Banner Saga
August 23, 2019
Until I got my switch, I had no idea that Banner saga existed. And now that I do know it exists and have finished it, I can say honestly say that it is one of the most interesting games I have ever played.
First of all, I have to talk about the art. If the game was nothing but the art, I would still enthusiastically recommend “playing” it. The visual style flips back and forth between flat-muted 80’s cartoon (which sounds boring, but it is amazingly done) and these beautiful dreamy scenescapes that I found myself just gazing at – forgetting I was actually playing a game.
You would think that the two styles might clash a bit, but they have been masterfully combined.
You can’t talk about the art with out talking about the Banner Saga world. Banner Saga is a mix of fantasy-viking theme. Mixing centaurs, and fantastical gods and magic, and vikings(ish). By itself, and handled by the wrong hands could come off as being shallow. But this world is anything but shallow. It is a deep, deep abyss of a world. Even when I finished, I felt that there was so much there that I would never know. And it left me wanting more.
The team that put Banner Saga together, truly did this right. There was no kid gloves when they built this world. I was not guided through these strange lands gently. Look here at this thing, isn’t it unique? These people do this thing, look how silly they are. No! There was none of that. You are dropped into this world and you have to sink or swim. There are races, and histories, songs, gods, phrases and beliefs that exist here and they are dowsed on you with absolutely no warning. And I loved it. It made me feel like the design team trusted me, and believe that I did not need the comforts of introductions. The believed in their audience and they were not going to underestimate their intelligence.
It’s refreshing and exciting to be dropped into a world with no net and just live. Listen to me here, game developers, it IS refreshing and exciting IF IF IF you can back it up with thoughtful world building and game design both of which Banner saga supplies in spades.
Enough about the world. I love it, but you may not care so much and you are like, “shut up and tell me how it plays!”. Okay, jerk.
Here is how it plays. It is a mix of Oregon Trail-ish encounters and Turn-based strategy rpg.
You will either be:
A) Tiny ants traveling along a gorgeous backdrop of lush country side (screw you! I do what I want!), and having encounters. There is a witch that has been tied to a tree. Do you 1)Release her 2)Torch her 3) Or just leave.
Things like that. But all of the decisions you make matter. They will all generally effect some part of gameplay. You will either gain some morale, or that witch that you freed might attack you later. Or a beloved character may die.
B) Faced with enemies on a gridded battlefield, where you make tactical and strategy attacks, parries, and spells to combat the baddies. Prior to the battles you usually get to assign who you want to take, whether you want to level them up, pump their stats with experience points, or give them a trinket that makes them harder to hit or something cool like that.
Those are the two flavors. But they are both wrapped in this really incredible story. The story itself is unique and mysterious. It feels old and timeless. Not old like blah, but old like ancient.
And without spoiling too much, here we go. There are three races humans, Varl (giant like humans with horns), and the Dredge (stone-like beings with no known language or morality). Many years ago the Dredge invaded the world. There was a war that almost surely would have ended in the Dredge destroying everything, but Humans and Varl were able to ultimately defeat and push back the Dredge. And they were never seen again. Until…
Many years later, the dredge have again been spotted and are attacking with brutal and deadly intent. But why have they returned? What do they want?
That is the story and mystery. That is what you are trying to find out in Banner Saga.
So, What do I think about Banner Saga. I think it is amazing. Just amazing.
But it is NOT a perfect game.
There are some quirky menu mechanics. The fact that it is unclear how your “experience” translates from Banner Saga 1 to Banner Saga 2 to Banner Saga 3 (that’s right, it is a trilogy, that carries over all decisions from previous games) kinda stinks. The value of some things, specifically supplies, are not described. Not only that but the value of those things changes from game to game. Lastly, the game-play is very slow at points. Not laggy, but it just drags on. Those parts can be quite boring.
In summary, the writing, the story, the art, and the world make Banner Saga an incredible game with a few slow points, but all in all well worth it.
I recommend Banner Saga. You should play it.