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. TastieToasty
    Jul 21, 2023
    8
    Great story.
    amazing artstyle. (each frame is worth as a desktop wallpaper/screenshot)

    2 different groups with different struggles is a great concept.
    gameplay wise it is pretty hard (for me a noob)

    medium is hard for noobs
    and easy is way too easy.

    would have loved to change my own difficulty.

    will play banner saga 2 and 3 in the future.
  2. TheDJMC
    Nov 21, 2022
    8
    Story Outline:
    The gods (who are implied to be real, tangible deities) have disappeared, causing many to say that they are dead. The sun has stopped moving in the sky resulting in a perpetual daylight. Both Humans and Varl (horned giants) must once again rely on their tenuous collaboration between their people when the huge golem like race known as Dredge return from the north to kill and    Story Outline:
    The gods (who are implied to be real, tangible deities) have disappeared, causing many to say that they are dead. The sun has stopped moving in the sky resulting in a perpetual daylight. Both Humans and Varl (horned giants) must once again rely on their tenuous collaboration between their people when the huge golem like race known as Dredge return from the north to kill and destroy all intelligent life that they see. That is until it is noted that maybe this new Great War that the Dredge are starting isn't of their own choice, but is rather a reaction to something far more unfathomable: the end of the world entirely.

    Pros:
    A mix between FTL: Faster Than Light, any of the recent Telltale games, XCOM, chess and the lore of TES V: Skirym
    Two games in one! The game is split into two halves: scripted & random encounters with decision making and a turn-based combat system that's visually similar to a mix between chess and XCOM. There are also conversations that play out like they do in Telltale's games (e.g. The Walking Dead) which is where most of the character development occurs.
    The combat is good and does enough to keep it a game rather than just a "choose your own adventure" story.
    An engaging story with likable characters and emotional plot twists throughout. It seems to be set up very well for the recently released sequel.
    A constant feeling of urgency is present which greatly emphasises the feeling of importance that every decision that's made carries.
    Thematic music and good sound effects, especially at the touching bittersweet end scene.
    Phenomenal visual design and animation. This could have easily become a movie instead of a game.

    Cons:
    Because of the combat's simplicity, some people could find it repetitive and/or boring (personally I didn't).
    None of the characters are given enough time to properly develop/show their motives and relationships with one another, which leads to many likable characters becoming forgettable. Whether or not any of the characters can be considered memorable I think is in part determined by how quickly the game is played through. I finished my playthrough in roughly 17 hours (two consecutive days) with a few reloads (and toilet breaks XD) in that time and I found that most of the main characters were memorable. However, if you have very little free time then I can see it being much harder to connect properly with the characters.
    There isn't much actual animation which is a shame considering how good it is.
    The "war" mechanic was especially floaty and never gave much of an impression of change or importance aside from changing your numbers around.
    The music and sound effects aren't especially memorable or superbly epic like that of Skyrim (a high bar, I know).
    The first chapter is relatively dull compared to the rest of the game.
    There's an irritating inability to open the options menu during certain brief segments of the game.
    Maybe this should've been a movie instead of a game.

    Conclusion:
    A game definitely worth you're time and money with the potential to replay it multiple times to see what happens. I'm looking forward to playing number two!    … Expand
  3. Lokiliesmith
    Jan 26, 2014
    7
    It's a pretty good game, but pick it up on sale. $25 is a bit much.

    The good: - Tactically it's a challenge to get through battles without taking casualties. - Caravan's need food and food gets scarce real fast - Decisions have a variety of consequences and vary in importance: sometimes you can make the wrong choice and people just shrug it off, or the right choice and get only a    It's a pretty good game, but pick it up on sale. $25 is a bit much.

    The good:
    - Tactically it's a challenge to get through battles without taking casualties.
    - Caravan's need food and food gets scarce real fast
    - Decisions have a variety of consequences and vary in importance: sometimes you can make the wrong choice and people just shrug it off, or the right choice and get only a small boost to morale. Other times it could be the difference between life and death for a well developed character. I like it because I appreciate a bit of triviality in world building.

    The bad:
    - Supply management is largely meaningless. There's no reason not to let a few folks starve if it means leveling up or getting a new item. Hell, by the end people are marching along the Trail of Tears anyway.
    - Alternating turns in combat. It's not too bad, and it certainly can be viewed as just another strategic element, but the more I think about it the less I like it.
    - Game length is short. Like... really short. I was expecting a lot more for the price and the hype.

    The Ugly:
    - There's very little replay value in this game when it comes to plot, decisions, etc. You've got 2 possible endings and it's pretty obvious how they play out.
    - There's also no post-finale game play. No roaming the world trying to visit other villages, no going back to places you've been, nothing. It's linear as hell.    … Expand
  4. Ninjapixel
    Jan 31, 2014
    7
    Slow game, good story and awesome graphics. I enjoyed the tactical battles very much.

    It does somewhat fails at the game-play - I am not a fan of linear games. I am sure the dev's next title will be worthwhile.
  5. GLaforte
    Feb 1, 2014
    7
    The Banner Saga tells a sad story, based on Norse legends. The graphics and music are beautiful. There are a few innovative elements in the battle gameplay, but overall, it just gets in the way. I started on Normal difficulty, but dropped to Easy once I realized that the story is what I cared about in the game. It provided about 12 hours of enjoyment.
  6. kckkryptonite
    Jan 24, 2014
    7
    It's like a modern day Oregon Trail with a fantasy-themed backdrop and a Tactics-based battle system, though it lacked the depth of either. The art and scenes are nice, though the animation and voice work was minimal. The strongest point of the game is the decisions you are presented with, throughout the game, that can affect the story and characters you have, which was really well-done -It's like a modern day Oregon Trail with a fantasy-themed backdrop and a Tactics-based battle system, though it lacked the depth of either. The art and scenes are nice, though the animation and voice work was minimal. The strongest point of the game is the decisions you are presented with, throughout the game, that can affect the story and characters you have, which was really well-done - there are some great moral dilemmas and little story arcs to be had, though I unfortunately found the main story line somewhat underwhelming, if not flat at times, considering this felt like it should've been a strong point of the game.

    If I were rating relatively, this indie game is a point or two higher; but I feel the game very nearly misses on all marks riddled with some minor flaws here and there such as the inability to manually save, paired with the fact that the game doesn't tell you when it saves. I felt like it could've been great, but it settled for good. What really saves it is how different it is from your standard "RPG" titles you see now days. The deviation from the normal formula is a definitive breath of fresh air.    … Expand
  7. Mallux
    Jan 16, 2014
    7
    This review is in what state the current game is right now. The Banner Saga is beautiful tactical rpg with great elements from Oregon Trail and a refreshing mature story that knows mature isn't in the amount of sex or gore, but the content of the story. The characters are most of the time very engrossing and wonderfully flawed. And most importantly this game offers a wide arrange of veryThis review is in what state the current game is right now. The Banner Saga is beautiful tactical rpg with great elements from Oregon Trail and a refreshing mature story that knows mature isn't in the amount of sex or gore, but the content of the story. The characters are most of the time very engrossing and wonderfully flawed. And most importantly this game offers a wide arrange of very hard choices with very dire consequences.

    However this game is held back by the story being a very clear part 1 of a trilogy, but Stoic Studios has repeatedly said that part 2 is not even sure to be made, as it is heavily dependent on the upcoming sales. Secondly this game has great replayability potential, but as of yet you are only allowed to have one playthrough saved at the time. So if you wish to keep your first playthrough for the possible sequel, then you won't be able to replay the game. This design choice is absolutely insane.

    However when all has been said; The Banner Saga is easily worth the 20€ or your regional equivalent and offers an engrossing and rare experience. When and if the sequel is announced and the save file issue has been solved, this game may be on the top 10 of games I have played, and I dearly hope Stoic gets the success they deserve.    … Expand
  8. jbhungry
    Jan 22, 2014
    7
    First off, I'll say I mostly enjoyed this game and played it through while putting it down very infrequently. The music is excellent, the story somewhat compelling, the world is very creative and unique and the art is fantastic.

    Unfortunately there are a few glaring issues that may make this a dealbreaker for some. For others it may just be painful knowing how much potential this game    First off, I'll say I mostly enjoyed this game and played it through while putting it down very infrequently. The music is excellent, the story somewhat compelling, the world is very creative and unique and the art is fantastic.

    Unfortunately there are a few glaring issues that may make this a dealbreaker for some. For others it may just be painful knowing how much potential this game has.

    As much as I tried, I am not a fan of the combat system. It is a very unique (and strange) take on turn based combat. Each side takes turns moving a single unit. What this means is that every time you kill an enemy unit, the remaining units get "extra turns," which can lead to you inadvertently "hasting" powerful enemies after killing weaker ones. This can be somewhat circumvented by "disabling" units using the strength system. In Banner Saga, units have two meters, armor and strength. Strength-armor=strength damage, or you can choose to attack someones armor. This leads to a very strange dynamic where if any of your characters are damaged they become serious dead weights. Even with some leveled up characters by the end of the game fights still took a decent chunk of time, and never really felt satisfying.

    The other major part of the gameplay is the "caravan." You basically watch your caravan traveling across the world and random events pop up giving you choices. As a huge King Of Dragon Pass fan I picked this game up immediately based on reports that it had some similar elements. After playing through the game I don't really think this is a valid comparison. King of dragon pass used a unique system during their "dialogue choice" scenes where you can select every member of your ring to give you advice and hints on what each different option will do. This at least gives you a little direction during these scenes. Also (usually), if you "fail" one of these scenes the results penalize you in what seemed like a fair way that you could recover from given some time. Banner Saga on the other hand gives you choices with sometimes random outcomes. For example there are quite a few scenes where the wrong choice can end in a permanent character death and you just never see it coming. This type of random punishment is a little upsetting especially if you've been leveling a character or are attached to their play style.

    Also as part of the caravan you have several fighters and refugees with you that rely on you purchasing supplies to feed them with "renown." This leads to a couple of issues. First, there doesn't really seem to be any purpose, upside or reward for having people in your caravan. Reportedly all battles are scaled to how many warriors you have, so that doesn't really make a big difference, and having more refugees just means more mouths to feed with no real change in story, rewards or outcome. Also, the currency in the game, "renown," is a little too scarce, making you choose between feeding your caravan, buying items or leveling characters. Between buying useless items, losing leveled characters and unclear purpose from having anyone in your caravan the system is a little disappointing.

    I definitely think the game is worth giving a shot, as it is very beautiful and entertaining if you can overlook its flaws. I hope for the next installment combat is seriously revamped, that there is meat added on to the "caravan" mode and that the dialogue choice system gives choices with slightly more predictable outcomes.    … Expand
  9. vivoxaxon
    Jan 26, 2014
    7
    I'd been waiting for this game since the kickstarter. The Scenic backdrops are really beautiful though i think the character art leaves something to be desired. Its kinda like Oregon trail with turn based fights. The story is good though i was expecting it to be better. The actual turn based fights are getting pretty repetitive (fighting the same enemies over and over), but they are stillI'd been waiting for this game since the kickstarter. The Scenic backdrops are really beautiful though i think the character art leaves something to be desired. Its kinda like Oregon trail with turn based fights. The story is good though i was expecting it to be better. The actual turn based fights are getting pretty repetitive (fighting the same enemies over and over), but they are still pretty fun and the additional strategy elements involving enemy and character placement on the board is interesting. All in all, the game is a solid good play, with a good story, and some good strategy.… Expand
  10. DeusXCom
    Aug 25, 2014
    7
    Not really a Viking X-Com I was hoping for, but definitely interesting and unique piece well worth playing. The start is a bit slow, game is doing quite a poor job in immersing you right away in it's story, throwing tons of viking names at you, not really knowing who you are or what's going on, but you slowly get a grip, learn the game mechanics, and by the time the story switches from theNot really a Viking X-Com I was hoping for, but definitely interesting and unique piece well worth playing. The start is a bit slow, game is doing quite a poor job in immersing you right away in it's story, throwing tons of viking names at you, not really knowing who you are or what's going on, but you slowly get a grip, learn the game mechanics, and by the time the story switches from the viking bunch to the eastern storyline with the dad and daughter, things get much better. Challenging turn-based tactical battles, beautiful visuals and amazing music. Very unique flavor is gathered in the sections of the game where your caravan is traveling the beautiful northern lands, visiting old god stones, where you have to make important decisions, quite a memorable adventure there. Despite it's slow start, quite short length overall and some of the budget shortcomings such as no voice-overs, I was pretty happy with The Banner Saga in the end. 7/10… Expand
  11. Streamweaver
    Jan 21, 2014
    7
    Overall Banner Saga is a good solid game that brings a fresh type of gameplay to an otherwise stale market. Like most players I am a bit more gentle in my expectations for a kickstarter/indie game and I carry that bias here. If this were a big studio game I'd likely give it a 5 or 6 rating.

    The Good: The way the game uses side scrolling and communicate travel is fun and feels new.    Overall Banner Saga is a good solid game that brings a fresh type of gameplay to an otherwise stale market. Like most players I am a bit more gentle in my expectations for a kickstarter/indie game and I carry that bias here. If this were a big studio game I'd likely give it a 5 or 6 rating.

    The Good: The way the game uses side scrolling and communicate travel is fun and feels new. The map is a great way to communicate the game lore and it has that old school rpg feeling. The combat is fun and fairly simple and easy to understand. I like many of the characters and the world and story are grittier than the Disney-esque graphics would imply.

    The Bad: The story is a bit hard to follow and some of the dialog is confusing. The combat can quickly become repetitive. The stakes of some dialog choices aren't very apparent and more of the outcomes seem canned or forgone than the disclaimer about meaningful choices at the beginning would imply.

    Overall I think this is a solid buy and a fun game, you will enjoy it even more if you can keep in mind the indie nature of it.    … Expand
  12. Bigern
    Feb 15, 2014
    7
    Liked the story but even on normal difficulty the dredge were taking huge mechanical **** all over my guys and killing them in 1-2 hits constantly. Not sure what I was doing wrong as I am an RPG veteran and skilled player (Silver in LoL and beat Skyrim on medium hard difficulty) so I usually do quite well at this sort of thing.
  13. paranoid77
    Mar 17, 2014
    7
    If you are familiar with these type of games; you will learn the gameplay in 30 mins, you will like it as you play for 2 hours, but you will be disappointed after 8 - 10 hours of play because the game will over.It is too short but there is a dillema that if this game will be longer this time it will be boring(repeated playing).
    General; Graphics 9, Gameplay 8, AI 7, Stickness 5. If you    If you are familiar with these type of games; you will learn the gameplay in 30 mins, you will like it as you play for 2 hours, but you will be disappointed after 8 - 10 hours of play because the game will over.It is too short but there is a dillema that if this game will be longer this time it will be boring(repeated playing).
    General; Graphics 9, Gameplay 8, AI 7, Stickness 5. If you like to spend 10 hour of fun then buy this one, if not,be sure you wont miss anything.    … Expand
  14. SuperkenGaming
    Jul 23, 2018
    7
    The Banner Saga
    Really good if you like reading
    The Banner Saga is the first game in a trilogy of turn based role playing tactics game set all in the world of Vikings… Though I feel like there’s an even more prominent genre to throw this game into.. And that a visual novel I was really looking forward to giving this series a shot and play through the trilogy, and while I see why so    The Banner Saga
    Really good if you like reading
    The Banner Saga is the first game in a trilogy of turn based role playing tactics game set all in the world of Vikings…
    Though I feel like there’s an even more prominent genre to throw this game into..
    And that a visual novel
    I was really looking forward to giving this series a shot and play through the trilogy, and while I see why so many people love this series...
    it’s just not very casual friendly and its really tough to get through this 8 hour campaign... not necessarily because the gameplay is hard…
    the gameplay is essentially party managements and turn based tactics.. As you play through the story you’ll get different groups of characters that belong to different classes all with their own special moves, and as you defeat enemies you’re bale to promote them and increase their stats… you’ll also get to know these characters during stops in villages as well as along your journey across the map…
    In game it’s all fairly simple, you take turns moving a certain space of tiles and attacking enemies within range, either weakening their defenses or going straight for their health...
    placement of your characters in battle is important as it is possible to lose party members... all of this is fine.. But eventually about half way through the game I was just over it...
    battles feel too Samey… and the story just wasn’t interesting enough to keep me going.. at first it is… it gave me a dungeons and dragons feel as I’m making choices and watching things unfold before me based on those choices, gaining supplies to feed my fighters, gaining items for my party to wear, watching my crew get annoying with other members and having to decide what to do with them to ensure moral stayed up…
    I felt immersed into the story… and then suddenly I’m with a new group of characters away from the group I was just getting to know and it broke the spell for me.. I stopped caring, I no longer cared about the consequences of my choices or what the interest of the characters in this game are…
    I just couldn’t follow along it was too much for me.. I just wanted to get to the end of this visual novel that felt like it was dragging on forever,
    there is good in the banner saga, I get that people love visual novels, but I just don’t... I want voice acting... if you want me to sit down and read for 10 hours your story better be captivating throughout... and it just wasn’t here for me…
    That being said im sure there are plenty out there that the idea of a visual novel meets turn based tactics rpg excited them…
    and for those people youre in for a great time… the banner saga is good at being just that…
    But its not for me..
    I give the banner Saga
    a 7/10    … Expand
  15. Dagrum
    Jan 21, 2017
    7
    A good SRPG mixed with Oregon Trail, set in Norse fantasy.
    - Looks amazing, but is also it's downfall, there's very little actual animation and instead just a bunch of pictures.
    - The music is alright, it does what it sets out to do but its not anything your going to listen to outside of the game - It's a very story heavy game, but they have the audacity to drop a major cliffhanger at    A good SRPG mixed with Oregon Trail, set in Norse fantasy.
    - Looks amazing, but is also it's downfall, there's very little actual animation and instead just a bunch of pictures.
    - The music is alright, it does what it sets out to do but its not anything your going to listen to outside of the game
    - It's a very story heavy game, but they have the audacity to drop a major cliffhanger at the end

    It's a good game, but the game-play is not better then other SRPG's, and if you're playing for the story your going to need to also play the sequel.    … Expand
  16. Laer
    Mar 14, 2017
    7
    El sol se ha detenido, los dioses han muerto, una nueva guerra contra los dredge se cierne sobre la alianza de Humanos y Varls, todo esto, mientras algo aun peor a todo lo anterior se lleva acabo sin que nosotros sepamos nada.

    Así se presenta la historia de The Banner Saga, donde manejaremos a dos grupos que intentan sobrevivir en mitad de todo este caos. Un sin fin de cosas nos    El sol se ha detenido, los dioses han muerto, una nueva guerra contra los dredge se cierne sobre la alianza de Humanos y Varls, todo esto, mientras algo aun peor a todo lo anterior se lleva acabo sin que nosotros sepamos nada.

    Así se presenta la historia de The Banner Saga, donde manejaremos a dos grupos que intentan sobrevivir en mitad de todo este caos. Un sin fin de cosas nos encontraremos en nuestro viaje hacia tierra segura, nos enzarzaremos en batallas cada cual más dura, toparemos con personas, cada una con sus problemas, virtudes, inquietudes, objetivos...

    La mayoría de las decisiones que tomemos tienen relevancia en nuestro camino, no así tanto en la historia. Algunas se llevaran a personas por delante, con otras podrás hacer pasar hambre a tu caravana, y en rara ocasión podrás disfrutar de una pequeña calma en tan duro viaje.

    Como habréis podido comprobar en el inicio de este análisis, sin duda lo más destacable del juego es su historia, como se lleva acabo, y las decisiones, que aunque no cambien realmente el rumbo de la historia, si que dan los matices necesarios para ver como ocurren pequeños sucesos por estos. Ademas, otra de las cosas que más destaca es su apariencia, y es que esta maravilla junto a la banda sonora, hacen que, simplemente ver a la caravana en movimiento, con tal majestuoso paisaje de fondo al sonido de una canción de narrativa épica, o al sonido de tambores de batalla, sea una experiencia inolvidable.

    La jugabilidad, en el tema de combates, posiblemente sea la peor parte del juego, que no por ello significa que sea mala. Cada personaje pertenece a una clase, cada una ofrece distintas capacidades como resistir, pegar, disparar de lejos... pero creo que falta diferenciar más cada una de estas, y mejorar las habilidades especiales de algunas, ya que en la mayoría de los personajes he acabado utilizando casi siempre el ataque principal por ser más efectivo.

    Otro de los fallos es el doblaje, se agradece que este en Español, pero se nota que en ciertos lugares no esta bien desarrollado pues hay frases que no significan nada, otras mal estructuradas que quitan fuerza a la situación y desde luego ambientación.

    Y por ultimo un pequeño apunte. El propio nombre del juego os lo indica "The Banner SAGA". Efectivamente, esto es el comienzo de algo más grande, esta primera entrega solo siempre, no penseis que aclarara ninguna de las dudas que crea.

    Recomendado para todos aquellos amantes de los juegos por turnos, los amantes de la mitología o la ambientación vikinga, o para aquellos que quieran una historia épica por sus venas.    … Expand
  17. TheSaltyPilgrim
    Jun 10, 2018
    7
    Story and Writing: 9
    Game Play: 8
    Music: 10
    User Interface: 7
    Optimization: 10
    Graphics: 7
    Replay Value: 6
    Would Recommend: Yes
  18. Oshiri_Maeda
    Nov 17, 2020
    7
    Seems to be very good and stylish tactics. Too bad I didn't like the core mechanics.
  19. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    7
    Fun game with strong art style. Turn based strategy is engaging and story choices have some appropriate weight to them. Overall story is fairly forgettable but the moment to moment choices and the characters are great. Didn't leave a strong impression.
  20. Axon
    Jan 23, 2014
    6
    It's too short. For $30 it's way too short. I honestly felt like I had only played 25% of a game when it ended.

    You can tell the people behind the game have a ton of innovative ideas and impeccable style, but this needed to be fleshed out.
  21. joggy
    Jan 17, 2014
    6
    After I played this game through, I have mixed feelings.
    - The story is good, your choices do have some impact (not heavy tho) , but most of it is told through walls of text, with some animation here and there.
    - Tactical combat is great at the beginning, every unit has one special move which impact the battle, but as he game goes on there are clear choices which characters to take and    After I played this game through, I have mixed feelings.
    - The story is good, your choices do have some impact (not heavy tho) , but most of it is told through walls of text, with some animation here and there.
    - Tactical combat is great at the beginning, every unit has one special move which impact the battle, but as he game goes on there are clear choices which characters to take and which not, so towards the end you will take same ones over and over again. Also it gets repetitive towards the end.
    - There are not many bugs, but the ones I had are annoying. For example, I lost all my men due to hunger at one point but the game still goes on, random events about problems of the people in caravan still emerging (even if there are none left). I also think that you can play whole game on easy, and then switch to hard on last battle, and you'll get achievement for finishing it on hard (steam).
    - I played this game on normal. For me, the game quickly turned to hunger game (you're marching without stop 'cause you don't have enough food, and every renown you get, you use on buying more food). Battles tend to be easy with little practice, but if you played whole game on normal last battle is almost impossible. Hence, I got achievement for finishing it on easy, even if I played only last battle that way
    - The game map is useless, except if you're into reading more walls of text to figure out the whole "setting" of this game (I think that is "RPG" element)
    - It is clear that this is meant to be just first part of series, 'cause game ends pretty much in the middle of things. Its like you sit and watch just first part of the lord of the rings.

    All in all, since this is advertised as indie game and it's from kickstarter, it is very good. Bearing that in mind, price of 23 euros is just too high, that's why my score is that low. Add +2 to score if you don't care about money and waiting for (possible) next chapter in this saga. 10-15 euro price tag would be more appropriate for this game.    … Expand
  22. georgio
    May 8, 2016
    6
    I am huge fan of turn-based tactic games such as UFO or X-COM for many years now. That is why I immediately boarded the hype train behind this game. And I have to say that I was very disappointed. Interestingly enough the game is not that different from X-COM in a way that it features "strategic" layer when you manage your caravan as well as "tactical" layer where you have to go throughI am huge fan of turn-based tactic games such as UFO or X-COM for many years now. That is why I immediately boarded the hype train behind this game. And I have to say that I was very disappointed. Interestingly enough the game is not that different from X-COM in a way that it features "strategic" layer when you manage your caravan as well as "tactical" layer where you have to go through various battles.

    The game tries to evoke a sense of dread, where your group is pushed from place to place barely able to survive. However the game mechanics are very crude and random events seem to be the main story tools for creators of the game. Imagine that after you almost starved once or twice so you invest into keeping your supplies up all the time. Then you face the "spoiled food" event that cuts your food supplies by half. There it is - several consecutive battles of preparing yourself were in vain.

    It seems as if there is a particular way the game developers expect you to play the game but they never lay it down for you. It is just that whenever you go away from "the script" the game punishes you. I don't mind hard games, but this is not the kind of "hard" you want to encounter. You either lucked out never to discover how narrowly you missed a catastrophic event or you are just screwed. No sense of accomplishment, just frustration.

    I believe the game has a potential but the execution is just bad.    … Expand
  23. iseeall
    Apr 8, 2014
    6
    This game has an interesting TBS mechanics, but at the same time has major faults and ends up a mediocre broken game at best.

    First, the tutorial battles push too much info on the player, leaving you confused. I had to re-start the game 3 times until finally I understood how combat works. Second, there are multiple problems with game controls. There is no "undo" command, so if you do    This game has an interesting TBS mechanics, but at the same time has major faults and ends up a mediocre broken game at best.

    First, the tutorial battles push too much info on the player, leaving you confused. I had to re-start the game 3 times until finally I understood how combat works.

    Second, there are multiple problems with game controls. There is no "undo" command, so if you do something wrong because you didn't know the rules (e.g. nowhere it's said that "tempest" attack also damages allies), there is no obvious way to replay or reload. The field is scrolled in tablet-style (dragging) and not by pushing the cursor to the edge of the screen. The whole battlefield get cluttered already in the second battle because the units are drawn using fixed-angle isometric 2.5D and overlap. The option to hide banners doesn't really help it. Mouse-over just doesn't exist here, and it would be much easier to play if there were handy tooltips like in Rome Total War 2, for example. But well, obviously the game was designed for tablets. So all hardcore gamers (like myself) have got a clumsy port from iPad or something. Not really fair for the asked $20+ price.

    The third major issue of the game is that the texts were written without any regard to the fact that there will also be non-native speakers (like myself) playing this game. In the first city I found myself failing to understand many of those low-frequency adjectives scattered around almost every phrase. Maybe the writer wanted to show off, but the result is that the text is hard to read (I suppose, even to native-speakers), it looks unnecessarily complex. Combine that with the pile of fantasy-themed names most of which you will see for the first time, and you have an mess of crap which you hardly have desire to dig thru. Even the voice-overs were done with such heavy accent (is it Swedish accent?) that I had to strain myself to understand what they were saying. Btw I'm not that bad in English. I read Fallout 2 texts easily as well as Baldur's Gate's texts, and watch piles of US movies in English without any problems. The runic font used on the map is hard to read, too.

    The forth issue is with graphics. The drawings of the characters in the cutscenes look strikingly worse that the smooth backgrounds.

    On the plus side, the music and sounds are excellent, as well as backgrounds. What this game needs is an overhaul of the controls with more regard to desktop users. Also, someone should go thru all those piles of text you have there, make shorter sentences and replace low-frequency words with normal, high-frequency synonyms. At its current state, the game isn't worth the money and is no fun to play.    … Expand
  24. Jonni_g_n
    Jan 17, 2014
    6
    An excellent start to the game. Great setting characters and gameplay. Unfortunately about 2/3 of the way through the weaknesses show.

    1) The game needs more varied music and voice acting, during dialogue all is silent and it feels boring 2) Watching the caravan all the time? After 5 hours this feel necessary.. 3) The caravan supply/renown currency system is broken. It needs to be    An excellent start to the game. Great setting characters and gameplay. Unfortunately about 2/3 of the way through the weaknesses show.

    1) The game needs more varied music and voice acting, during dialogue all is silent and it feels boring
    2) Watching the caravan all the time? After 5 hours this feel necessary..
    3) The caravan supply/renown currency system is broken. It needs to be rethought or patched. As it currently stands by the last 1/3 of the game you lose all immersion because you have 0 opportunity to buy new supplies and all your supplies get taken in random events, so you watch your people drop like flies. This unfortunately makes the nice visuals when crossing the plains just feel like you're watching a slide show before the next battle.

    4) Due to the above the difficulty curve gets vast by the end game - maybe I was playing it wrong but the game should throw much more supplies t you towards the end...    … Expand
  25. riley794
    Mar 26, 2014
    6
    This game proves once again that just like with movies tragedies are overrated. Don't get me wrong it is a fun little game but merely having a tragic story does mean a game deserves high marks.

    Pros: Great plot, dynamic story that changes based on your decisions, 4 + decisions to every situation, simple but fun strategic combat system, simple character skill tree and item equipment    This game proves once again that just like with movies tragedies are overrated. Don't get me wrong it is a fun little game but merely having a tragic story does mean a game deserves high marks.

    Pros: Great plot, dynamic story that changes based on your decisions, 4 + decisions to every situation, simple but fun strategic combat system, simple character skill tree and item equipment options, tense moments as you are forced to decide between upgrading your characters or buying food to feed your people.

    Cons: To be continued ending (this is getting old), imagine getting a great 10 chapter book but then having it taken away after the first chapter ends, depressing game (if you like getting punched in the stomach or getting kicked in the groin repeatedly then put this in the Pros section).

    $5    … Expand
  26. Perigorn
    Jan 18, 2014
    6
    A good game. Yes the graphics and music are amazing but what makes a game good is game play and replay value. This game has no replay value at all and can be easily completed in a casual day or two. The game mechanics are very over and over again style: You watch tiny characters walk across a backdrop for 30 seconds, then either a "interactive" dialogue box pops up (which doesn't have muchA good game. Yes the graphics and music are amazing but what makes a game good is game play and replay value. This game has no replay value at all and can be easily completed in a casual day or two. The game mechanics are very over and over again style: You watch tiny characters walk across a backdrop for 30 seconds, then either a "interactive" dialogue box pops up (which doesn't have much effect on the game play), or you get into a battle with guys in armor. The story is alright but my big complaint is the repetitious game play and the fact the you only fight two kinds of enemies: giants & vikings, or the weird black armor guys.

    I would have like to see them travel on the map without rail-roading me one way on the map. I never felt in control of the game that much. The character development (stats, etc.) didn't run very deep either. I felt like leveling them up wasn't exciting or a big deal. It felt to me that I was more worried about running out of supplies than being challenged in combat, etc.

    This game has all the earmarks of becoming a spectacular game but it needs to be less linear and have much more depth both in combat, character leveling, exploration, etc. But for now, it feels like a half-baked indie title that's all eye and ear candy with no actual filling. The price of $25 on steam for this game I think is also a bit high considering how small in scope it is. As it stands this game should be selling for under $10.

    So in short I applaud their efforts but its needs to be filled out more and definitely a better "last battle" that is longer than 2 minutes to play.    … Expand
  27. melekeddine
    Mar 8, 2014
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The banner saga is not a bad game.i enjoyed playing the game although i was never been able to finish it because of the last battle i tried many times yet all there was is failure.
    The good : the game soundtrack and the artwork were amazing,the fights were actually pretty good and i was impressed by all strategies you could make .
    Now the bad :the story started pretty slow and most of the time i was reading texts and choosing random answers.The game says that you can choose your destiny but all i saw was answers that lead to the same result********spoiler:for example onef betrayal left me in frustration and rage*******.the game difficulty was pretty good until i reached the end of the game where i was left helpless against the enemy(and why the **** must alette join the fight???)

    IN the end the game is pretty good but as you progress through the game you just start hating the game!!!    … Expand
  28. bneutrn
    Jan 17, 2014
    6
    The Banner Saga (TBS) is a story driven tactical RPG. As a long time lover of the tactical rpg genre (FF:Tactics, Fire Emblem, Disgaea), TBS was a bit of a letdown. While having great artwork, the gameplay itself is very barebone.

    Story: Underwhelming. The story is basically the characters need to arrive at a certain predetermined location and most of the game takes place before    The Banner Saga (TBS) is a story driven tactical RPG. As a long time lover of the tactical rpg genre (FF:Tactics, Fire Emblem, Disgaea), TBS was a bit of a letdown. While having great artwork, the gameplay itself is very barebone.

    Story: Underwhelming. The story is basically the characters need to arrive at a certain predetermined location and most of the game takes place before arriving there. Also, you're controlling two different parties, so the game will force you to move on to the other party's story even when you don't want to. Oh, finally getting into that party's story? Too bad, we're moving back to the first party. Too bad if you already forgot what they were about.

    Characters: Most of them are one-dimensional and fill a very specific personality in the party. For example, there's a character that has a crush on one of the female character, and the whole gist of him is, "I want to protect her". That's it. There's really no emotional attachment to them, and the only reason you want them alive is just to feel complete.

    Dialogue: False sense of choice. There are some choices that change the story, but most of the choices you make are very linear and most end up arriving at the same answer no matter what you choose. For example, you're trying to enter a castle. You can go by a water passage, or just push the gate. Either way, you end up fighting a group of humans and enter the castle.

    Art: The artwork is amazing. However, the way it's utilized makes you let out a sigh. The characters during dialogue scenes are emotionless and are basically copy pasted over and over. The background pulls you in at first, but the endless snow and blue sky becomes dull after the first hour. Very minimal animation as well (probably due to lack of budget) where there needs to be some.

    Gameplay: Very unbalanced. Some of your characters are statistically worse than others where there really is no point in using them. Game itself is very barebone. Strength/Hp, Armor, 1 active/passive Skill per character. That's really it. Compared to others in the same genre, it's really underwhelming. Also, you're only able to move one character at a time (You-NPC-You-NPC-etc.), which is somewhat unique in the genre and might not suit you.

    Menu: Atrocious. Can only turn sound and music on/off; no scale. You also cannot save whenever you want; the game saves for you. No resolution options; only fullscreen or windowed.

    This game could have been better if it was worked on longer, but I'm assuming they ran out of money. However, the core of the game -the gameplay- is very lacking and I feel like what it currently is is what they were going for. This game rides on it's artwork only right now, and I hope at least the story gets better in the sequel.    … Expand
  29. stevemario
    Jan 19, 2014
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is incomplete. It is 6 hours, maybe, of looking at a line of people slowly walk from one side of your screen to the other (not including clicking to move story along.) Reading and thinking your actions through will add more time depending on the player. Most of the game's time is unskippable filler. Don't wanna call an indie game's filler filler, but that is what it is.

    You are responsible for that line of mostly civilians, some fighters and in Varl (the game's name for horned Viking giants) chapters: a prince. Meaning you have to make sure they don't starve by making wise decisions. The people will starve easy. It is a chore. Leading the Varl, though, is actually pretty good, as you have supplies and a reliable horde of enemies to entertain you with battle.

    The turn-based battle system is really good and carries this game. Playable characters and enemies have stats. One can see the 2 more important of enemies' stats, their Strength and their Armor. Strength is both your health points and your damage output. Armor is damage block. Combatants can reduce each if in range; and armor damage output is itself a stat, not reduced by anything.

    I find an effective strat is to have 1 designated guy lower the strongest enemy's armor, then have a high strength guy do a lot of damage. Of coarse, sometimes the obstacle is a lot of low stat enemies in which case diverse stats or lineups is good. Also I tend to prefer combatants that can exert 3 units because that allows them to move around from enemy to enemy faster. Several varl cannot do this.

    What I really would enjoy is a just-the-battles mode. Like Witcher 2's Arena. Or DBZ Legendary Super Warrior's battle mode.

    After battles you get Renown which you can cash in for Upgrades on your PCs' stats; food supplies for your followers; or items you like at shops that can be equipped to PCs for extra effect (things like +stats, knockback, rolls for 2x dmg, etc.) Because this is scarce, it means you shouldn't upgrade every Hero (your Playable Character) for its own sake. You have to consider your followers starving, specifically on the human chapters. Again, Varl, don't seen to have that problem.

    This also means that you should get in fights a bit since kills are what get you the Renown. This that show good leadership get you Renown occasionally. And it is considered good leadership to not get your followers massacred, so every decision can be justified; at times, every decision is punished, anyway; perhaps outcomes are dice rolled though? I havent tested. Test does not interest me because going through the story is so slow. It might be an anti-war message the way they make even just political expeditions with battles boring.

    Characters are pretty meh. This will be the last I write, so if you absolutely do not want spoilers, don't scroll down. But in any case those who haven't play should know that in this game anything can happen. It will go Game of Thrones on your ass. No one is off limits. No one. Not even the person it says you are in the story. you can get your ass killed. Anyway, down for a few words on the characters.

    Allette, the human clan leader's daughter, is ok as a character. She doesn't like killing. A lot of the women in this game are strong independent black women who don't need no men. She's just a young adult and will ask for duty from her father when the time is right because she thinks she is a better archer and can do with very limited resources much better. She can go through a lot. It is pretty bad though that it is through concern of her well-being is how you experience those human chapters. Meaning that a lot can happen to her and you only focus on her and you don't really meet many of the people you lead. This is also a theme in that you can choose to do whatever it takes for your specific clan to survive (us vs them.) Sometimes you don't even choose who can join you; sometimes the game tricks you into adopting more mouths to feed. But that's another topic.

    Odd, the late captain's wife, taught the human clan leader apparent's daughter archery and in the story can teach more women. She isnt seem so much in the story but is pretty agreeable. She would make for a good romance were this a dragon age game. Speaking of which a political union could have kept her in power, with Rook, clan leader as a puppet. Not an option in the game, but could be tried in Chapter 2? Fingers crossed. Though she did say she got her husband no children, who knows if that wasn't his fault.

    Iver is a good friend, normally has good advice, takes orders, and does his duty even when its daily battles with real danger or facing a known immortal enemy. You find out about something he did in his past that he's not proud of but earned him respect among his kind, even more than their king to some. More on this guy not war related would be good.

    Word cap.    … Expand
  30. mikerolf1
    Mar 13, 2014
    6
    On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this game a 6. Would be 8 or 9 if not for all the bugs.

    Pros: Unique visual style, cool animations. Tactical combat is fun and challenging. Compelling story with interesting characters. Price is reasonable. Cons: Very short; you can finish in a few hours. Lots of minor but annoying bugs. One almost game-breaking bug in the final boss fight. The game    On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give this game a 6. Would be 8 or 9 if not for all the bugs.

    Pros: Unique visual style, cool animations. Tactical combat is fun and challenging. Compelling story with interesting characters. Price is reasonable.

    Cons: Very short; you can finish in a few hours. Lots of minor but annoying bugs. One almost game-breaking bug in the final boss fight. The game has been patched many times since release; some bugs have been fixed, but many have not been fixed. That means this is unfinished software, so if you buy it you are paying for the privilege of being a Beta tester.

    Nevertheless, the game is good fun, so I am recommending it... barely. Just be aware of both the Pros and the Cons. Make an informed choice.    … Expand
  31. Seriousmite
    Mar 19, 2014
    6
    Due to several design flaws, what could have been one of the greatest strategy rpg's of all time is instead not quite playable. The graphics and sound are both amazing. The vikings theme mixed with beautiful, classic Disney animation styled characters and unique, stylized backdrops make for an incredible experience...at least at first. Unfortunately after a few hours several criticalDue to several design flaws, what could have been one of the greatest strategy rpg's of all time is instead not quite playable. The graphics and sound are both amazing. The vikings theme mixed with beautiful, classic Disney animation styled characters and unique, stylized backdrops make for an incredible experience...at least at first. Unfortunately after a few hours several critical design flaws start to become apparent.

    The core of the battle system is solid, centering around a unique strength versus armor mechanic which in itself is very fun. The problems I have with the game, however, all concern things that happen outside the battles.

    There is lack of real customability, not just in the development of your characters, but also in having any ability to choose which characters to use at any given time. The story shuffles back and forth between character groups and at certain points the game sticks you with a new group . Outside of battle I never feel like I have any real control.

    You never seem to get to really build a customized party of your choice and often when you've found a nice solid character that you like, you'll be presented with a series of dialog options after a battle and upon choosing the wrong one, the game will seemingly arbitrarily kill the character off. This is extremely frustrating, not just because the choices presented give you no real sense of what the results will be (you often feel like you're rolling dice to see who dies), but even more infuriatingly, the game is built on a secretive auto-save system that makes going back and retrying your choices almost impossible.

    When you reach certain invisible points the game will secretly save and then delete all your saves going back several hours. There's no choosing when to save and there's no saving mid battle. The only way to tell when the game has saved is to bring up the load menu and check the time of the last save. The designers clearly want the player to keep playing and then live with their choices and failures. This style of play may work for some, but I'm something of a perfectionist and it just frustrates me.

    Another problem I have is with the way characters level up. Characters are rewarded with renown points after each kill and once a character has enough kills, they'll be ready for promotion. The problem is you have to spend renown points to complete the level up process and I find I only ever have enough points to level up one out of every four or so characters who are ready for a promotion. These points are also used to purchase supplies and equipment, but given how little there are for leveling up, using them for this purpose always seems foolish. Adding to this frustration is that often I'll spend almost all my points from one battle to level up a character only to have that character randomly die 15 minutes later when I choose the wrong dialog options. Also, points toward promotion are only awarded for kills making offensive characters far easier to level up than defensive ones.

    So despite such a solid battle system and beautiful artwork, I find this game more frustrating than fun.    … Expand
  32. Cree26
    Aug 18, 2020
    6
    I wish I could rate it higher. Its such a beautiful game, with an interesting story line, and great music. Unfortunately there isn't much there in terms of actual game play. It felt like I was just along for the ride, a spectator rather than a character. The mechanics are pretty simple. The battles incidental.
  33. jfsre
    Sep 15, 2022
    6
    maybe it gets better later on but the start it was very slow and I lost interest in it
  34. bigboned
    Jan 19, 2014
    5
    Like many other people, i really wanted to like this game. So, I started playing it with a very positive attitude but that didn't last long. I have to admit that the game looks good but once your initial amazement with looks is over, there's nothing else left to make you want to play this game. Dialogues are very shallow, characters are not so interesting. Yes, there are choices but theyLike many other people, i really wanted to like this game. So, I started playing it with a very positive attitude but that didn't last long. I have to admit that the game looks good but once your initial amazement with looks is over, there's nothing else left to make you want to play this game. Dialogues are very shallow, characters are not so interesting. Yes, there are choices but they don't really seem to impact the game significantly. Battle screen offers nothing new and very repetitive. (It really needs hexagons, squares limit the options)

    In another year, a turn based RPG might be intriguing, but 2014 is the "Year of the turn-based RPG", so I'd suggest you keep your money for the upcoming games like Wasteland, D:Original Sin, Blackguards, Age of Decadence..    … Expand
  35. Digitalkid
    Apr 21, 2014
    5
    Guess all those high scores are because BS looks awesome for an indy game, but what a torture it just was!.. Dialogs in a bottom of a screen, when you see perfectly painted character fullscreen and a smallest line showing who's talking now, and it's some other guy. And your sight jumping from picture to one small line of text and then to another, thying to fix whole picture. HOW can youGuess all those high scores are because BS looks awesome for an indy game, but what a torture it just was!.. Dialogs in a bottom of a screen, when you see perfectly painted character fullscreen and a smallest line showing who's talking now, and it's some other guy. And your sight jumping from picture to one small line of text and then to another, thying to fix whole picture. HOW can you hit armour without damaging one who'd wearing it? Was it platformer-like view, of a 2d top-down map view? For 15 minutes i've just seen tons of text jumping on me from all sides of the screen. Seems like game designer just hates people, while still work of artists and animators is awesome. Sure I'll give it one more try, just need to heal my eyes a bit.… Expand
  36. LeonidasRex
    Mar 9, 2014
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I wanted to like this game. I should have liked this game. But it wasn't much fun.

    I like indies. I like vikings. I like turn-based tactical games. I like deep worlds. I like the art style. All the pieces were right, but they didn't come together into an enjoyable game experience.

    The story violated most of the basic rules of narrative structure. It jumped back and forth between two groups of characters without any sense of how they were connected. I didn't know which characters I was supposed to identify with or care about. Nobody had a character arc. Nobody was on a hero's journey. One character unavoidably lost an arm, while another died at the end. I didn't care. There's a villain to fight at the end, but we never saw much of him or learned much about him. The plot is full of loose threads and unexplained ****

    The devs spent a lot of time on the world map, which was full of elaborate history and descriptions. But the map was slow to load, and it had no impact whatsoever on the gameplay. The game runs on rails. The few times you get an illusion of choice on where to go, the map isn't available to help you decide.

    The Oregon-Trail aspect of the game is a trap for the unwary. You must choose between spending limited points on better stats for your fighters and food for your mass of followers. Metacritic reviewers report that feeding your followers has no impact on the game's outcome. You can apparently let your followers starve and finish the game just fine.

    This game's main strength is the turn-based tactics system, which is distinctive but not very deep. The combat is not tied to any underlying reality. It's not simulating anything. For example, you can attack someone's health, which reduces their ability to do damage and brings them closer to death. Or you can attack their armor, which means that subsequent attacks can do more damage to their health. I couldn't imagine how a warrior could swing a sword one way to break armor, then a different way to damage health. I got no immersion from the combat system. It was just a logic puzzle to be solved. And the final battle is stupidly difficult on normal. I didn't bother finishing it.

    The art is truly beautiful. Kudos to the artist. I didn't mind the many walking scenes that were designed to emphasize the smallness of the characters against the vastness of the wilderness. When the world began to literally fall apart, I felt the loss of beauty. If you don't slow down to enjoy the art, you're missing the best part of the game.    … Expand
  37. beene
    Mar 13, 2014
    5
    The artwork of the game is not only unique but lovely. The problem with the game is the actual game play itself, as far as that is concerned it falls on its face pretty hard. Plane, lackluster and quite honestly just bad is how I would describe the game play of this turn based RPG. There is so little to it and managing your units along with your travels almost seem like an afterthoughtThe artwork of the game is not only unique but lovely. The problem with the game is the actual game play itself, as far as that is concerned it falls on its face pretty hard. Plane, lackluster and quite honestly just bad is how I would describe the game play of this turn based RPG. There is so little to it and managing your units along with your travels almost seem like an afterthought to the artwork, there are also multiple problems with the food and currency system that make it seem not well thought out. The story also ends rather abruptly too. So to recap, the art is good the rest is bad.… Expand
  38. ArminW
    Jan 17, 2014
    5
    I backed this game on Kickstarter very early on, basically after having read the words "turn based strategy" and "vikings" and had very high hopes for the project.
    During the first hour of play I was thouroughly impressed with the artwork, the graphical style, the music and the combat system. It runs well, I encountered no major bugs, and the story starts very intense and engrossing.    I backed this game on Kickstarter very early on, basically after having read the words "turn based strategy" and "vikings" and had very high hopes for the project.
    During the first hour of play I was thouroughly impressed with the artwork, the graphical style, the music and the combat system. It runs well, I encountered no major bugs, and the story starts very intense and engrossing.
    Now, after nearing the end of my first (and, most likely, only) playthrough I can sum up my personal experience with a single sentence: I learned to *thoroughly* hate this game.
    I'm terribly sorry, I desperately wanted to like this, but with every tedious, frustrating and boring hour of gameplay I had to concede, that just about *every* design choice made by Stoic seems to go diametrically against my personal preferences.
    Trying to cast an objective vote, i give it a 5, because there are undoubtedly many things good about the game, but the essence of what it's about - having fun, being motivated and enjoying the time spent playing - simply doesn't happen.
    TBS is the very definition of a railroaded game. More than that, it actually *feels* like more than half of the time I'm actually watching pointless, endlessly repeating nice backgrounds scrolling past, while nothing happens. Events are scarce, and when they happen, they kill my motivation and the RPG aspect. Because, frankly, I'm NOT making decisions. I'm playing a random guessing game, in most cases with absolutely *no* clue on what the consequences of the 4 "choose your answer" alternatives *might* even be. I hate playing a game where I don't even know the rules, and I hate winning every battle and then losing my heroes to random dialogue events.
    The world map is like a bad joke on my expense, as it serves absolutely *no* function in the game but as a "choose your flavour text" library. It feels like there's an entire aspect of the game simply never implemented here...
    Same goes for character development and resource management. Both are oversimplified, shallow and simply feel completely unfinished. Each character has one single item slot, and the items available are nothing special. Abilities are pretty much predetermined, and dividing 10 points you *might* receive during 5 ranks isn't that big a deal.
    There is one single resource for everything (renown) and one single sure way to acquire it (by killing enemies in combat). Sometimes you might draw a lucky card during the random dialogue guessing game and acquire some extra, but that's it. As the resource is used to buy supplies, items *and* for leveling up your heroes, it comes down to either have your caravan starve or run around with level 1 heroes, despite them having earned several promotions on the battlefield. That kills motivation on such an epic scale, and can't even begin to describe it.
    There are no side quest, no method to forage for food, trade, to gain extra renown or anything - remember, you are on one long, single track railway and never look left or right. You will *never* feel in control of *anything* in this game. For me, however, that is what gaming should be about.
    Even the combat system, one of the best parts otherwise, has several unnerving flaws that started bothering me in the long run:
    - You are forced to choose your team *and* the sequence in which they act *before* you know anything about the enemies you will face. Why is there even a deployment phase at the begin of combat if all you do there is arrange the predetermined team on the board? That placement will be void after one round of movement, a wrong party mix or suboptimal sequence will stay, however.
    - the way the two sides take turns is beyond silly. If you face a single, strong opponent, that one will act 6 times for every ONCE your heroes do something, as it's always the *sides* that take turns.
    - one stat for hitpoints AND combat effectiveness basically means, that the battles are decided in the first round. The side that starts taking hits is the side that will lose. Always. Without a way to regain strength, a single hit can de facto disable a hero.
    So, again, sorry Stoic for being so negative, but this game is so totally NOT my piece of cake. Terrific art, great lore, good music and a stable game do NOT equal fun, I'm afraid. Lots of bad design choices for me equal de-motivation, tedium, boredom and frustration. Others might love this game, I can't, I'm afraid.    … Expand
  39. Muuvinki
    Feb 11, 2014
    5
    There is more reading than actual fighting and developing your skills as a strategist and as a fighter.
    After few hours you will find this boring and annoying that you actually spent 20$ on it.
    I don't find even a single character to be fun or interesting and that tells me that these characters don't have much depth in them. You are probably better off trying some other game than this.
  40. Purgatory1
    Nov 28, 2015
    5
    Overall good story with nice comic style graphics and good atmospheric music.

    Unfortunately that's pretty much it regarding the positive aspects of the game. My overall gameplay experience was pretty mediocre mostly because of the turn based combat system. I usually like turn based systems a lot e.g. the system XCOM uses is a very positive example. If your party in Banner Saga has 5    Overall good story with nice comic style graphics and good atmospheric music.

    Unfortunately that's pretty much it regarding the positive aspects of the game. My overall gameplay experience was pretty mediocre mostly because of the turn based combat system. I usually like turn based systems a lot e.g. the system XCOM uses is a very positive example.
    If your party in Banner Saga has 5 members and you fight a party of 2 enemies then the enemy characters get twice as many moves than your characters. And once you've killed all enemies but one it completely changes so all your characters get to move before the remaining enemy does. Which imo is illogical and annoying.
    The leveling system is pretty strange as well since you have only one resource in the game which has to be used for everything including your level progression and items. I didn't like special abilities of the characters either because too many of them are just useless during combat.

    I don't have a problem with linear story telling but Banner Saga tries to give you an impression of having an influence on the story progression while your choices actually don't have any or very little impact (with ONE exception near the end of the game). Furthermore most of the times the dialog system gives you a bad choice, another bad choice and a very bad choice - all leading to (you might have already guessed) a (or even the same) bad result.    … Expand
  41. Gormph
    Jun 21, 2016
    5
    pros: looks great love the art style and the world, the controls work.

    cons: The game gets you into it with little understanding of its combat stats so you ether guessed on the correct stats right off the bat or your going to have a rough time. then every unit has to have a set number of kills to level AND you have to use renown to level buy items, and get supplies, which for my first    pros: looks great love the art style and the world, the controls work.

    cons: The game gets you into it with little understanding of its combat stats so you ether guessed on the correct stats right off the bat or your going to have a rough time. then every unit has to have a set number of kills to level AND you have to use renown to level buy items, and get supplies, which for my first play though meant i got to the end of the game with under leveled people because i had no renown to level them. the combat itself lacks depth once you understand the stats and is uninteresting, the game fakes being challenging but stacking everything in the computers favor ex. you get a turn then the enemy every round but the enemy out numbers you every time, has heavy armor no matter what, can move further, and does heaver damage and you basically just do the same thing in combat the whole game with no options, its as if the story was very important but the combat was an after thought.

    As for the story itself, it just kind of stops no real closure, nothing is broken down, you have very little understanding of what you accomplished and kind of feel like you wasted your time, it feels more like this was the first chapter of a book trying to be its own release and it just comes short.

    all in all its not bad but it could have been great with a little tweaking, its like plain rice, nothing wrong with it on its own but nothing to rave about.    … Expand
  42. Kolox
    Feb 24, 2014
    5
    While the setting and overall idea is ingenious, I felt the story of the game didn't do it justice as it felt shallow and rushed. Perhaps I simply had too great of expectations from the story, as it ended up feeling like a storyline from older Final Fantasy games - big evil comes, engulfs the world, got to find someone who can stop it and there is a lot of sacrifice on the way.

    The    While the setting and overall idea is ingenious, I felt the story of the game didn't do it justice as it felt shallow and rushed. Perhaps I simply had too great of expectations from the story, as it ended up feeling like a storyline from older Final Fantasy games - big evil comes, engulfs the world, got to find someone who can stop it and there is a lot of sacrifice on the way.

    The gameplay was most problematic at first - at the beginning, I liked both difficulty and variety of character skills..until the variety died out, and each anoher battle felt exactly the same. The experience-per-kill system later on forced me to only use characters that I have leveled up, instead of using interesting combinations.

    But my biggest issue is with the savegame system. A player can only save if he stops for a camp - it was probably done so people wouldn't save during battles and before making decisions, but people have lives and they sometimes can't finish a battle because they need to go somewhere or are simply tired - so a 20 minute fight has to be suddenly started over because I can't save. And those battles are long because the animations take a bit of time.

    All in all, I have a rather mixed feelings about the game - its not a game I would recommend to anyone, but at the same time, I'm far from calling it 'bad'.    … Expand
  43. seeinbytes
    Feb 12, 2014
    5
    I've never played a game with more unfinished brilliant ideas than the banners saga. It's unspectacular by every metric as a stand alone game, but I look forward to seeing if the sequels can pull something together.
  44. HenryDane
    May 24, 2014
    5
    Really fun game but BE WARNED! There is no saving during battle or in between battle phases and crashes can happen directly after a fight when you win, making you replay the entire thing over. This happened to me on the final boss (who is a real pain and a half, not to mention thoroughly plain as far as final battles go) and I would have happily given this game a 10 but the crashes areReally fun game but BE WARNED! There is no saving during battle or in between battle phases and crashes can happen directly after a fight when you win, making you replay the entire thing over. This happened to me on the final boss (who is a real pain and a half, not to mention thoroughly plain as far as final battles go) and I would have happily given this game a 10 but the crashes are INEXCUSABLE, especially right after a fight that takes easily 30-45 min a TRY!!!… Expand
  45. Derf3L
    Oct 1, 2016
    5
    This game does not have tactical combat: even if the enemies are 100 and your party is 4, you will still get one turn each (one you, one the enemy). The combat solely goes around looking what enemy will move next in the turns and make him weaker, until u have all enemies with 0 health. If u kill enemies first, then is bad for you...

    This is zero tactical, zero logical gameplay. If    This game does not have tactical combat: even if the enemies are 100 and your party is 4, you will still get one turn each (one you, one the enemy). The combat solely goes around looking what enemy will move next in the turns and make him weaker, until u have all enemies with 0 health. If u kill enemies first, then is bad for you...

    This is zero tactical, zero logical gameplay. If you're fine with this, then go ahead and try to enjoy some nice music, "artstyle" and story.    … Expand
  46. Blanel
    May 13, 2016
    5
    An ok, but frustrating game. The frustration does not come from tactical depth, which is fine, but the resource management as you stave off the constant threat of starvation, which gets old fast.
  47. Voyou
    Aug 8, 2016
    5
    It's pretty, and it's pleasant for an hour or two, but it's too shallow to keep me interested much longer: tactically poor and repetitive, 100% linear, fake choices ridden, devoid of dialog options, very weak on save/restoration, with a clunky and slow interface that is hard to read and makes it hard to know what you are doing.

    Meh, and I'm being generous.
  48. NexusTsunami
    Dec 19, 2016
    5
    - Vorwort:
    Die Entwickler haben versucht ein spielbaren Epos zu realisieren - ein interaktives Buch sozusagen. Eine Geschichte über Charaktere die in einer sterbenden Welt um Ihr Wohl und das Überleben Ihrer Sippe kämpfen. Gegen eine dunkle Bedrohung die Ihre eigenen Beweggründe hat und einer Umgebung die selbst minder tödlich ist. In diesem Spiel geht es nicht darum die Welt zu retten    - Vorwort:
    Die Entwickler haben versucht ein spielbaren Epos zu realisieren - ein interaktives Buch sozusagen. Eine Geschichte über Charaktere die in einer sterbenden Welt um Ihr Wohl und das Überleben Ihrer Sippe kämpfen. Gegen eine dunkle Bedrohung die Ihre eigenen Beweggründe hat und einer Umgebung die selbst minder tödlich ist. In diesem Spiel geht es nicht darum die Welt zu retten und die Dunkelheit zu vertreiben, sondern es stellt einen Kampf um das eigenen Überleben dar. Auf dem beschwerlichen Weg müssen viele tiefgreifende moralische Entscheidungen getroffen werden, die sowohl Auswirkungen auf die eigene Gruppe als auch auf deren Umfeld haben. Allgegenwärtig auf dieser Reise ist das Gefühl der Beklemmung, denn es wollen schwierige Kämpfe überstanden und rare Ressourcen effizient genutzt werden.

    Ich denke so ungefähr haben sich die Entwickler ihre fertige Trilogie vorgestellt. Aber schon im ersten Spiel haben Sie sich meiner Meinung nach übernommen.

    - Gameplay:
    In diesem Aspekt liegt meiner Meinung nach das Hauptproblem dieses Spiels.
    Das Kampfsystem will inovativ, schafft es aber nicht die tiefe zu erreichen die es selbst gerne hätte. SRPG typisch bewegt man sich, mit charakterspezifischen Reichweiten, auf einem Spielfeld. Es geht darum den Gegner auszumanövrieren und den Vorteil zu erhalten. Hierfür hat jeder Charakter auf dem Brett (auch die Gegner) zwei Lebenswerte: Rüstung und HP. Wird die Rüstung verringert, so wird beim nächsten Angriff auf die HP mehr Schaden verteilt. Wird der HP Wert verringert, so teilt ein Charakter selbst weniger Schaden auf HP aus. Mit einem dritten und begrenztem Wert können diverse Aktionen (max. Bewegungsreichweite, Schaden auf HP oder Rüstung) verstärkt oder charakterspezifische Spezialattacken eingesetzt werden. Ansich interessant nach einiger Zeit aber repetiv...

    Die Charakterentwicklung findet eigentlich gar nicht so richtig statt. Es gibt pro Char 5 Level die man aufsteigen kann. Nach Lvl Up erhält man zwei Punkte mit denen man diverse Werte steigern kann. Neue Spezialattacken sind Fehlanzeige. Man kann jeden Char mit Gegenständen ausrüsten die man entweder findet oder auf dem Markt kaufen kann.

    Die Reise durch die Welt findet automatisch und in der 2D Seitenperspektive statt. Pro Tag werden Ressourcen verbraten, die wenn aufgebraucht, ein Sterben der eigenen Sippe nach sich zieht.

    Und nun kommt der Knackpunkt der mich am meißten gestört hat. Für ein LvL Up, dem Kauf von Ressourcen oder dem Kauf von Gegenständen wird ein und dieselbe "Währung" benötigt. Diese erhält man durch Kämpfe oder getroffene Entscheidungen. Nur ist diese so rar gesät das es weh tut. Der Grund hierfür ist zwar nachvollziehbar aber zu erzwungen. Die Entwickler wollen, dass man mit seinen Ressourcen haushaltet. Jede Anschaffung will genau überlegt sein. Wäre ja ansich ganz interessant aber das Spiel überhäuft einen so dermaßen mit dem Ungewissen, dass man eigentlich grundsätzlich falsche Entscheidungen treffen muss. So levelt man Charaktere mit den wertvollen Punkten auf, nur damit Sie entweder tot umfallen oder einem Verraten. Puff sind die Punkte für den *****. Ab einem gewissen Punkt ist man nur noch damit beschäftigt, diese Fehlentscheidungen wieder auszugleichen, nur um wieder ein Brett ins Gesicht geschlagen zu bekommen! Das Leben in diesem Spiel ist kein Ponyhof. Dies versuchen die Entwickler auf teilweise nicht nachvollziehbare Weise zu erzwingen.

    - Charaktere:
    Ähnliches Phänomen bei den Charakteren selbst. Eigentlich wollten die Entwickler denke ich, dass durch den oben beschriebenen Mangel an Ressourcen, eine stärkere Charakterbindung eintritt. Das somit der Tot oder Verrat von Charakteren schwerer wiegt und einem nahe geht. Nur leider waren mir diese Ereignisse sowas von egal. Das Charaktertelling ist nicht wirklich tiefgreifend. Es findet kaum interaktion untereinander statt. Vorgeschichten werden nur angerissen und sind dann nur Standardkost.

    - Welt:
    Keine großen Umschweife wie es an Punkt A aussieht oder warum. Man sieht die Resultate dessen auf der Reise einfach. Die Umgebungen sind zwar schön, teilweise majestätisch gestaltet aber wieder waren mir die Umstände in der Welt egal.

    - Grafik:
    In einem eigenen, wirklich passenden fast Comichaften Stil gehalten. War schön anzusehen.

    - Sound:
    Auch hier wurde, wie in anderen Punkten in diesem Spiel, auf Minimalismus gesetzt. Kaum Musik, selten Sprachausgabe und hauptsächlich Hintergrundgeräusche. Hat mich aber nicht wirklich gestört denn es passte einfach in Ambiente.

    - Schlusswort:
    Die Entwickler haben sich wirklich getraut mal etwas anderes zu versuchen. Die Betonung liegt allerdings auf versucht. Ich werde dennoch den zweiten Teil spielen. Zum Lückenfüller ist es dennoch geeignet.    … Expand
  49. hileger
    Oct 29, 2022
    5
    Графоманский текст , рисовка класс но тактика говнище ................................................
  50. nietzfk
    May 20, 2023
    5
    Please add the Turkish language support made for the game now. That's why I bought three games and I'm waiting.
  51. 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
  52. 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.
  53. 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
  54. 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
  55. 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
  56. 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
  57. 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
  58. 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
  59. 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
  60. 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!
  61. 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
  62. 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
  63. 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.
  64. 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
  65. 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
  66. 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
  67. 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
  68. 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
  69. 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!!!!!
  70. 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
  71. 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!
  72. 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
  73. 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
  74. 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
  75. 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...
  76. 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.
  77. 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
  78. 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
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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]
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