The Banner Saga is out now; here’s our Banner Saga review.
Stoic’s fully fledged tactical RPG, The Banner Saga, is launching on Steam today. Matt took it for a spin last month and walked away captivated, and I’m finding myself equally engrossed as I work through it for our review – keep an eye out for that soon.
The elegantly simple combat system – seen previously in the free-to-play standalone The Banner Saga: Factions – is like chess with rugged Norse warriors and hulking great giants, but it’s the stunning art and animation that really manages to impress early on.
I’ve put a few hours in already and, despite the slightly jarring jumps between protagonists situated in different parts of the well-realised world, I’ve rapidly found myself becoming invested in the desperate plight of my various warbands and their struggling caravans filled with fleeing men, women and children.
Stoic’s approach to world building is rather brave, eschewing the typical over-exposition one expects from a game, instead allowing the world and the story to slowly unravel through short snippets of dialogue and stirring, bleak scenes of monuments representing dead gods and cities in strife.
There’s definitely something very special contained within The Banner Saga, and hopefully I’ll be able to tell you what it is soon. God, I’m a tease.