Much like its predecessor, The Banner Saga 2 — which is going to be officially released in a few hours — has received positive scores and assessments for critics, who seem to have loved the game’s art style and atmosphere and generally enjoyed the improved mechanics. The writing, though, seems to have received far more criticism, with reviewers occasionally complaining about the fact that new players aren’t introduced to the world properly, or that the story suffers from being a middle chapter.
GameSpot, 8/10.
The way each layer of the game feeds into and informs the other creates a cerebrally and emotionally grueling loop that can take its toll on you as a player. But it also helps engross you in the fate of the dire, war-torn world of The Banner Saga, and empathize with the perils of a fleeing population and the characters that struggle to lead them. The majestic hand-drawn art and eloquent animations of units on the battlefield further amplify this feeling, as does Austin Wintory’s stirring orchestral soundtrack, with Gregorian chants haunting and illuminating the malaise of the world and events that occur.
The Banner Saga 2’s wonderful balance of systems and their effectiveness in heightening the ongoing narrative can still be appreciated if you aren’t familiar with what came before– but much more so if you are. Like the original game, the The Banner Saga 2 leaves you holding your breath, completely invested in the world, its inhabitants, and their struggles, anxiously eager for more.
IGN, 8.9/10.
The Banner Saga 2 doesn’t change much of the experience that made the original such a well-loved surprise two years ago, and that’s a good thing. The improvements may be small, but they’re also substantial: the new combat units, the introduction of a second caravan story to follow, and the obstacles in the battlefield add up nicely. While beautifully written and populated with memorable characters and twists, the story does slightly suffer from a case of the “middle episodes” that may leave you eager for more. On the bright side, we know that more is on the way in a third and final installment.
Kotaku, scoreless.
Which means anyone still reading by now is likely someone who finished, or at least dabbled in the first game and wants to know if this is now a series worth continuing with.
You’re damn right it is. Combat is as good as ever, only now its implementation is smarter. The writing is much tighter, and the characters are going weird and wonderful places I wasn’t expecting. And the art is still the art.
About the only thing that bummed me out was that, despite the end of TBS1 falling flat, the last battle of TBS2 is somehow even worse, a weird little puzzle of a thing that’s too dependent on luck and scripting. It doesn’t ruin the entire endgame, since we still get a decent pay-off related to decisions you’ve made, but it doesn’t help the mid-trilogy feeling of emptiness that washes over you when it comes to an end just as you thought you were about to see the real action go down.
For that, we’ll have to wait for The Banner Saga 3. Which I’ll be a lot more excited for than I was The Banner Saga 2.
PC Gamer, 86/100.
You’ll forgive the occasions where the narrative and mechanics don’t always dovetail perfectly for the moments in which they do spectacularly so during one story beat, as Stoic somehow generates nerve-fraying tension from a sequence conducted at walking pace. Yes, there’s still room for improvement, but this is a smart, worthy sequel: denser, richer, more complex and yet more intimate. Even if you’ll feel in dire need of a stiff drink once this second act draws to its devastating close.
Eurogamer, Recommended.
It’s a wonderful, wonderful game that draws you in with its brittle art style and its heroes and villains, only to ask of you the most impossible questions. Make your choices, face the consequences, survive the journey. This is a series, that still, to this day, justifies the existence of Kickstarter. It’s beautiful and it’s sad, and despite its stilted approach to turn-based combat, is undeniably worth your time.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun, scoreless.
The Banner Saga 2 is a beautiful sequel. There are moments where, as I watch the drama unfold in the dialogue and cutscenes, I almost forget I’m playing a game that came out in this decade. There’s an evocative sense of timelessness about the story and world that few RPGs create. And now that the combat has become a strength and not a weakness, immersing myself in the richness of The Banner Saga’s dying world is almost as enchanting as cracking open the weathered pages of my favorite fantasy novels.
GameInformer was unimpressed by the moment to moment interactions with the world but enjoyed the gameplay, 8.5/10.
The Banner Saga 2 carries the banner onward for the series, and while it’s made a few steps forward in creating more interesting tactical decisions and has added some more options for customization, it seems to have taken a step back in terms of making your journey across the world memorable. If you enjoyed the first chapter, you are ready for a great time continuing your tale right where you left off. If you’re new to the series, you should play the original and start the saga from the beginning.
TechnoBuffalo, Buy.
If you enjoy tactical strategy games, don’t mind the challenge of making brutal decisions and fancy yourself a love of strong art and great music, The Banner Saga 2 is for you. Play the first one, though. The recap, while solid, isn’t enough to cover what you learn in the original.
PCGamesN, 8/10.
The Banner Saga 2 captures much of what made the first game such a compelling fight for survival. It has a tendency to focus on the bigger picture and with the large number of characters that don’t have much to say, some of the emotional engagement from the original is lost, but both the management side of things and the tactical battles have been lavished with improvements. The journey is bleak and savage, but the game is great.
GameWatcher, 8.5/10.
Banner Saga 2 may be just the next part of Stoic’s ongoing tale but basically everything has been improved. They’ve kept the lovely art, animations and design and continued the wonderful apocalyptic story for a gripping twelve hours filled with twists, turns and probably deaths, with hard choices that can have real consequences to the story. The slightly iffy combat has been buffed by the introduction of proper objectives that call for actual strategy, and the Training missions ensure you’ll know how to use Heroes effectively. I was hooked for my entire playthrough, unlike the first game never needed to turn the difficulty down to Easy just to finish it, and I’m sad that it’ll be another two years before I can finish the story. If that’s not the mark of a good game I don’t know what is.
GameSpew, 7/10.
As previously mentioned, The Banner Saga 2 is an ideal game for game-as-art deniers and an effective bridge for older generations who don’t quite understand the medium. It is unabashedly slow and beautiful, with a lot of strong storytelling elements to ease people into the unfamiliar interactivity integral to games, yet even to a seasoned gamer, there’s plenty to like. The Banner Saga 2 is far from perfect; the combat trips the flow up a bit, the pacing will have you a bit bored at times, the sound design is sub-optimal and I probably won’t be compelled enough to have a second go at it, but there’s no denying the unique charm that the game offers. If you’re looking for an atmospheric, beautifully crafted, nuanced and thoughtful narrative experience, The Banner Saga 2 is a contemporary leader in all of those fields.
GameReactor UK, 8/10.
Particularly later in the game, where the many combat abilities, styles, and storytelling comes together, it’s hard not to admire the scale of what Stoic has achieved in The Banner Saga 2. It is not a perfect game but it is a wonderful player-crafted story packed with enjoyable mechanics. Any game that forces players to consider morality from the perspective of desperation deserves to be noticed. That The Banner Saga 2 does so with such flair, so interestingly, and in such an immensely enjoyable way deserves a significant amount of respect.
The Sixth Axis, 8/10.
The Banner Saga 2 doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, it just makes the wheel bigger and keeps on rolling. Even with minor stumbles in the form of slow combat animation and initially overwhelming combat mechanics, it’s a game that excels at what it aims to accomplish. Fans of the first game will love it, and entirely new players will come to love it. If you need a new tactical RPG in your life, make it The Banner Saga 2.
iDigitalTimes, 4/5.
The Banner Saga 2 is everything a fantasy should be, as long as you don’t put the magic under a microscope. It’s not to be missed, especially if you’re patient enough to enjoy things like art, reading, tactics and tales. Tension, not action, drives most of the drama across a setting and a style that is second to none. A beautiful triumph of a game for anyone who’s ever fallen in love with an epic.
PCInvasion, 7/10.
The Banner Saga 2 reaps all the benefits and foibles of strict continuity. It maintains the outstanding presentation and decision-based narrative highs of the first entry, but minor changes to mechanics are unlikely to sway opinion on the unique, but slightly peculiar, combat system.
God is a Geek, 9.5/10.
The Banner Saga 2 is a work of beauty, both in the way it looks and the way it plays. The story is superbly written and the combat makes you earn those victory horns. With the addition of the Horseborn and dynamic battle boards, The Banner Saga 2 is even better than its predecessor.
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