Definitely have mixed feelings about this, because while The Banner Saga is a game with great art, great music and an interesting concept, it falls short in immersing players into its world. I would love to recommend the game on the basis of the beautiful drawings and epic music, but it's been really disappointing to see that this game isn't what they marketed it to be.

The game promises that every decision will have a "meaningful effect on the outcome as your story unfolds" and that "the journey is as important as battle", but players aren't even given the option to choose where to go and the micro-management of the caravan doesn't really affect how the story ends. Although there's a possibility of gaining, keeping or losing supplies and units during random encounters on your journey, the only thing that really matters is keeping your main team alive. Losing units doesn't mean anything.

The game isn't too long but has players going in between different caravans with different characters in each one of them. This isn't too great because after spending time with one caravan and just starting to become emotionally invested in their plight, they abruptly shift you over to another where you have to familiarize yourself with a whole new set of names and faces. It might have been nice if they stuck to one caravan throughout this first episode of the trilogy, so we could've seen more character development and become more attached to the world.

Battle mechanics are interesting but the fights can be tedious and repetitive because of the limited diversity of foes. Some battles can be challenging in a good way but most of the time, it felt like a "rinse and repeat" kind of affair. There are also weird spikes in difficulty from time to time, and the final fight arrived quite abruptly in a "that's it?" kind of way.

If you're interested in looking at the beautifully detailed drawings and can appreciate epic music, the game would be worth getting when it's on sale. However, as the game stands currently, If you're expecting more from the gameplay and story, then this is hard to recommend. I hope the next part will fair better.

Definitely have mixed feelings about this, because while The Banner Saga is a game with great art, great music and an interesting concept, it falls short in immersing players into its world. I would love to recommend the game on the basis of the beautiful drawings and epic music, but it's been really disappointing to see that this game isn't what they marketed it to be. The game promises that every decision will have a "meaningful effect on the outcome as your story unfolds" and that "the journey is as important as battle", but players aren't even given the option to choose where to go and the micro-management of the caravan doesn't really affect how the story ends. Although there's a possibility of gaining, keeping or losing supplies and units during random encounters on your journey, the only thing that really matters is keeping your main team alive. Losing units doesn't mean anything. The game isn't too long but has players going in between different caravans with different characters in each one of them. This isn't too great because after spending time with one caravan and just starting to become emotionally invested in their plight, they abruptly shift you over to another where you have to familiarize yourself with a whole new set of names and faces. It might have been nice if they stuck to one caravan throughout this first episode of the trilogy, so we could've seen more character development and become more attached to the world. Battle mechanics are interesting but the fights can be tedious and repetitive because of the limited diversity of foes. Some battles can be challenging in a good way but most of the time, it felt like a "rinse and repeat" kind of affair. There are also weird spikes in difficulty from time to time, and the final fight arrived quite abruptly in a "that's it?" kind of way. If you're interested in looking at the beautifully detailed drawings and can appreciate epic music, the game would be worth getting when it's on sale. However, as the game stands currently, If you're expecting more from the gameplay and story, then this is hard to recommend. I hope the next part will fair better.