Sound and visuals, while quite minimalistic, totally support the game’s atmosphere. Especially in this time, when the sun had literally stopped in the sky, dredge return in force and something even more threatening is on the horizon. With ice-covered wastelands, roaming bandits, and a general sense of uneasiness for peoples that are now all on their own. The setting is essentially dark fantasy post-apocalypse. Terrifying stone warriors nearly wiped varls and humans in the last war.Īnd there is, of course, the opening narration saying that gods are dead. And dredge, created by another god, definitely didn’t turn out good for everyone. It’s hard to say if it was a success but they are formidable warriors – that’s for sure. Varls are horned giants that were created by some god to combine the best parts of humans and animals. Passing conversations mention two Great Wars between humans, varls, and dredge. You have a lot of things to piece together. Too bad you don’t have a similar way to learn history. And it’s not just names – clicking on them makes a short description pop up about what happened there and why is it significant. The lore, inspired by Norse Mythology, is very rich – just look at the map that marks all the cities, roads, and locations of any importance. The world of Banner Saga is definitely worth to be checked out. So maybe the place of Banner Saga in gaming history is not that certain? Or maybe I’ve just put a cart before the yox. Like Dead State or even Tactics Ogre, if you dig really deep. Though come to think of it, there already were games with a similar premise.

Pyre and Ash of Gods being most well-known examples. Suffice to say that it already inspired the whole sub-genre of games that combine deep non-linear story, management, and tactical battles. The Banner Saga is a game of great renown – there is no arguing about that.

The banner saga varl