I first played The Banner Saga back in 2014 on PC following its successful Kick-Starter. It’s blend of many game genre styles and beautiful visual art grabbed my attention. Now at the start of 2016 comes its release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It had been a long while since I played it and am always intrigued by PC games coming to console, so it was time to put on some warm clothing, pour a good mug of ale, and return to the ways of the Viking:
The Banner Saga is not your typical RPG game. Instead it is really a blend of traditional RPG with a turn based tactical combat system with a powerful player choice altering story telling game and it is this unique blending of genres and playing styles that makes for an interesting combination. At times they can be outstanding but at others, a hindrance.
The Viking setting was chosen to avoid what was seen by the developers as an over use of standard fantasy characters of goblins and elves. Using Viking legend however really gives The Banner Saga a fantastical abundance of elements to draw from which is seen in the amazing musical score which brings a soul to the story and helps transport the player into the Viking culture. This is important as the game heavily relies on the player feeling totally immersed in the story and the world the game creates.
Where the music begins the immersion process it really is the visuals that bring the world to life. Using hand painted art gives the game a traditional animated film feel. The opening cut scene sets up the story and initial adventuring just so elegantly. Each location you travel to is illustrated so beautifully by this style that it almost makes up for the lack of being actually in the world as you really only enter the world as the characters during the combat. Outside of that the story is told via screens where conversations and dialogue between characters take place and story progression is told by on-screen text. One thing the player has to be prepared to get used to is a lot of reading.
The turn based combat is really enjoyable. Those familiar with XCom will recognise the style immediately. You have to move the members of your party to engage or avoid the enemy. Each fighter has two attributes which the attack can focus on, either attacking the enemy’s armour or strength. Strength indicates how much damage you can inflict but also that character’s health. Armour can offer protection from future attacks and sustaining damage to strength lowers the attack power.
Successfully defeating enemies can earn you Renown which can be used to level up a characters attributes which will help in combat battles. These attributes are different depending on the class and race of the character. A clever twist has Renown also serve as the world’s only currency which can be used to purchase supplies that your travelling caravan of characters that grow as you progress will need to survive and to buy new equipment to boost skills of characters. This adds a rich level of micro management that stems from success in combat which makes each fight all the more vital as you are literally fighting to sustain food for your caravan.
The game has up to 25 usable characters through the story, with whichever character you control serving as the chief character that makes all the decision’s and choices. The choices you make do shape how the story plays out and can lead to what happens to the characters in your caravan. From choosing between locations and situations to go to and dialogue decisions, the game works hard to make the player feel at heart of the narrative and flow of the story. I began by trying to make choices based on where I thought the decision would take me that would lead to a positive result, a side effect from my love of TellTale games. But soon I started to just make choices based on instinct and just dealing with any consequences rather than trying to guess what the outcome maybe. There are times however where the linear nature of the game negates the freedom that player choice suggests. There were points where the game would offer the choice to go to either of two encounters to only have my choice overruled and took me to the encounter it needed me to go to. Some consequences are ultimately resolved off-screen where only text on-screen will inform you of it or often not at all. Such occurrences can break the atmosphere which was a shame.
The Banner Saga has crossed over to console very well but the issues I felt it had back whilst playing in 2014 still exist. Having everything after the opening animated intro be onscreen text will be off-putting for some. The sheer number of selectable characters can be overwhelming at times where a smaller number would have allowed for a more intimate party use. The size of the caravan that you grow as you progress can feel rather empty as you will never really interact with them beyond providing supplies to keep them fed. Appearing as only numbers shown on the caravan travel screen, you can build a large caravan or maintain a small one.
The Banner Saga is a very different RPG experience than most console players will have experienced. For all its flaws there is no taking away how great the story is and how beautiful the world is drawn by its art style and music. Having the patience to work through the story telling and dialogue told by on-screen text is balanced by the strategic combat. It has a real old school feel to how it is all executed and there will be some that may find it too different but it will be a game experience to remember.
