Banner Saga 1

Banner Saga 1 is the first of a trilogy of games thats coming to the Nintendo Switch. The first game came to the Switch recently and I reviewed it. Is this a good strategy rpg or a bad one? Lets find out!

In Banner Saga 1, a two groups of giants and vikings go on a journey of survival. They are being followed and hunted by a menace known as the Dredge.

This storyline is so epic and fascinating. It can be a little confusing too. There are a lot of characters in this game! Best of all, though, is that the dialogue choices that you make in this game will change the outcome of many of the events that take place.

The sequences out of battle feel either like a visual adventure game such as King’s Quest or sometimes a text adventure game (you make a choice via text and see the outcome via text). I’m a fan of adventure games and so I loved how the events unfolded in Banner Saga. There may be some people who have loved cutscenes for events, but I felt like the adventure portions were excellent.

That said, there are real cutscenes in this game too. A couple of fantastic cutcenes appear at the beginning of the game and more pop up as you go. Some of these are static cutscenes and others have motion.

Visually, Banner Saga is beautiful. I especially love the traveling sequences and of course the graphics in battle!

Yes, I haven’t even mentioned Banner Saga 1’s turn-based strategy battles. It is here that the game will remind you a little of Fire Emblem, but the game has its own unique way of handling battles. The game’s controls are easy to learn and so are the tactical battles. I’m not saying that all of the battles are easy, in fact there are a lot of hard battles in this game even on Easy Mode! There is a lot to like about Banner Saga 1!

Is there anything I don’t like about Banner Saga 1? Well, I wish the game had more variety in enemies and allies. There are a lot of characters on both sides that look similar to each other. It gets a bit hard to tell characters apart. Other than that, I think Banner Saga 1 is an excellent game and I suspect the next games in the series will be even better.

For right now though, Banner Saga 1 is the best tactical rpg I’ve played on the Nintendo Switch. And thats saying a lot because the Switch is starting to get a lot of tactical rpgs. If you are fan of this genre, you should be downloading Banner Saga 1 right now.

Banner Saga 1 gets a 9.0 out of 10. The game is currently available on the Nintendo Switch eshop. Be on the look out for Banner Saga 2 and 3 in the coming months!

Thanks to Plan of Attack for providing a review code for this game.