This review contains spoilers

This was beautiful. I got a pretty bittersweet ending - the world saved, but still broken and the fate of those at Arberrang unknown with Rook dead - but despite this very uncertain end for everyone, it's hopeful. The world lives on, and that in itself is INCREDIBLE. The imagery of Iver coming across the banner, worn out but still intact, has so much meaning. Oddlief, Rook, Alette, Ludin, everyone lives on in the tapestry. You spend the whole trilogy reminiscing on dead gods and forgotten heroes, and in the end it's implied that your story - your banner - will be added to that pantheon of legends and serve to inspire and unite those in the generations to come. This is the most reflective of the trilogy. Every choice and conversation comes with the knowledge that it's unlikely anyone will make it out alive. It feels like if you took that one scene before the Battle of Winterfell of everyone sitting around a fire talking and stretched it into a whole game. The tension, the sorrow, the regret, the hope, the rare moments of joy. The combat's the same: slow and heavy, with never enough time or supplies to heal after a gruesome battle. It's The Banner Saga at its most ruthless and hopeless, and whether you get a happy, sad, or somewhere in between ending it has such a masterful grasp of its themes and ideas that it feels perfect any which way. What a trilogy.

Reviewed on Dec 26, 2023


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