The Banner Saga

The Banner Saga series is fantastic!
The combat is so-so.

The art style is beautiful!
The story and characters are top notch!
Choices MATTER, in a way that i've never seen another game series even come close!

very challenging game but makes you feel invested in your group and choices you make. combat arenas arent anything innovative or crazy and the combat isnt massively deep but the game has that it factor that makes you buy in.

Great gameplay and great story.

I played the trilogy years ago and enjoyed greatly how the story was told. The combat is decent, but you dont play this for combat alone. If you dont like the combat of the first title you wont like the combat of the other titles.

The titles have solid soundtrack and visual design and the artstyle worked for me. Their greatest strength, I think, lies in the hard choices you have to make. The games are not necessarily difficult to beat, but many of the choices were hard to make and made me feel responsible for the outcome. I also played through them twice and managed to get two fairly different experiences. Recommended

I've played The Banner Saga several years ago and remember enjoying it, but didn't recall much beyond the "vibe".

The art is beautiful, and so is the music, if subtle - it is loud when warranted.
The best part is probably the world - which manages to capture the feeling of norse mythology while at the same time having its own taste of the apocalypse and mythological races (although I must admit the "enemy" race felt a bit out of place, and one of the twists only made the dissonance more pronounced).

The biggest problem is that the game is very very dated, design-wise. It clearly wants to be a systemic rogue-lite kind of game - guiding your caravan through a barren world, at the end times, having to manage morale, supplies, external and internal threats, and so on; but it is a single-playthrough story with a handful of significant choices.
The problem is that most of the strategy/long-term mechanics and events end up being rather arbitrary and unpredictable, as well as fruitless - the best response is often to reload to the previous save when you've made a clearly wrong decision.

It's entirely unclear how long the journeys between towns will last, so you can't know how many supplies to buy, or when to rest, and so on. Things just happen opaquely, and you have to hope for the best.
Same for some battles, where you can pick the "extra challenge", without knowing whether it is a reasonable one. And if it turns out too challenging, well, the response is to reload and pick a different option.
The events also seem unrelated to the clan variable like morale and supplies - for example, at one point I rested for 3 days straight to heal my units and as soon as I resumed the journey, an event popped up that the people were tired, prompting me to spend supplies to let them rest.

The whole matter would be different, and a lot more interesting, if you had perma-death and could learn from mistakes - learning how much risk/reward you can take, when and where to buy supplies, using the different classes for different fights, etc..
As it stands, the game has good mechanics, but a very unsatisfying structure.

Regardless, it has a cool story, and I found the world and writing very evocative.

It's worse than I remembered from a technical standpoint.
The game is rather low res, the save/load system is cumbersome.
The UI/UX is also pretty bad, especially when characters prevent you from clicking where you want; cancelling actions can also be awkward. Same for switching items (when you have a promotion available, the menu simply disappears, although there is a second way to equip items, which is never explained - it's just cumbersome and unpolished).
And so on.

It's not a bad game. It is definitely a bit dated, but still very playable.
I wish it was a bit more ambitious in its structure - I am thinking of trying King of Dragon Pass, although that one has its own share of issues (due to being far older).

Not a must play, but still a good time.

I've played the whole series now. Holy hell, what a ride. Skald. Die well.

Art, story and soundtrack are great - 10/10.
Combat is a great flaw - the system is bad and you have to read guides in order to make sense of it. Get ready to lose a character you like because it died in battle.

Interest game, little exposition and it is easy to lose named characters while the battle management is good. The main flaw, how f@**!!! long it takes for some of the cut scenes and movement in battles.

I would be tempted to replay but I feel like I've sat here for several hours just waiting for the cut scenes to play of a static screen and a long train of men marching...

Beautifully illustrated artwork supports a viking themed epic with heartfelt drama and turn based combat. I took me 22 hours to finish and I'm very happy to have played it.

boring

Beautiful and captivating game.

Whether it is a story-book or a game is up for debate, however what is not is that this is an innovative and enjoyable saga. Choices matter and the story is engaging and different.

The entire saga is one i wish i could find the time to play again; if only i could stop buying games.

I don't often go back and review games (especially big budget games), but this game is one of my favorites and is definitely a hidden gem. Amazing story, great atmosphere, out of this world music (I have it on Spotify), epic finale to the first game, great art style. If you see the bundle on sale, buy it and push it the top of your play list.

game is amazing, fun combat, awesome story, almost like a fantasy Xcom meets oregon trail, excellent game, play all 3 parts.

I've finish this game twice and it's so astonishing the way it develops. The music is great and the drawings are amazing. It seems that all of it was handmade which is a plus.

yes

It's a pretty good game. The combat is simple and fun. You can do the whole in two go-s, takes about 10 hours. Cool world and story is okay: the writing is not the best, but it is enough to keep you playing. I enjoyed it.

Excellent in all senses, wished that the extra content for support would be avalaible for the players who didnt know about this before

Genre defying epic. Incredible music.

The game mechanics are great. The lore of the game is cool, but the storytelling is terrible and hurt the fun aspects of the game. It's also very unclear how you're supposed to interpret certain parts of the story. There are parts where I'm following the dialogue and just don't get what's happening. I also found that the leveling up mechanic worked very poorly, because the level up resource, Renown, is the same thing you use to buy items and rations. This creates a situation where your team strength is hampered because you have to buy rations to keep the party fed and morale high. The game is also very unclear about how stats work. For example, I looked around in game but couldn't find anywhere to explain how dodge percentage is calculated. This results in having no idea how strong or weak certain items are. Very frustrating experience, wouldn't recommend anyone play this game but it has potential if they can sort out these issues.

One of the most genius games I've ever played. The creators made a perfectly functional, engaging, and beautiful game while maintaining a low technology requirement. This thing can run on my phone or tablet just as well as a high powered pc. While other companies are either trying to revive bad old game styles to pump out a dozen cheap games a month, or pushing pc limits so far that most people won't be able to fully enjoy their game until 5 years after release, these guys actually got it. Gorgeous landscapes designs and characters, entertaining and thought provoking interactive story, and rock solid tactical combat that doesn't get bogged down in excessive complications. The game has never crashed, the game looks amazing years after release, and the creators didn't have to update the living poop out of it after release for it to be "balanced". Damn good job Stoic Games.

This game is so wholesome yet depressing all in the same breath.

10/10

Nice game, short and beautiful cut scenes. The imagery is some of my favorite. "Normal play" can be pretty hard.

It's really good--and not just good--it's really fun! Art, voice acting, setting, characters, story, combat, all enjoyable. Encounters, both violent and peaceful, are laced into traversing across the map in a way that's nicely reminiscent of a classic session of D&D. The choices you make throughout this journey really do matter, or at least they did a very good job of making it feel that way, which I take as a sign they knew exactly what they were doing when writing the game. I think what stands out as the best part of the whole thing, though, is the music, which constitutes one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard.

I can't think of any negatives other than the voice acting was so good that I wish there had been more of it since most dialogue scenes are not voiced (which isn't really a problem in itself).

This will probably scratch your "turn-based combat" or "choices matter" itch if you have, say, some post-BG3 depression.

The Banner Saga is one of my favorite games. Having played this several times throughout the years, and coming back again in 2025, it still holds up very well. I could not highly recommend this one enough.

A well written story with established lore, and a world setting filled with relatable, enjoyable characters. Beautifully hand drawn backdrops, scenery, and character arts. This game pulls you in with its brilliant soundtrack. Ranging from quiet ambiance of blowing winds and people working around camps, drums and string melodies, and growing crescendos of brass instruments during battle. As always, the soundtrack is my favorite aspect in games.

Gameplay is is part Turn-Based Tactics, and narrative decision making, similar to The Oregon Trail and other titles. You will have to make tough decisions. Decisions made during what is would amount to a large scale military invasion. Consequences in which may see people and characters die, or decisions that may feel insignificant, but may play out eventually in Saga 2 or 3.

What I believe that makes this game so good, is that the main character, Rook, starts out as ordinary. Just a man trying to navigates his caravan and clansmen to safety. We, the players, follow along his journey (and others) knowing as little of the situation as the characters themselves, making it as much our journey as well.

The Banner Saga is trilogy of games. If you interested in the concept, give this one a go. Again, I cannot highly recommend this enough.

I need everyone to play this series post haste. So, so thoughtfully made, with breathtaking art and beautiful hand-drawn 2D animation throughout. The story, characters, and world are successful and vivid even through (on a surface level) quite simple gameplay and storytelling; it was the fastest and deepest a story has enthralled me in years.
"Surface level" note because the amount of choice and detail in this game and its sequels is phenomenal. After finishing the trilogy, I couldn't help but immediately go back to the beginning just to see what would change if I said one or two things a bit differently, if I made sure this character lived and let this character die—and so much changed; the replay value is insane.
Great character and environment design, too, and the visual style rocks all around. Please play The Banner Saga.

Honest review:

I'll give it a 7.5 outta 10. Game is very hypnotic to the eyes, while traveling to point to point.

Combat is turn based grid tactical, which I really enjoyed. The AI isn't the brightest, but it has its challenging moments. One thing that didn't make much since to me was if you killed an enemy that was due to move next time, it's place would be taken by another. So without giving any tips on how to handle this, I'll move on.

The traveling could benefit from a speed up on the traveling.

Story is decent, I'm geared up to play the 2nd one next, hopefully it builds on the story line. Unclear if I'd play it again, not sure how much the game will change.

I do like the choice options that you can make.

Only things I didn't like are as followed, the injury system kinda sucks, and the rations system in the game really sucks.

Its a solid game, it did only take me 17 hours to complete, so make sure the cost is worth the time.

If you like honest reviews, hit that like button or comment on how terrible my grammar is. =)

Have a great day!!!
if you stick out the credits, it will take probably close to 30 minutes.

boring as F

Played PS4 version. Lovely game. Can't comment beyond... I think chapter 6? I'm not at home when I write this.

Anywho, characters: good, dilemmas are unsure, so yes, it has an aspect of Oregon Trail in that. You can't lose characters in combat and you can cause certain character deaths based on the dilemma answer you come to. Genuinely fun, if you like not knowing the "correct" answer, then this game is very good because EVERY decision can give you a boon or penalty. Also a lot of lore building, you can learn more about everywhere from the map if you want or just blitz the Oregon Trail and Fire Emblem-adjacent gameplay.

Special in its own way
Among the best
A lot
Very much
Liked
Was cool
Managed to finish it....... had enough fun to give it a like though
I tried....

Got here because GPT told me to ... and this is a gem.
Very underdog story similar to LOTR.

This game has a very nice visual and sound design, but the story feels like a chapter of a story that really should start after killing the last (and only) boss.

Until that point, it felt more like a presentation of the game, filled with some events that were starting to repeat themselves way too much, without adding uniqueness to them.

At a certain point, I was just skipping text of unnecessary lore of characters that substitute the ones that died by random events, in order to go to another generic battle that didn't add anything special. The story became a "survive" journey to wherever that adds some lore from time to time. When it looked like it was gaining strength, it ended.

I enjoyed more Ash of gods: Redemption (a "clone" of Banner Saga), but I have to admit I played that one before, thus these mechanics were no longer new nor a surprise.

These are some nice features:
- The sense of a journey: the scenes of the caravan moving; the lore and location of events in a map; the consumption of supplies and the triggered events with choices (which kill your characters, provide objects etc).
- An elaborated lore and characters, as well as intertwined storylines.
- A simple but nice battle design, with unique items and skills for each character.

Though relatively short, this game is steeped in lore and an easy to play, tough to master battle system that rewards you for playing smartly and understanding different character strengths and weaknesses. The persistent death part of the game, along with your choices having direct consequences keeps you looking for the best path through.

Dont sleep on this gem. if you like good story games and great tactical choices

Love the art style, the story, music, and combat. All are great. Dope game

Really like the plot driven game with a decent amount of combat but not overwhelming combat like BG3. Like the turn base combat too.

Rook takes the shot. Just keep that in mind, okay?
10/10

A norse-inspired epic. A turn-based strategy game/visual novel with some giants, some magic and some shieldwalls. Highly recommended that you get the other two games as well for the full experience.

Strategising the battles turned out to be very absorbing, after getting used to the mechanic of having strength be both HP and attack power. Combining different party members to try to make their skills work together was a lot of fun. The story is compelling and well told; narrative choices are hard to make and there's a sense that there are few good choices in a world that offers little hope and much darkness.

mediocre at most. everything in this game is just more of the same,

This is for all Banner Saga games. Yes you ABSOLUTELY should play all 3.

Banner Sage stands unique among games I've played. It's hard to describe: a narrative "choices matter" adventure game with TBS battle elements completely undersells it. Banner Sage is a legend you get to write. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking story of loss, hope, and... well, the rest is up to you. When I first played it I really had no idea what I was in for, and I still can't exactly describe it, but it was beautiful to the point of tears.

The game does an INCREDIBLE job of immersing you in the world. Every backdrop, every interaction with a person feels real and it feels like you're participating. What is a simple supply meter in other games here is your lifeblood, and that number went DOWN because you made a choice you are now questioning. The people fighting next to you on the battlefield are not units, but your friends that you've toasted with, argued with, and care for deeply.

I'm honestly not sure where choices diverge except with immediate consequences. I would suggest you do not look up decision trees - don't treat this like a game, treat it like composing your hero's ballad of triumph, or perhaps tragedy. History and legend play a key role here - in fact that's the entire purpose of the banner mentioned in said saga - and you're literally weaving it as you move.

As for the battles, they can get tough (I played "Normal"), but are doable. Don't go in expecting the traditional X-Com progression of weak to overpowered. The battles take place as story elements and can have incredible consequences. Like all things in Banner Saga, they are an additive part to the whole, and their stakes makes everything more intense. I find the skills and such balanced and every battle ultimately achievable. You'll get the hang of it eventually but there's a moderate curve to understanding how to fight in this game than in others.

As for the presentation, the videos 100% display what it is. The whole game looks like that, a "Dragon's Lair" type smooth animation. I, personally, love it. And while it may not be your particular cup of tea, in honestly it's not usually mine, it works perfectly here. A game as unique as The Banner Saga needed a unique aesthetic and after playing it, I'm not sure the sharper lines of more traditional contemporary animation would have worked. The novel style sets you up mentally for the novel nature of the game.

It does slow down a bit during the second and (part of the) third games. In those, the world becomes more complex and it feels like it might have been dragged out a little bit too long - the give/take momentum of the first gives way a bit to largely give. Maybe a better way to put it is that external conflicts turn into internal conflicts, resulting in a slower burn. But that's a minor gripe, and might actually be a positive for you. And for what it's worth, I truly believe the experience of deceleration is in large part because of just how phenomenal the opening chapter was.

Listen, I'm biased. The Banner Saga hit me, and hit me HARD. I don't expect it to impact everyone the way it did me, but if you let yourself go on the ride, even just a little, you're going to find something real special. It's a gorgeous, compelling, challenging, heart-wrenching story which is ultimately yours to tell. There are not many experiences like this, and you owe it to yourself to try.

Crashes constantly, None of their suggestions worked and I am not waiting for my refund to expire to try more. If you are on windows 10 or above don't even bother.

All the Banner Sagas are great, though 3 gets sloggy towards the end and 1 does not yet offer much.

Engaging story.

Great story.

A great series with a solid story with impactful choices, a unique world and simple yet engaging game play. My only real criticism is there are the setting options are very limited and the occasional crash which at this point I don't see the developers fixing.

I enjoyed the game and its fairly challenging for turn based combat. I was so impressed that while its still on sale I grabbed banner saga 2 and 3. It won't blow your mind because of how unique or revolutionary it is but its a cozy turn based combat Nordic themed game full of mystery and lots of death.

Fyi. I've beaten the game and I'm fairly certain the your units can't be killed off during combat only during event sequences based off of which option the player chooses.

NIce story, art and music

It is a new strategy game that combines with a storyline. It is unique, challenging, and fun. The only disadvantage is that the characters do not have voice acting, so it may seem a bit boring. However, the storyline is intense and interesting.

Artful, resonant, bittersweet beauty...

The Banner Saga series is a rare kind of entertainment to find nowadays; it's not just another forgettable consumer product to occupy idle time—it's a worthwhile experience, one which will likely stay with you long after the story ends.

The art, the music and the story are all wonderfully crafted and nourishing to partake of. The combat system is a little different from anything I'd played before, but I was pleased to discover a depth and complexity which weren't immediately apparent (it's unfortunate that there weren't resources to preserve and further develop TBS: Factions). There are enough options in terms of party variety, items and ability choices in the later parts to allow for meaningful customization of one's approach to the combat. Plenty of substance to compliment the impeccable style of this series.

It's acutely obvious that this project was a labour of love in every respect, and I'm grateful for it. While this story has been told, I truly hope that this system and style will be deservedly revived for stories yet untold.