Much has already been written about the unique art style of
The Banner Saga, so I will simply say, “It is breathtaking.” I did not even
notice that the character portraits were not animated (besides their shifting
eyes) until I was halfway through the game. I realized that the hand-drawn art
served to activate my imagination and fill in the action. In my mind’s eye, I
saw their struggles on the road and their battles in the field. Despite the
lack of voice-overs, I heard them speak. Despite the lack of animation, I saw
them march and fight, suffer and starve, smile and rejoice. The storytelling in
The Banner Saga is so strong that these characters were truly drawn to life.
The breathtaking portraits and wind-swpet landscapes aside,
I found that the captivating story of The Banner Saga became its main gameplay
mechanic. Players are thrust into the role of a leader who must guide his
people along seemingly endless roads of hardship that twist throughout a world
on the brink of collapse. A race of dark, statue-like creatures known as Dredge
have been spotted, active again after hundreds of years, encroaching upon the
boundaries of men and giant beings called the Varl. Forces of Dredge sweep over
villages and kingdoms alike, destroying everything in sight, but not everything
is as it seems, as these monsters are being driven by an even darker, more
ancient force.
The game unfolds mostly along stretches of travel that are
punctuated by about a hundred scenarios that revolve around player choice. A
drunk trips and accidentally sets fire to a wagon of invaluable,
life-sustaining supplies. How will you dispense justice? Your scouts report a
large force of Dredge is lingering just outside the village ahead where you had
hoped to rest and raise morale. Will you press on and risk lives? An enemy
soldier that you spared several days ago sprints toward your caravan, out of
breath, claiming his friends are under attack in a nearby forest. Is it a trap?
Every choice has a consequence. Your people will live and die depending on your
leadership. The true enjoyment of experiencing The Banner Saga is found in
these choices. It was hard not to be emotionally impacted when my caravan’s
supplies ran out, but I knew we had to press on despite starvation to escape
the Dredge that chased us. 
The battles that unfold when the Dredge (or human opponents)
finally do clash with your caravan play out on a tactical, turn-based
battlefield. Unfortunately, the battle system (the other half of the gameplay)
is not as engaging as the choice-driven story. Every choice you make on the
battlefield – movement, positioning, attack – is informed by every unit’s
simple numerical values: strength and armor. If players don’t first chip away
an enemy’s armor, they won’t survive. Additionally, without reducing an
opponent’s strength, your heroes are in for some serious hits. There are
special techniques that your heroes can unleash, but they don’t lend themselves
to tide-turning strategies very well. I rarely used them. It was much more
beneficial to spend a unit’s turn attacking armor or strength than using a
special technique. While the battles are very challenging and ultimately
satisfying when you can achieve victory against nearly impossible odds, they
become tedious move-and-attack actions without any dramatic flair.
While there is no fear of perma-death in The Banner Saga’s
tactical battles, there are definitely dramatic moments in the story that will
leave you gasping for breath. No one is safe from betrayal. The game’s narrative
will truly test your ability to trust others. The game examines the human
condition in a thought-provoking way. Characters you grow to care about can be
destroyed in an instant as a result of your actions and choices, or turn on you
when you least expect it. Yet at the same time, unbreakable bonds will be
formed with reluctant allies through acts of valor. It’s these unexpected
twists that give The Banner Saga’s story its true quality, in the same way that
George R. R. Martin is revered for killing off his fans’ favorite characters at
unforeseen moments throughout his novels.
Of course, all of my impressions of The Banner Saga are based on a single playthrough, in which I tried to adhere to the role of a cautious, compassionate, and merciful leader. As a result of my choices, many people died because I could not bring myself to make some truly difficult decisions. I am eager to experience The Banner Saga again and again to see how events will be different when I choose to be a little more tyrannical and impulsive. Despite its minimalist strategy gameplay, the core reason to experience The Banner Saga is its story, and for that I highly recommend it.
