The Banner Saga Review
Developer: Stoic Studios
Format: PC
Release Date: Out Now
The constant battle to make games recognised as an art form has slowly been gaining momentum and with The Banner Saga in the ranks, the argument for gaming’s acceptance into the realm of artistic culture has taken a giant leap forward. The Banner Saga doesn’t just look good however, buried within its surprisingly deep story is a game that is not afraid to challenge you and will make you pay for your mistakes.
Stoic Studio’s Viking lore based game features an art style reminiscent of animated films from the 70’s which is a delightful dip of nostalgia for more seasoned gamers. Static drawings with short bursts of animation are overlaid on top of incredibly detailed landscapes. The game drops you quickly into a plot that includes treason, political intrigue and good old fashioned warfare. As an added element of complication, in this version of the world, the land is populated not just with humans, but also with Varls, a race of horned giants that have a bit of an indifferent disposition towards their smaller neighbours.
Throughout the game, you gain insights into what’s happening as you are passed from different characters all in different roles and species. As you progress with each character, you are given choices on how you want to progress. Many of these choices seem trivial, but their effects become apparent later. When you find yourself in a leadership position, these choices become far more imperative. As you travel, you will find yourself dealing with unruly members of your group, do you leave them behind or discipline them and move on. You pass a village that wants help, do you help or ignore their pleas? Sounds easy to be the good guy, but every day you spend travelling uses up “supplies”, an all encompassing stash that determines how many mouths you can feed and how many days you can travel. This in turn affects your battle ability as the more you have, the more you can amplify your powers when you need to.
That brings us nicely to the main gameplay, a style which anyone familiar with Final Fantasy Tactics will know. The tile based combat system is easy to learn but it doesn’t take long to grasp how intricate it becomes. There are two main stats in play, Strength and Armor. To kill your opponents, you need to get past their Armor first. This simple measure forces you to re-evaluate how you plan your battle as you can attack your enemy’s Strength which is essentially their life points, or you can focus on their Armor which will make your attacks far more damaging. The decision to attack straight away or play a more strategic game is yours but there is no single answer or technique that will get you through the game. The battles are slow to ramp up in difficulty and certain chapters of the game are significantly harder than others but by the end of the game, it is a bit of a slog and quite punishing. However, it never seems unfair and usually after losing a battle, you will have learned enough to progress further.
The Banner Saga deserves praise, and for a crowd-funded game, it’s definitely one of the success stories. Its immaculately polished and punches well above its weight. Stoic have done an impressive job and will be worth watching in future.
Score: 4/5
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