The Banner Saga

Anyone who plays games to get lost in a world and its story will love The Banner Saga.

The Banner Saga is a beautiful, exemplary game that you owe it to yourself to play.

The Banner Saga deserves commendation for the strength of its art and music experience alone, which shatters conventions. That experience, in turn, complements a bleak story of a world teetering before its fall, where the harshness of the Scandinavian landscape mirrors the plight of mutually distrustful refugees. It's also a tough tactical RPG that rewards thought and careful strategy, although it stumbles a bit in explaining systems beyond its combat.

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The game runs about 4-5 hours long depending on which difficulty you play and how long you take to make choices. Overall, if you are into tactical RPGs and like the whole viking aesthetic, you should enjoy this game quite a bit.

As a package, The Banner Saga is addictive, attractive, compelling, enjoyable, and truly challenging on the higher difficulty level. Some will find fault with the price, given that the Xbox One version is £15.99 and the PC and iOS editions have been available for a third of that in their time, but we say that the price is fair for what you get here. It's been a long wait, but there's nothing like kicking back and overseeing your merry band of fantastically animated fighters trekking across a frozen wasteland on a big-screen TV, or hearing the roaring clank of metal on metal as you fire in a ba...

What happens when innovative tactical game play and brilliant storytelling meet? The Banner Saga. That's what happens.

An axe to grind.

Judging by the fact that my review seems rather negative, you may think that The Banner Saga is a game to miss. Strangely though, it’s not. Sure, sometimes the travel sequences can be boring and the combat isn’t quite as fleshed-out as other games in the genre, but it still has that certain je ne sais quoi that makes you want to push on until you make it to the end. Many of the game’s issues are no doubt down to its meagre budget, leaving you with the feeling that with more time and money, The Banner Saga could have truly been a masterpiece. As it is, it’s a game that certainly has issues, but...

The desolate landscapes, the constant fear of death, the beautiful artwork, it's all top notch stuff. I'm just not sure the core mechanics that make up the bulk of actual gameplay are strong enough.

It makes one or two minor stumbles along the way, but The Banner Saga continues to stand tall two years after its original release. Empowered a truly jaw-dropping art direction and the masterful audio work of composer Austin Wintory, Stoic’s plans to expand the franchise are certainly justifiable.

If you don’t mind a tough experience and a little frustration The Banner Saga is well worth picking up as it’s a unique experience, and both story and animation justify a purchase. However the game’s flaws mean it may annoy more than delight, and while decently sized at around 15 hours play time I can’t honestly say I’d play it again just to make the right choices. Beautiful, well written, but aggravating. That’s The Banner Saga in a nutshell.