The Banner Saga (Series) Review

Posted: 10 months ago, last updated 6 months ago.

Overview

The Banner Saga is a beautiful fantasy adventure where your strategic choices directly affect your personal story and the world around you. You play as two characters, each with their own related story.

The main element of progressions is a turn-based combat engagement employing characters you have in your party. Rather than focusing on a specific hero as in other games, The Banner Saga games concentrate instead on the caravan of characters as a whole. Defeats and deaths in battle affect more than your score or arbitrary outcome, but play into the narrative as a whole.

There are three games in the series:

The Banner Saga (2014)
The Banner Saga 2 (2016)
The Banner Saga 3 (2018)

Details

Rating: PEGI 16+, ESRB TEEN

Release Date: 14/01/2014, updated in 2016

Platforms: Android, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and iOS.

Genres: Action, Fighting, Narrative and Strategy.

Tips

View our choice of games like The Banner Saga. This game is good if you want to:

Commitment

Duration: This game will take between 10 hours and 17 hours to complete.

Players: This is a single player game.

Costs

Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.

On PC there are in-game purchases for "The Legendary Items" that adds titles, items, a digital novel, Survival Mode and Eternal Arena mode. "Deluxe Items" that add a wallpaper, digital world map and Gold Wasp item.

On iOS and console, there are no in-app purchases.

This game is free with Xbox Game Pass.

Age Ratings

Rated PEGI 16+ with frequent, moderate realistic violence towards human characters The examiners report expands this rating with the following: Characters use swords, long handled axes, spears, bows and arrows to cause realistic looking violence towards human-like characters.

Rated ESRB TEEN with alcohol reference, blood and gore, language and violence.

Accessibility

Accessibility for this game is as follows:

System Settings

Android has accessibility settings including ways to navigate and interact, although not all games support this. Nintendo Switch has some built-in features, including a lockable zoom, that can be used on all games. Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators. PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping). Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games. iOS has a very extensive suite of accessibility settings including ways to navigate with voice and comprehensive screen reading, though most of the features don't work with games... read more about system accessibility settings.

Games Like The Banner Saga

The following games are like The Banner Saga. They address a similar topic or offer a similar way to play. They are good options to play next and also good alternatives to The Banner Saga for younger age ratings.

Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind

Pendragon

Kingdom

Wargroove

Pyre

Bad North

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Life Is Strange

Mass Effect

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