Game developers are always trying to make you believe their game's story is epic, like it's something you've never experienced before. They spend millions of dollars on ad budgets to tell you why Shoot So Many Bad Guys XIV is different than the rest. The Banner Saga though, from Stoic Games (founded by ex-Bioware staff) is different though. It doesn't beg you to believe that it's different -- it just convinces you. From the moment you start The Banner Saga, it's clear that this gorgeous, clever and challenging tactical RPG is a gem that you'll want to sneak out to play. It may fizzle near the middle in the midst of too many similar enemies, but nevertheless, The Banner Saga is something you're going to want to play.

"...features an unbelievable score and voice over work."

The first thing you're likely to notice is how strikingly gorgeous Stoic's game is. Feature remarkable animations and a deep and rich color palette, The Banner Saga evokes the visuals of classic games like Dragon's Crown while at the same time looking better than most current day games. It's refreshing to see a game who's story deals so heavily with gloom and death to not rely on the traditional brown and grey color scheme. I was frequently amazed at how much the colors popped during even the most hectic fights. The Banner Saga also features an unbelievable score and voice over work.

Gameplay wise, The Banner Saga is perhaps best described as a tactical RPG, but that would be selling the game quite short. More aptly, this a tactical RPG crossed with adventure games and even a bit of The Oregon Trail. The story follows a group of Vikings looking for answers in a period where their gods have died, but the sun has completely gone away. The humans have created an uneasy alliance with the Varl, a race of horned creatures against The Dredge, a barbaric race who don't seem to be looking for anything more than domination and violence. The story takes quite a few interesting turns towards its epic conclusion, and takes a lot of input from the player, since your decisions both in combat and diplomacy will change the course of the tale.

"...you're always going to second guess your decisions."

Most interesting about The Banner Saga is how it believes that the journey is just as important as the destination. Though the game is anchored by the key epic moments of the story, I found myself enjoying the travel sections most, especially the decisions I had to make. These decisions range from the expected "we're low on food and supplies, should we attack this innocent villiage" to the decision whether or not to eat those mysterious berries. Most of the decisions don't come with an easy answer and you're always going to second guess your decisions.

There's a rather steep difficulty curve in The Banner Saga and it mostly effects the game's combat. You're likely first intuition will be to just use brute force and attack your enemies, but you're likely to lose very early on that way. The Banner Saga's combat requires you to take a lot into account - position, resources and much more to be successful. An interesting twist also gives you the choice whether killing an enemy is even the best strategy as they may become useful later on down the road for any number of reasons. The combat is hindered only by the fact that you're going to be fighting a lot of the same looking enemies over and over again, which makes the middle portion of the game more of a tiresome slog than anything else.

The Banner Saga is a unique beast - it's stunning in both audio and visuals but it's also challenging enough to hang with some of the more respected RPGs on the market. A lack of enemy variety will make some of the travel sections feel more like a laborious slog than the epic journey it's supposed to be, but there's still plenty to enjoy here. The Banner Saga is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a new and challenging RPG to waste their time with - or just a game that looks that damn good.