The crowdfunding campaign for The Banner Saga 3 [official site] has wrapped up and — surprise! — seems enough folks do want to see the Norse fantasy turn-based strategy game through to the end. As well as hitting its goal, the Kickstarter campaign hit several stretch goals. The second game improved on the first a lot, so fingers crossed that this trend will continue and Stoic will slam jam a home dunk runaround across the starboard pitch this time. Read the rest of this entry »
The tale of the little flag that could will continue in The Banner Saga 3 [official site], if a Kickstarter goes well. Yup, developers Stoic have turned back to crowdfunding to conclude their strategy RPG series. We waved the safety flag for the first Banner Saga, digging its look and style but not so much the combat, then waved the chequered flag for its follow-up, which improved the combat enough for us to declare it one of our favourite strategy games. For the third, hopefully we’ll end up waving our dotty bloomers on a stick? Read the rest of this entry »
If you’ve been waiting Ever Since The World Began, you Can’t Hold Back, you’re suffering Desperate Dreams, your Eye of the Tiger scans the horizon for signs of Broken Promises, then good news: The Search Is Over, and Here Comes Desire. Today The Banner Saga 2 [official site] receives its promised Survivor mode in a free update.
Survivor mode is a permadeath challenge with rounds of gruelling combat to survi- wait. Survival mode. They’ve added a survival mode. Pffff.
RPS Feature A strong second act
Despite its flaws, The Banner Saga [official site] is one of the most memorable indie releases of 2014, and now the second act is here to push the story to even more desperate frontiers. But does The Banner Saga 2 improve upon its predecessor’s lackluster strategy combat while still expanding on its promising story? Here’s wot I think. (Note: there are spoilers for the first Banner Saga’s ending).
I’ve spent so long frolicking in the intangible tangerine skies of VR-land lately that it’s genuinely bewildering to look at a traditional game again. It’s so… flat. So… image-y. And also so sharp and fluid and won’t make my eyeballs pulsate and flail as if dancing helplessly to some unseen disco beat from hell. Confusing matters worse is that gorgeous strategy/roleplaying/survival opus The Banner Saga – and its upcoming sequel Banner Saga 2 [official site] – continues to look like a game that is simultaneously from the past and the future.
The Banner Saga, as I remember, is a tactical RPG about a really nice flag and the rapscallions who want to steal it from you so they can really admire its fine needlework. That’s… hang on, no, Wot Adam Thought reminds me it’s a jolly pretty tactical RPG about a leading a caravan and army across a cruel Viking-y fantasy world – which becomes too repetitive. Still, it is a lovely flag, so let’s see what developers Stoic can do with a sequel. We’ve not long to wait now, as they’ve announced that The Banner Saga 2 [official site] will launch on Tuesday, April 19th.
RPS Feature Tweaking the trilogy
I arrived a few minutes early for a Banner Saga 2 [official site] interview with Stoic’s artist Arnie Jorgensen and writer Drew McGee at E3 so I set my bags down and walked over to a vacant demo computer. The game is the second of Stoic’s planned trilogy and I’ve only played half of the first Banner Saga so I was a little cautious – what if there were spoilers?
Curiosity won out and OH GOD THERE WERE SPOILERS!
With that in mind, if you’ve not played or finished the first game and wish to avoid spoilers just bookmark this for later:
