was as poorly directed as the rest of the game.

    -There's an entire interactive map screen that promises a sandbox-style play at some point (or at least a few hubs to choose from), but DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING throughout the entire game, you are on rails down a text-driven road with the same 3-4 choices every few days. This is the most glaring example of an unfinished game element that I've ever seen in a full release. It's like having a character tab for "inventory" and then clicking on that tab doing nothing, because the function was never implemented.

    -The tactical level of the game on "Normal" is definitely challenging, however once you learn how to manage the three types of opponents (dredge, human, varl) in the first couple chapters, you will never really think that hard about combat again, because ultimately it is quite shallow, and 80% of your opponents will be Dredge anyway, with the occasional boss fight,

    -The script, such as it is, is dark and despressing, with every choice essentially a bad one. But the whole trudging from one place to the next, "chased" by enemy isnt really that dramatic, like Battlestar Galactica, but much more like Oregon Trail: A slow, tedious slog with your people starving and complaining the whole way, only at least in oregon trail you had some actual resource management role to play, in Banner Saga, you can't hunt for food and most of your opportunities to get more will come from dialogue choices that give no hint of the results, so you have to memorize ideal decision trees and then reload the game to accomplish your tasks. Horrible design.

    2/10, 1 for art and 1 for initial tactical combat difficulty. Many minuses for giving up on what could have been a solid adventure with some gritty decisions but just wound up being a muddled mess.    … Expand
  2. Aguerra
    Jan 23, 2014
    3
    I loved the first few hours and I tried to love the rest, and I failed. There game gets high reviews because it had big hype/kickstarter campaign and because few first hour are great. The truth is this game has all the goods at the start. I played it through and, well.

    At first you are dazzled; the game looks and feels fresh, the world map is fantastic, opening intro is great, drawn art    I loved the first few hours and I tried to love the rest, and I failed. There game gets high reviews because it had big hype/kickstarter campaign and because few first hour are great. The truth is this game has all the goods at the start. I played it through and, well.

    At first you are dazzled; the game looks and feels fresh, the world map is fantastic, opening intro is great, drawn art is stunning. With first 5 mins you are told that you'll see the story from many perspectives, and that sun just stopped in the sky. All this promises a vast fantasy saga, deep world and an immersive story.

    Nothing could be further from the truth. The stunning world map is useless since you can't go anywhere. The great opening intro is the only, repeat THE ONLY, good animation in the game, everything else is sliding still pictures. You'll swap the main character twice, the short prologue included. And that sun just stopped in the sky has no relevance at all. More of this later.

    Few points;

    - False suspension. Your village is sacked and you'll have to run for it, enemy at your heels. But there is no enemy. You can camp for years and rainbows happen.

    - False feeling of choice. As you travel you must (un)manage your caravan. It's like Oregon Train except without ANY interference. You can't ration food, you can't change pace, you can't hunt for food, you can't do anything. You have random events where you'll have to make decision. Bad decisions lose lives/resources, you understand. But it's all a joke because the caravan doesn't matter at all. Starve them all to death and the game just becomes easier. The heroes can't starve so nothing lost.

    - You remember that the sun stopped? That's the game's cheap excuse for not having day/night change. You can rest but it's not obligatory. Just march 120 days without sleep, and nothing serious happens.

    -Characters are uninteresting an uninspired. This is not fallout 1 or 2, or even Dragon Age. Seriously, Final Fantasy Tactics had hundred times more character building and dialogue. You can maybe speak four sentences to each hero, and this is without voice acting. There is a ghost of character building; some dude has a crush on your daughter, your daughter doesn't want to hurt people, that widow kind of starts to warm on you. But none of this goes anywhere. Sometimes the game kills some guys in unavoidable walls of text and then nobody mentions the dead guys ever again. Even the much-vaunted art gets repetitive as every character is only one picture copy pasted infinitely.

    -The dialogue is bad, bad like written by an 15 year potato. Every character speaks modern American English with crap, creepy, yeah etc. which doesn't improve the atmosphere much. Yes, this game is 90% text-driven adventure.

    The combat isn't bad but it's quirky, hit or miss for most of us. It's all about herding/hamstringing enemies and abusing turn order to your advantage. It might seem difficult at first but once you get the system it's baby cakes. The heroes are pretty simplified as far as character building goes and there are only so many ways to build a good team. Magic items are 1/hero and there are no skill trees to unlock, so there isn't much room for customization. Once you learn those about 5 different enemy types battles grow repetitive.

    Also there were small matters which annoyed me:

    1. no free saving, just checkpoints

    2.No subtitles, no keyboard support, no resolution change, no nothing

    3.Can't see heroes stats or swap items in pre-battle roster.

    4.Battle camera can't be rotated or zoomed

    5.Can't skip cut scenes, walking animations, anything, in an absolutely linear story.

    Then there is the story. I'd love to spoil it but there really isn't much to spoil. The story might seem strong at first but soon degenerates to standard fantasy pulp. 120% of the game you just run away from that invisible, nonexistent enemy army to destination which you can't choose, and what happens during the journey doesn't make much sense. So sun has stopped, gods died about a week ago and there is a giant world-eating snake straight from Viking myths. None of these has any relevance to anything, and all are soon forgotten. Then you just reach the final city and oh, it's the final boss. The ending provoked many complains in steam forums btw.

    It's not an awful game but it's not that deep fantasy saga some people paint it to be. It's an mediocre tactical game with an below-mediocre story /writing to glue it together. It gives an odd mixed feeling, for clearly some parts of the game were made with love. It seems somebody had great ideas and passions which died about 70% way through, and they couldn't be bothered to finish the job.

    Currently it costs 22,99€ in Steam and honestly, that's about 12,99€ too much. It doesn't feel like a complete game because it isn't.    … Expand
  3. dorian5523
    Jul 18, 2014
    3
    The initial impression given by this game is that it is 'old school' and mysterious. It is beautiful. I distinctly achieved that excited feeling in my belly as the game began. I just knew that this game had been done right, and that I was about to experience one of the greatest moments in gaming history. The feeling persisted until about the third hour of game play, unfortunately. At thatThe initial impression given by this game is that it is 'old school' and mysterious. It is beautiful. I distinctly achieved that excited feeling in my belly as the game began. I just knew that this game had been done right, and that I was about to experience one of the greatest moments in gaming history. The feeling persisted until about the third hour of game play, unfortunately. At that point I was waiting, no begging, for new elements to emerge. Then I realized that the game had reached its pentacle and I had experienced everything that the game had to offer.

    The rest of my short experience with this game was a litany of letdowns.

    "Puh-lease don't be another fight!" I found myself saying quite often. The main enemy, these Dredge, are interesting at first, and at second, but ten redundant fights down the line and one begins to ache for an auto-resolve feature.

    Beyond being mind-numbingly similar, once you get the hang of it every fight is ridiculously easy. The game touts the necessary use of items and tactics but I was never challenged by anything that a few shield bangers and warhawks couldn't put down with ease.

    Another deflating feature is the game's map. The map is awesome. One can click on the numerous and varied locations and read all about the game history. As you do so, excitement rises as you wonder which of the many paths you will take... and then you realize that the map has no function other than flavor. And it loads slow.

    The final disappointment to mention, which sadly goes hand in hand with the redundancy of combat, occurs when your band reaches places of "interest". Arriving in villages or cities is at first arousing, and then you realize that the most common options - to "rest", "heroes", "market", or "leave" - are similarly devoid of excitement. My goodness, there is even an option to "train" which gives you a chance to "try out new tactics" in a mock combat. I had a good laugh at this invitation to engage in another boring battle. Really?

    In summary, you'll get as much enjoyment out of this game by watching online trailers and youtube reviews as you will by playing. And save money as well.    … Expand
  4. omnirusted
    Feb 28, 2014
    2
    Deciding whether or not to buy this game? Take my advice:

    Don't. See, saved you a lot of time, didn't I? Like certain characters, so you level them a lot? Rest assured, the game is going to take them away in the storyline in arbitrary ways you had little to no control over and absolutely no warning about. Enjoy turn based strategy? I hope you also enjoy the main villain of the    Deciding whether or not to buy this game? Take my advice:

    Don't.

    See, saved you a lot of time, didn't I?

    Like certain characters, so you level them a lot? Rest assured, the game is going to take them away in the storyline in arbitrary ways you had little to no control over and absolutely no warning about.

    Enjoy turn based strategy? I hope you also enjoy the main villain of the game always being way more powerful than you and killing one of your men with every shot, while regenerating way more than you can damage in a single turn.

    Enjoy troop and supply management? Don't worry, the same resource you use to buy supplies for your troops is also the resource you use to upgrade your main fighters, so either you have a good fighting group or your people are always starving!

    Appreciate a well thought out storyline, setting, and characters? Don't worry, the game is only about 4 hours long (most of which is spent waiting for the next uncontrollable event to happen), after which you're more than welcome to buy the dozens of DLC's they're sure to come out with soon!    … Expand
  5. nocturnal001
    Mar 17, 2014
    3
    A game shouldn't take longer to download than to complete. Right off the bat that is the biggest problem here. I don't expect every game to be Skyrim in terms of length,but for $50 I expect some decent playtime.

    By the time I started really getting into the game it was over. Aside from that major flaw there are other things that I was generally disappointed by. The actual play is fine    A game shouldn't take longer to download than to complete. Right off the bat that is the biggest problem here. I don't expect every game to be Skyrim in terms of length,but for $50 I expect some decent playtime.

    By the time I started really getting into the game it was over. Aside from that major flaw there are other things that I was generally disappointed by. The actual play is fine and I enjoyed the seemingly important decisions but the variety of characters is pathetic. Basically you have archers, small guy with sword, and big guys with swords who either are better at using a shield or hammering enemies. Towards the end of the game you get a single magic user. That's it. Anyone that has played a good tactical RPG just has to be disappointed by that. Look at shining force or final fantasy tactics. A huge variance between character classes with benefits and costs to each.

    On to the enemies, surely a game set in Norse mythology would be rich in bad guys? Nope. Instead we get black robot guy with high armor, bigger black robot guy with high armor, and black robot archer. Again, that's it? Every battle consisted of "ok hit them a few times to lower their armor, then attack".

    I really wanted to like this game and I think if it had been 5x longer with an evolution of fighters and enemies I would have loved it. It's almost like we got a long demo and not a full game. I rarely feel ripped off from a game purchase but this fits the boot for me. I'll pass on whatever game they make next.    … Expand
  6. erezike
    Sep 16, 2015
    4
    The games has its strengths and weaknesses, it's a mixed bag.

    For starters the game drives you to finish it, due to its established story. The story itself is medicore, in both storytelling and soul, The writers forgot the key in roleplaying and storytelling, show not tell. Many parts in the game they tell you how you feel, showing the player a clear sign of developer who are afraid to    The games has its strengths and weaknesses, it's a mixed bag.

    For starters the game drives you to finish it, due to its established story. The story itself is medicore, in both storytelling and soul,
    The writers forgot the key in roleplaying and storytelling, show not tell. Many parts in the game they tell you how you feel, showing the player a clear sign of developer who are afraid to let go.
    The consequences for your choices are arbitrary with little information before to help indicate what can bring a better outcome, you are basically rolling dice, rather than thinking.
    Because the game is linear, they tried to bask the illusion of choice with foolish consequences. The only real choice you have in the game is to play or quit. The characters, locations and enemies have little to tell them apart, this is mostly due to the method of story telling, the game also suffers from too many heroes.

    Game play mechanics -
    I am not a big fan of turn base combat, I find it inferior to squad shooters and great strategy game like myth the fallen lords and mount and blade, in comparison to heroes and king bounty, it stands it ground. However recent games such as divinity original sin greatly surpass it in depth and balance.
    The game fails to encourage you to use 6 squad members, at many times using 3 or 4 is preferable.

    In summary, the game pushes you to play to end, and play around with it its consequences. But once you finish it there is a good chance you will have a sour taste in your mouth .    … Expand
  7. Blacknsilver
    Feb 7, 2014
    3
    Combat- lacks depth, doesn't feel satisfying, very little choice in ways to approach a situation/RPG stat-spending, never gets anywhere (almost every battle plays out the same exact way).

    Story/characters- the story has a lot of depth but is also incredibly depressing and bleak. Characters are a mixed bag but even the well-written ones have the habit of dying very unexpectedly. As far    Combat- lacks depth, doesn't feel satisfying, very little choice in ways to approach a situation/RPG stat-spending, never gets anywhere (almost every battle plays out the same exact way).

    Story/characters- the story has a lot of depth but is also incredibly depressing and bleak. Characters are a mixed bag but even the well-written ones have the habit of dying very unexpectedly. As far as the "choices" during dialogue (80% of the game), none of them have any weight or change the game in a meaningful way.

    Graphics- these look outdated, even for a turn-based game. You can expect the same 5 "overworld" screens, the same 10 paper cutouts for the characters and the same 5-6 arenas for the battles. Thankfully, the cell-shaded art-style helps drag the game out of uncanny valley range.    … Expand
  8. Mesket
    Feb 5, 2015
    3
    First time I saw the game I thought it was going to be awesome... it was for about 20 minutes. Then you realize the battles are absolutely all the same. You only need 1 strategy to fight every battle. The system, which at first seemed to be fresh and simple, its just simple. Its not developed enough. It gets boring VERY fast. After 6 hours of playing you don't want to enter anotherFirst time I saw the game I thought it was going to be awesome... it was for about 20 minutes. Then you realize the battles are absolutely all the same. You only need 1 strategy to fight every battle. The system, which at first seemed to be fresh and simple, its just simple. Its not developed enough. It gets boring VERY fast. After 6 hours of playing you don't want to enter another battle... no terrain, underwhelming skills, poor AI and only 1 mechanic to use in the entire game which is to balance armor/strenght on mobs to kill them the fastest (cause you are also outnumbered and everyone has better stats).

    I played the game in hard and the AI is poor. NPC uses skills in the wrong moment and even hit themselves.

    I grant them 3 points for the art but that's about it. It's a very VERY boring game that gets old within few hours and has none re-playability.    … Expand
  9. Spartan91
    Aug 5, 2018
    0
    The game constantly stops on loading screens, making it borderline unplayable. Not much of a surprise considering the developer but still makes this game a complete waste of money.
    This game has the best story of any game I've played in a very long time. Just for that it's definitely worth it and the choices are well implemented. Making you think about every choice and hoping you didn't    The game constantly stops on loading screens, making it borderline unplayable. Not much of a surprise considering the developer but still makes this game a complete waste of money.
    This game has the best story of any game I've played in a very long time. Just for that it's definitely worth it and the choices are well implemented. Making you think about every choice and hoping you didn't do the wrong thing. Of course there is the amazing looking Artwork, which definitely ups the games points.
    Sadly the gameplay is just boring. The tactical combat is about as simple as you can make it and unless you're playing at a high difficulty it's pretty easy. There is very little room for creativity on the side of the player, after a bit every fight is pretty much exactly the same unless it has some gimmick. Think the second South Park game.
    The world map is the most boring thing ever. You just watch your little caravan move and wait for some decision to interrupt the boredom.    … Expand
  10. stuntpuickle
    Sep 13, 2014
    0
    Banner Saga is what happens when stupid programmers get creative.

    Lurking beneath the stylized cell shaded graphics in the game lies the most punitive battle system ever devised. Each enemy will get two sometimes three turns for each of yours, not to mention that they mostly have equal or better stats than your characters. Add to this the so-called creative stat system in which your    Banner Saga is what happens when stupid programmers get creative.

    Lurking beneath the stylized cell shaded graphics in the game lies the most punitive battle system ever devised. Each enemy will get two sometimes three turns for each of yours, not to mention that they mostly have equal or better stats than your characters. Add to this the so-called creative stat system in which your strength constitutes both health and damage, resulting in increasingly useless team members as a round progresses, and you get a tedious slog with little depth masquerading as a challenge.

    Like eating glass, Banner Saga might be aptly described as "difficult" or "hard," but never as "challenging."    … Expand
  11. dakkra
    Feb 8, 2014
    4
    - terrible saving model
    - inability to skip cinema tics
    - bad keyboard support
    - bad UI design decisions, for example place where you can't cancel action until you proceed deeper in choices
    - weak story line
  12. Vel
    Sep 25, 2014
    4
    I feel almost bad giving this game a negative review, this game has so much potential, but unfortunately it's pretty much wasted by the horrible ending.
    The pros:
    - The graphics are very pretty, and do convey the sense of being in another world. - The music and the few voice-overs are very good. - The general story and setting, up until the end, is captivating and unique enough when    I feel almost bad giving this game a negative review, this game has so much potential, but unfortunately it's pretty much wasted by the horrible ending.
    The pros:
    - The graphics are very pretty, and do convey the sense of being in another world.
    - The music and the few voice-overs are very good.
    - The general story and setting, up until the end, is captivating and unique enough when stacked up against other games.

    The cons:
    - The game is on rails. Serious rails. And it feels like it. It actually provides you with a map you can click on, so you can learn about the different regions and cities of the world, but then won't let you plot a course to visit any of them.
    - The combat is actually pretty boring once you realize that every round of turn based combat, the turns go back and forth between you and the enemy. You just killed 3 enemies so it's now 5 on 3? Well, that just means some of the enemy units will go twice. It really sucks any aspect of strategy right out of the game.
    - The ENDING! Wow. I don't want to spoil it, but the game builds up so much about the setting, the history of the world, the different characters....and then it just ends. SO much could have been done, but wasn't. What a gyp.

    Overall, I just can't recommend it, even on sale. It's like reading a really great novel, getting towards the first of many climaxes in the novel, and then it just stops. No resolution. No explanation. Just some ending credits.    … Expand
  13. RustyJames
    Jul 6, 2014
    1
    Really? I mean really? The video game community is getting insane more and more, praising such a bad game. They write the "game of the year" reviews, scores 10/10 in the Internet, advice it at the every meeting... etc.

    But i hope there is 10% of gamers, which have a good taste and still could determine what is the masterpiece, and what is the average game, which is overrated so much.    Really? I mean really? The video game community is getting insane more and more, praising such a bad game. They write the "game of the year" reviews, scores 10/10 in the Internet, advice it at the every meeting... etc.

    But i hope there is 10% of gamers, which have a good taste and still could determine what is the masterpiece, and what is the average game, which is overrated so much.

    Pros and cons? The art work is good, but not great, and together with pretty well sound they make a fake good impression, which throws sand in your eyes.
    Extremely bad story, which is full of nonsense, cliches, stupid and not interesting characters. The tons of dialogues are so long, bad and silly, that you don't have any emotional connection to the characters. The story "selections" are fake, despite of the developer's statements. Cut scenes are the worst part of game along with copy-paste battles, which doesn't make any sense to enjoy it. Gameplay looks like casual RPG, with no fresh or even good ideas, just upgrade a couple of skills, add some items to your heroes and look after the "caravan", which is useless.

    Don't buy this game, it's so overrated and overpriced, that makes some strange feelings about the whole game industry, which produces for example a better story in shooters, like the last Wolfenstein (seriously!), than in "indie game of mankind" - Banner Saga. I hope more people to have a better art taste and don't just look to some "game experts" silly opinions.    … Expand
  14. BleedingKnee
    Jan 15, 2014
    4
    Great tactical game.
    4 stars because:
    * cannot skip cut scenes
    * cannot skip minute long walking animations - do the devs really think we want to watch them over and over and over and over again?
    * no controller support
    * half baked keyboard support
    * fewer game and video options than on a console
  15. Gesualdo
    Jan 18, 2014
    2
    I really wanted to like this game, and there are parts of it that I don't hate, but holy hell is it a long, long way from perfect. While I enjoy the combat itself, ALL the crap in between seems so poorly thought out, that I can't believe it's not a beta release that I'm playing. I feel like I could list all the things that piss me off, and I'm tempted to do so, but I'll just highlight oneI really wanted to like this game, and there are parts of it that I don't hate, but holy hell is it a long, long way from perfect. While I enjoy the combat itself, ALL the crap in between seems so poorly thought out, that I can't believe it's not a beta release that I'm playing. I feel like I could list all the things that piss me off, and I'm tempted to do so, but I'll just highlight one contradiction which sticks out as a prime example of how annoying the game is: You, as the player, can't control when the game saves. By itself, this might not be a big problem, if the game actually had some replayability, but if they actually built the game for that, would they have so many unskippable cutscenes, pointless dialog, trudging, etc.... Gah. I feel silly putting more effort into this review. Maybe I'm torn because their Kickstarter campaign raised my expectations so far, and I actually expected the gameplay to not suck.

    Anyway, the artwork and music are really quite nice, but the rest is pretty bad.

    Here are just a few blatantly obvious things, in particular, which I didn't like after only a few hours of playing...

    1) Can't see character stats/abilities from the party selection screen when a new battle starts.
    2) Is there no way to rotate the camera in battle?
    3) Humans sometimes times get lost behind larger enemies... if the Stat Banners button could cycle through Allies/Enemies/All, that could help minimize this.
    4) If you have an arrow on the screen, like in the party screen, map the keyboard arrows to them. Also, let escape return you from markets/heros/wherever to the main screen, and only then let it bring up the options menu.
    5) In battle, let characters move more than once if they have the action points to do so.
    6) Let me choose when to save the game. Didn't game designers learn this lesson years ago?
    7) Why am I able to switch to my web browser, read ALL of Wikipedia, then go back to the game only to find that the army is STILL walking across the bridge. And I can't skip it? Sheesh.

    I'm hoping some of these issues may be resolved, (in addition to lots of the story/pacing issues others have mentioned). This has potential, but it doesn't feel quite done to me. Hopefully it isn't.    … Expand
  16. MigRib
    Apr 16, 2014
    3
    This is not a role playing game. There is no role playing involved in it. People should realise that the fact that there are characters with helmets and swords doesn't make a role playing game out of it. It's a tactical combat game. As such, the visuals are good, I like the aesthetical concept. The story could be interesting enough if explored in a role playing game (as it is supposed toThis is not a role playing game. There is no role playing involved in it. People should realise that the fact that there are characters with helmets and swords doesn't make a role playing game out of it. It's a tactical combat game. As such, the visuals are good, I like the aesthetical concept. The story could be interesting enough if explored in a role playing game (as it is supposed to be). In the context of a tactical game, I don't care about this narrative. The lack of voice acting is not compensated by the sound score.… Expand
  17. thor311
    Mar 7, 2014
    1
    the only reason this game is not getting a 0 is because of the art. that aside. WHAT A RIP OFF! in the first part of the game you show the player this big map with all this info on it. but you don't go to any of it! WTF! also the game ends right after it just starts to get going. what the **** where is the rest of the game! you cheap sons of **** don't show off a sick world if you can'tthe only reason this game is not getting a 0 is because of the art. that aside. WHAT A RIP OFF! in the first part of the game you show the player this big map with all this info on it. but you don't go to any of it! WTF! also the game ends right after it just starts to get going. what the **** where is the rest of the game! you cheap sons of **** don't show off a sick world if you can't go to any of it! its just a big cock tease! no random events= no replay = waste of money!… Expand
  18. Docsis
    Feb 1, 2014
    1
    BORING. 99% text reading... No voice overs.... well, occasionally, the narrator speaks, but the whole dang game is like reading a novel... all text and no action. I got bored with the story line after awhile because I wanted some kind of ACTION... something to actually DO instead of just reading and clicking continue. According to Steam, I played for about 6 hours... guess how many battlesBORING. 99% text reading... No voice overs.... well, occasionally, the narrator speaks, but the whole dang game is like reading a novel... all text and no action. I got bored with the story line after awhile because I wanted some kind of ACTION... something to actually DO instead of just reading and clicking continue. According to Steam, I played for about 6 hours... guess how many battles I actually played in that time..... Well, I can count them on ONE hand! The other 5 1/2 hours was reading... If I want to read a book, I will load up the Kindle app. Yeah, you get to make choices occasionally, which is supposed to affect how the story goes, but whoopie. I won't be playing it long enough to actually see if my choices really made a difference or not.
    This game is 99% story, 1% battles. I like the battles, but they are VERY few and extremely far between.
    I feel like I spent $25 on a BOOK, not a game.
    ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........................    … Expand
  19. No_Cookies_Here
    Feb 21, 2014
    0
    The graphics are cool, but did not keep the promise for a good game. I gave up to play after 20minutes being bored. I never knew who i am etc, worst game ever. Begins with butchering some people, then a dialogue about helping and then the next fight. Who am I ? Who do I fight ? Would help for immersiveness. I ask me how it can get so good reviews, I am really astonished.
  20. blackbird1
    Sep 6, 2014
    0
    to much to read....... great fights but this reading...... has this game failed to me
    pls make somehting like that with voice acting or less story...
  21. Dejakritz
    Jun 20, 2014
    4
    The Banner Saga is an excellent, well-narrated cartoon with pretty animations and an interesting plot in a "Choose your own adventure" format. Unfortunately, I am writing a review for something that is supposed to be a game. The Banner Saga is not a game. It is as simple as that.
  22. HectorofTroy
    Jul 11, 2015
    4
    I couldn't understand the reason of all the hype about this game. The story seems to be very railroaded and arbitrary at times. Contrarily to what most of the reviews say, there are no real decisions to be made. Feeding the caravan is useless, completely pointless. Combat is fine, but it will start to feel repetitive pretty quick.

    All in a all, The Banner Saga is not too bad, nor is it    I couldn't understand the reason of all the hype about this game. The story seems to be very railroaded and arbitrary at times. Contrarily to what most of the reviews say, there are no real decisions to be made. Feeding the caravan is useless, completely pointless. Combat is fine, but it will start to feel repetitive pretty quick.

    All in a all, The Banner Saga is not too bad, nor is it a good game. I played the game only once, got bored and never really felt like going back to it..    … Expand
  23. BatFat09
    Feb 3, 2014
    1
    Awful game is awful... The combat is slow, graphics style is ugly, and worst of all, I have to pay for a game I could already play for free... just plain dropped the ball on this one!
  24. thedarklite123
    Jul 4, 2014
    3
    Nice art and music I guess,the rest of the game is dull and boring.Poor game-play , story and options. Do not waste your money on this overhyped garbage!
  25. usernamesux
    Jan 31, 2014
    2
    This game sucks!!!!! You start having no idea who you are or what you are doing. after 10 minutes, you just randomly fight people for no reason. No story development or tutorial where they could give you some background. Save your time and buy something better!!!!!
  26. The_Magnificent
    Mar 24, 2014
    3
    Oh dear oh dear ..... this game is like a surprising egg without the surprise! If you are having trouble falling asleep, this game might be for you. Looking at the same boring (but cool, at first) arts the whole time, no character or story development at all. Bored the crap out of me and i tried hard to like this game.

    You must have very low standards to give this game a high score.
  27. itamarbudin
    Jan 2, 2015
    4
    This is by far one of the most punishing, depressing, boring games i ever played.

    Where to start, the game itself is quite beautiful on the eye but you will spend most of you time just watching the caravan walking on and on and on (I never found the "skip" button) The story is "good" but it has an overall depressing narrative to it. I might be missing smoothing here has I am not    This is by far one of the most punishing, depressing, boring games i ever played.

    Where to start, the game itself is quite beautiful on the eye but you will spend most of you time just watching the caravan walking on and on and on (I never found the "skip" button)

    The story is "good" but it has an overall depressing narrative to it. I might be missing smoothing here has I am not familiar with Viking lore

    Combat will occur 10% of times (the other 90% is “Wanted” in conversation and watching the caravan walk) and when it does, this game will punish you over and over again and it doesn't allow you setup you forces on the plane and there is a disturbing tendency for your characters to miss or die unexpectedly before they even had one turn to play.

    It like the developers wrote a piece a code that will always have the player in a disadvantage.
    Combined with the depressing narrative, you will find yourself depressed as well and wounding why the #$@#$@#$ you spent time and money on this game.

    I usually don't write reviews but man, this game really made me angry

    I really recommend the developer to understand that the most basic rule of a game is to have fun and unfortunately this isn't a fun game    … Expand
  28. I3ordo
    Jul 28, 2015
    4
    After the new XCOM game,, turn based games carved a place in my mind that is why i gave a shot at this

    this is new IP from a New studio and i dont think i am having fun because of the interface and the core mechanics...i dont think i can handle this game anymore. I am trying my self at normal difficulty but the real difficulty is from the UI. The interface most of the time, does    After the new XCOM game,, turn based games carved a place in my mind that is why i gave a shot at this

    this is new IP from a New studio and i dont think i am having fun because of the interface and the core mechanics...i dont think i can handle this game anymore.

    I am trying my self at normal difficulty but the real difficulty is from the UI.

    The interface most of the time, does not clearly convey what action you about to make, and you can not reverse the actions even before the turn is complete...

    The story is supposed to procedural, but sometimes it decides things on your behalf of you.
    In other words, if there is an event going on somewhere, it decides that you go there...and that is how it provides some plot twists...

    It is very hard to get used to the nature of this game but i dont think it s enjoyable enough to adapt.

    What i like most is the HP and ATK stats are being same thing. You should not be able to damage some creature critically if you are on the last drip of your HP.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

64
#64 Best PC Game of 2014
35
#35 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
51
#51 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 74 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 74
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 74
  3. Negative: 0 out of 74
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    May 11, 2014
    85
    Banner Saga is a fine - but towards the end a bit repetitive - turn-based viking adventure. [Feb 2014]
  2. games(TM)
    Mar 12, 2014
    80
    It's an outstanding start for a trilogy, and one that we can't wait to see to its end. [Issue#145, p.116]
  3. Hyper Magazine
    Mar 9, 2014
    80
    A fantastic combination of fantasy storytelling and RPG tactics. One hell of a debut from Stoic. [Apr 2014, p.62]
See all critic reviews »