So, I’d like to extend the best and the worst of congratulations to Stoic Studios for the paradox they have created.

See, basically The Banner Saga ticked all the boxes that I expected to be crossing, but it somehow managed to mess up where even bad games succeed. Still, Stoic delivered the tale exquisitely, with gorgeous artwork and sophisticated writing. Similarly, the story explores themes and character types that we’ve seen many times before: the father-daughter relationship, the tenuous inter-species peace treaty and unity under common threat. The game took a fairly generic combat system and twisted it so cleverly that it felt totally new. Even so, The Banner Saga caught me almost entirely by surprise.

I’m fairly learned in the area of turn based combat, and I’m more than partial to anything Viking themed. Even before playing it, I had high expectations for The Banner Saga. Now we’ve got that out of the way, I’d like to say that I actually enjoyed this game.

However, I have decided to deduct half a star from my rating of The Banner Saga due to gross loss of time and the adverse effects of forced replay. Out of respect for your effort and the quality of the rest of The Banner Saga, I will play the game to completion and will review it deservedly. But the fact that it exists at all is appalling. I’m not sure if this issue is confined specifically to the console port, or if it plagues PC gamers too. The flaws in this save system have become somewhat of an affliction, costing me exactly two-hundred and three in game days, and approximately four hours of my life. On a number of occasions, I have been transported backwards in the game, and my more recent save files had been spontaneously deleted. I suppose in its own disastrous right this save system is unique, but by the same token so was hurricane Katarina.Īt first I had decided to remove this ‘glitch’ from my conscience when playing your game, lest it adversely affect the verdict of my review. And such a need could, and quite frankly, should, have given rise to a unique and cleverly-thought out approach to the process of saving and loading. I understand the need for a certain type of save system given the nature of the game and the decisions therein. In an otherwise well designed title, the save system sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb. However, recently my enjoyment of the series has decreased dramatically, and this can be attributed to one variable: the save-system. As a content-writer and reviewer for an online gaming site, TheXboxHub, I have been playing and enjoying The Banner Saga.

The banner saga walkthrough