Banner Saga 2 is the return to the bleak Nordic world from the original. I’d never considered the original game and picked this up on a whim. I’m very glad I did though. Developer Stoic has brought this world of doom and gloom to life with a phenomenal story and a fantastic art style worthy to draw you in deep. The keeping of the good original formula and adding minor improvements across the board make this game an unmissable experience for anyone who enjoys choice-driven adventure games.
The story follows on from the original and the option to import your save if you own both games on steam is paramount to keeping your own story going. The choices of the original change the game right from the beginning putting you as either Rook or Alette depending on what happened in the first game.
Banner Saga 2 really pushes the limit on choices and their effect upon the story. Unlike other choice-driven games of the ilk where the destination stays the same and the choice simply chooses the path there the decisions Banner Saga 2 pushes the paths to polar opposites with each character and decision creating a multitude of unique play through options available. This is helped by the stark difference in the character’s own stories, switching between the suicidal Rook, the aspiring Alette, and the dark Bolverk. Characters switch between the leading role and each feel like their own complex person. While the story feels rich and complete the ending does feel like its setting up for a final part of the trilogy and as such feels slightly lacking.
The turn-based combat returns and fills the aching gap in the storyline. A bulk of content has been added with new maps and classes to tempt you such tracker class utilising stealth to unleash armour-destroying attacks. New enemies appear as well, such as centaurs which can trample as part of their movement, therefore, causing damage and retreating on the same turn. The new victory conditions also force tactics change regularly, keeping the whole mechanic feeling fresh across the whole game time.
Any sins in the game are very minimal. The AI can be buggy sometimes, running through fire or other dangerous obstacles to get to you. The changing victory conditions also sway the difficulty heavily and goofing on basic fights will happen. However, these are rather meager when the rest of the experience is so well optimised and detailed.
In the simplest sense, this is the original game. That isn’t to say this is a bad thing as the first game was wonderful. There is no reinvention of the wheel here, more an optimisation of that wheel giving more focus to the player agency and the mechanics of battling compared to the original.
Banner Saga 2 doesn’t change much from the original. Yet the experience overhaul makes the game feel much deeper an experience than before. The experience is one of joy overall despite the bleak tones in the game. If you haven’t played the first game I recommend you play it first before diving into this game, as you want the full experience of this 10 scoring game.
The Banner Saga 2 is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4
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