Ever since the Icelandic soccer team started performing well on the international scene, I’ve been into the whole Viking mythos. I grew myself a big ass beard and started acting as if I’m always backed by an army of warriors. All thunderclapping aside, The Banner Saga is right up my alley when it comes down to its Viking inspired backdrop. I always think it’s a good idea when a studio decides to step away from the much overdue human and orcs thing for a role-playing game.
Kickstarted a trilogy
In 2012, some game developers over at Bioware had an itch to create their own games instead of working on other games. Stoic Studio was born from this idea. Since this is the decade of crowdfunding, they decided to pitch a tactical role-playing game on Kickstarter. Much to their surprise, it got backed really fast and exceeded the goal. Stoic Studio had to deliver and decides to step up their game by adding much more to what would become The Banner Saga than they originally thought of.
Since the project got so big and the studio started out with just three people, The Banner Saga was split up into three parts. After a four years time span, all three parts are released, and the story can be concluded. Sadly, I only got the third part and since I never played the first two, I was kind of lost for words when I went in blindly. You can watch a recap of the story so far but that was not enough to get into the lore of the game. So If you’re planning to buy this game, don’t start with the third one right away or you’ll miss too much of what makes this game so great, the story.
So many decisions
The Banner Saga tells the story of a moving caravan of mercenaries and heroes, who want to stop the Dredge, an ancient race of humanoid beings made of stone, from destroying mankind. Along the way, you’ll need to make decisions that influences who will join your caravan. This kind of decisions making part of the game is a great addition to get you fully invested in the game. You are made accountable for every decision you’ll make, which makes you really care about the characters in your control.
So many options
While the story progresses, you’ll get in battles with a lot of angry Vikings. This is where the “tactical” role-playing comes into play. At the start, you’ll choose six warriors out of your caravan’s roster. Each character has its own strengths and weaknesses. Choosing wisely to suit your playstyle. This pre-battle part can take up about 15 to 20 minutes because of all the options before the actual battle starts. Give “renown” – which acts as experience – to your warriors to upgrade them. Distribute points to certain traits. Choose to replenish certain traits to get extra moves during battle. Each character can be given a trinket to enhance their abilities. At times it can get tedious but trust me, you’ll want to max out your group as much as possible to ease your battles.
Hack and slash on a chess board
Once in battle mode, The Banner Saga, plays out like the great tactical role-playing games of the past. Your characters and enemies get played on a grid-like board. Each character can move a certain number of squares, attack, rest or use a special ability. Moving beyond the set number of tiles or using those special abilities, costs willpower. When running out of willpower, you can rest to fill it back up. All these things make you really plan your way of attack during the battles.
Conclusion
The Banner Saga 3 – and the whole trilogy – offers a different take on the tactical role-playing game. The visuals and the soundscapes are top-notch and the gameplay offers enough that every tactical enthusiast will be fulfilled. Don’t buy the third game when you haven’t played the previous parts though or you will not understand the great story which would be a shame.
