This game has beautiful, artsy graphics and tells an interesting story where the choices you make matter. The mechanics in the game, when it comes to combat and resources, didn't feel super fun to me, and there's very little variation in the enemy encounters. The end fight had a huge spike in difficulty, but I wasn't motivated enough to keep trying, so I ended up lowering the difficulty for that last fight. Overall, I give this game a moderate recommendation; it has its merits, but also some aspects that might not appeal to everyone.

A great experience that I enjoyed from start to finish. Combining the turn-based combat of XCOM, the worldbuilding and narrative decisions of Dragon Age with a gorgeous hand-drawn art-style (which I've never seen in a game before, but I haven't played that many) results in a really addictive experience that can be completed in around 10 hours.

10 hours might seem short for a narrative RPG, but considering that this is the first part of a trilogy that isn't an issue. In fact, after playing so many 50-hour RPGs that often contain a lot of padding, it is refreshing to play a game that is so lean and well-paced.

Due to its shorter length, there are probably less than 20 combat encounters in the entire game (I'm just guessing at this number) but it's because of this that I never felt like the combat got repetitive. Granted, I am definitely a casual turn-based strategy game player (the only other game of this type that I've played is XCOM: Enemy Unknown) so I found the combat to always be delightful and satisfying to play. However, I've read that veterans of the genre may find it too simple, so that's important to bear in mind.

It's hard to really say anything about the story, because in terms of plot it's mostly just setting up the later installments. By the end of the game, we're not even sure what the real threat is. Overall, the story really just consists of you and your caravan travelling to different places, trying to escape the enemies pursuing you. The strength of the writing really shines in the smaller stories that occur during your travels. While your caravan is travelling through the world (which you watch happen on the screen in real-time, which may be boring for some players but the beautiful landscape art was always a joy to watch for me), sometimes text will pop-up informing you of some conflict that has happened in the caravan or some discovery you've made on the journey (I'm not sure if this is randomly picked from a list or scripted). You then have to make choices, as the leader of the caravan, of how to deal with the problem. There never seems to be a right choice, but there are always multiple ways to approach the problem that can fit the type of leader you are role-playing as. The choices never have an immediate effect on the story, and the game purposefully delays the effect so that you can't save-scum and have to live with your choices. Without spoiling anything, I made a choice towards the end of the game that led to an awful consequence which I had not expected at all and almost made me want to restart the chapter just to get a different outcome. I ended up stopping myself because that would take away the impact of that ending, and I think that the game wants players to accept the consequences of their action, not just game the system to get the most optimal outcome.

The characters are all strong enough to get you to care about them, but due to the short length of the game and the small number of interactions you have with them, the relationships are not as deep as some longer RPGs like Mass Effect or Dragon Age. I'm sure this won't be a problem after the roughly 20 hours of gameplay that the next 2 games promise.

I tried to play The Banner Saga when it initially released. The art and story really intrigued me, but I wasn't into tactics or strategy back then, so it sat in my pile of shame for the longest time. This year I decided to dive back in, and while it maybe hasn't aged the best when it comes to features and variance of encounters, it still captures the dread and sense of being hunted better than almost any other game I have played.

Taking your caravan across the lands, being stopped by an endless list of challenges, surprised, and genuinely shocking moments was great. I am really looking forward to continuing the saga with the sequel next year.

Also if you stick to the main line, you are looking at around 7 hours for completion. That's a pretty decent run time for a tactics game to get a quick taste on what is on offer. I played the entire thing on Steam Deck too, and that was a really nice way to experience it.

It's rare that a game so simultaneously artful and fun to play comes along and ticks every conceivable box for me, but The Banner Saga has done it. While I had heard for years about this series, I wasn't certain if it would be up my alley, primarily because tactical RPGs are not my bread and butter. I often feel awkward and lost at sea when I jump into such a game, but The Banner Saga has helped me make the jump into its world quite easily.

The two main draws of the game are its gorgeous art style (inspired greatly by the stylized impressionism of Eyvind Earle) and its brilliant writing. The story is stock enough in its general set-up, but the snappy dialogue of the main characters, as well as the how the story changes based on player choices, elevate the writing overall to something impeccably replayable and entertaining.

The game is also not too relentless in its combat sections. Yes, it's typical strategy, grid-based RPG goodness, but it doesn't feel terribly punishing to the less-initiated. While there is perma-death in the game, it never occurs from mistakes made in battle. Instead, if a fighter falls during combat, that counts as merely an "injury" that one can quickly recover from by resting at camp. The perma-death mechanic actually stems solely from choices made through dialogue and actions outside of combat. And in those scenarios, it feels much more fair when a player is punished in this way for making a dumb choice rather than losing a fight despite doing one's best.

One of my favorite RPGs of all time, now. Gorgeous. Memorable. Fun as hell. Unique enough to have its own distinct identity. Required playing.