Game Review - The Banner Saga

The Banner Saga is a truly unique game. It is an intricate, old-style RPG set in Viking-inspired fantasy world, invaded by evil creatures. Startlingly beautiful, with an array of diverse characters it is easy to get lost in this game for hours, however it is the depth that would allow you to that is so clearly left wanting.

The first thing you notice in The Banner Saga is its simplistic but beautiful design. The hand-drawn aesthetic gives this game such a distinct feel, and forgoes reality for a sense of wonderment. There is a deep sense of magic in the world, which works to underscore the magical upheaval at the center of the story. Speaking of underscoring, the music perfectly complemented the design. There were truly spine-tingling moments as an impossibly large structure loomed before you and the music swelled in fashion reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. The interface was simple, but in keeping with design. Everything sensual within The Banner Saga – sights, sounds – was a delight, truly unique and utterly memorable.

The story was unremarkable. The Dredge – an evil, machine-like race – are invading from the north and the world is crumbling. The story of Dragon Age Origins with slightly different combat. The Banner Saga sets itself apart from other games with similar themes with some interesting and engaging mechanics. You play as the leader of a caravan as you slowly (sometimes painfully so) travel across the world. Your caravan consists of clansmen (villagers who you protect), fighters, and Varl (giants, with whom the humans share an uneasy alliance). Leading them becomes a juggling act between keeping morale high, supplies high, and people alive. With every passing day your supplies dwindle, as does your morale. You could choose to rest for a few days in camp to boost morale, but that runs the risk of using all of your supplies, leading to starvation. Each can be bolstered or diminished by the various situations that arise. This makes your decisions much more difficult, and you will find yourself turning abandoning people so that you do not run out of supplies before you reach town, or spending time improving morale to the detriment of your stock. The currency is Renown, which is gained through the defeating of enemies. Renown is used to purchase supplies, purchase equipment for your heroes, and upgrade your heroes once they have killed enough bad guys. It becomes another decision; to upgrade your warrior such that you can cut a swath through your foes, or buy the food to keep your clansmen alive? The story also hinges on decisions. Having only done a single play through, it is difficult to know what was railroaded and what was a result of my decisions, but everything felt like it was in response to something I’d done. You will likely make a decision that inadvertently leads to the death of one of your friends, so be prepared for that. Some decisions were hard, as you would hope, and it truly made you feel as though you were having serious impact on this world.

The combat system was truly enjoyable, but suffered from a lack of depth. The system itself was clever and, once I got a grasp of it, became highly strategic. It is a turn-based grid system, very similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. You have up to six heroes, each with their own particular style and weapon. Each character has two major stats; strength and armour. When attacking, you choose whether to attack the armour, and hence lower their resistance to further attacks, or attack their strength. The cleverness in this system comes in tying attack power and health together in strength, such that you must decide whether it’s worth destroying the armour first to make for an easy kill later or attack the strength with less efficiency to avoid your enemy causing more serious damage. Each character is supplemented by their own unique ability and have a certain number of points to use to make these special attacks, move further squares or cause extra damage. Where this intricate combat system is let down is in the depth. Firstly, there is a severely limited number of enemies. Secondly, the levels are restricted to 5. This never feels too limiting, because you barely have time to get your preferred characters to that limit, but that part of me that loves creating a party of world-beaters by the end of a game was severely let down. There simply wasn’t enough time or space to really hone a party and develop your tactics. There also weren’t different enough scenarios to force me to use different tactics. Characters were never forced to be on opposite sides of the grid, or one was stuck and the others had to rush and save them. There were very few instances of barriers, buildings or holes to create chokeholds, and there was absolutely no use of levels. My go to strategy was to place my large, armored characters at the front and my bowmen behind. Then I’d pick one side of the battlefield and try to knock out the strongest unit there before fanning out. Whether this was the best strategy or not (it worked fairly well), it is a shame I was never forced to have to try anything else.

The Banner Saga’s biggest downside is its story. The characters were interesting enough, and the narrative drive was present and strong, but it is impossible to feel like you’ve experienced a saga in 8 hours. I am not a rusher nor I am not the kind of player who clicks through every conversation, but it felt like I’d accidentally missed a chunk of story somewhere. The pacing was off. Characters you spend time with early in the game do not reappear until very late, and then have no effect. There was enough time and enough gradual introduction of characters that I got to know most of them, but it felt limited by the time. There appear to be characters who are integral to the story and others who join, leave, live or die based on your decisions. This was very engaging and at times upsetting, but the death of a character after 50 hours is far different from the death of one after five. My main criticism is that the story started slowly and then finished very quickly. The first few chapters jump between two different groups until, in chapter four, it finally settles on the character who emerges as the main character. Then a few chapters fly by as you travel, encountering enemies, finding great things, making difficult decisions and killing enemies. Then it finally feels like things are getting serious. I expected to set off on at least one more adventure before I realised I had reached the end. The final battle is hard, but not in any way memorable nor engaging. It just didn’t feel like the end. I wanted to keep traveling, keep levelling. Thankfully, the Banner Saga is intended as a trilogy.

I loved this game. I didn’t want it to end. The replay value is certainly there, and I can’t wait to see who may live and who may die the next time through. I also know that another play though won’t take up too much of my time. I could do it in a day if I chose, quite easily. It is hard not to feel disappointed by the lack of depth, but I have the feeling that I will remember this experience much more vividly and fondly that many of the fantasy RPGs of recent time.