Publisher: Versus Evil
Developer: Stoic Studio
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch(soon)
There's something strangely yet effectively captivating about a game that can drag you on for hours of turn based tedium gameplay yet managing to have you invested well in a tight, gripping story about fellowship, war, loss of lives, going into the unknown and love. Well of course I never managed to play the previous 2 titles of this trilogy and I've missed on the important aspects of the highly tangled storyline it features.
Playing this game sort of reminded me of the old Penny Arcade game 10 years ago without the obscene and gross humor. If you've played Dungeons & Dragons and XCOM, you'll see familiar grounds. If you're a fan of Bioware's previous works, including Old Republic then you see the familiar manner of story threads navigated based on your decisions in the game. It feels pretty dynamic.
Last bit makes sense because two of the ex-Bioware employees who've founded Stoic has made this gem. So let me review of what it's like to play the prestigious The Banner Saga 3.
Story
The game begins with a set of characters from two different groups, one is you playing Rook or Alette depending on whom you choose. Defending the capitol city Arberrang from a terrible darkness lurking around the horizon consuming the world slowly.
Another group led by Iver, Juno, Eyvind and The Ravens is on their way to dispatch the darkness once and for all. After being separated from Rook in the 2nd game.
Most of the population being humans are fighting over refuge, some are hostile towards other races like the Varl and Horseborn while amidst the chaos lies extremist groups ran by anarchists who hates the king of Arberrang and his followers.
Problem with enjoying the story of this game to the full pedigree is you need to play the previous ones, there is recap in the main menu but that just gives you everything on barebones and still doesn't fill you in with what happened in terms of the main plot synopsis. The world set around Banner Saga is deep, dark and depressing (the 3 D's of gritty storytelling). There's a massive lore to explore that would even require it's own guideline book.
There's a lot of decision making that goes on, some dialogues from 2-4 results in the same course of action with a few small to no adjustments while others drastically shape the story differently. So to fully realize the weight of these choices, multiple playthroughs will be required.
Gameplay
Gameplay is mostly turned based tactics, you move your character to a certain tile and select either to attack health/armor or use an ability. Melee attacks require you to be one tile adjacent to your enemies from all 4 sides, some of your heroes can even attack them from 45° of position. Range attacks have range from 6-4 tiles only.
Don't overestimate your hero's stats, the enemies in this game are tough. As the game progresses, you're pushed to the wall because of difficulty spikes near around the end of the game. Though even when you loss some of the battles, you'll still continue on with the consequences of your teammates being injured and you receiving nothing but less renown and no items which helps boost each hero's stats.
Leveling up is tricky, in order to increase stats, your character needs to kill certain amount of enemies before reaching the threshold in order to rank up. Ranking up costs renown which you'll have to earn through battles. Even though it's not entirely necessary to gain advantage over enemies since this is a tactics based game, it's very helpful after some of the battles become gruesome. Losing them will even affect how the story moves forward.
Combat does become tedious but it's a thinking man's game, all in all understandable and the pace does pick up when you get passed the first act: The enemies are more varied, tougher and interesting, there are times when additional members of your clan will step into the foray, exceeding the 6 hero limit.
Though it's either through dialogue choices or losing a few battles; you will lose some heroes. Including by chance, your main protagonist, making you aware of the high stakes.
Playing this game with the controller was pretty difficult, it took awhile to comprehend the control schemes for my first entry into Banner Saga. But given time, I've learned to work with it even though it's not perfect. Understandably this is a game most fluently enjoyed either in Smartphones or the PC.
Graphics/Technical
The visuals look impressive for an indie game, sure everything isn't 3D rendered. There's 2D animated background that has a few gimmicks thrown in but it's very plausible since a game like this was meant to cater to anyone including Smartphone users. It has high quality all-over it with the drawings, character animations and 2.5D rendered levels.
Though I did encounter a few technical issues especially playing it on PC, it was something that basically seemed tolerable and wasn't game breaking. Passable for short.
Sound Design/Music
^The video above isn't from Banner Saga 3 but it gives you the general idea of how impeccable the music score is in the game. For an Indie game, this was pretty impressive to have and it very much complemented the immersion factor.
The sound design is also phenomenal, each one is very discernible thanks to how unique they sound. In fact, you could replay this game over and over, then close your eyes and recognize almost exactly what goes on during playtime.
It's good to see Bioware's level of quality without the mismanagement of course (pun intended).
Summation
Playing The Banner Saga 3 was like a breath of fresh air, the kind I haven't had in years since playing games like Jade Empire, Star Wars KOTR and Neverwinter Nights back in my early days.
The kind of story this game told was challenging, deep and evocative. Although I wish I was more prepared for the combat, it actually made me wanting more out of it even with its flaws and difficulty.
Am convinced that I should play the first two Banner Saga games and then come back into this again just to fully intrinsically satisfy myself for the appropriate experience.