Title: The Banner Saga
Maker: Stoic
System: Mac
Cost: $25
A display piece
When you see screenshots of the Banner Saga it looks beautiful. In motion, it doesn’t quite hold true. This encapsulates most of the game- a series of ideas, all of which could be magnificent, but in reality never come together. This feeling stretches throughout. The caravan you drag along serves as nothing else but a glorified high score. Combat is a cake walk until a massive difficulty spike at the end (hope you didn’t spread your levels). “War” events don’t seem to serve a purpose, and new character development is heavy at the beginning and nearly non-existent by the end.
The game is the first of a trilogy, and it’s easy to use this as an excuse for lack of execution. But anytime you pay $25 on Steam, you expect it to be self-contained. As it stands it’s less than half-realized. You could also make a case for the game being too short, but why fault a game for removing the padding? The pace is brisk, with little fluff, and to it’s credit it’s easy to sink yourself in.
The story remains the high note, and the dialogue is decent but forgettable. Much has been said about the moral ambiguity the game provides, and while it’s revolutionary next to the black and white morality of Shin Megami Tensei or Mass Effect, most of the time it feels arbituary. You make a decision and just wait to year if the wheel stops in your favor.
In the end, it’s clear that what was written on white boards in development sessions became to much in execution, and needed to be paired back considerably. A reduction isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is when compromised versions of the original ideas are left in the game.
Review: 2 Stars (out of 5)
Memory: The setting. I want more games with Nordic influence.
