
I started the game trying to help people, trying to lead by example, but when that kept backfiring I changed to being ruthless and even then I had decisions twist around on me like an aggressive snake. If anything, this feels even more bleak than the first game, with each decision you make having major impacts on your numbers, morale and supplies. With so much pressure in your shoulders, it becomes tough when you keep making mistakes. Logs block your way and derelict villages offer the temptation to go ashore and search for supplies, which dwindle at an alarming rate. Whereas The Banner Saga saw you crossing the continent with your growing caravan, the sequel starts off with your followers loaded on longships, sailing down a river fraught with dangers. On the flip side, these environmental aspects can also work to your advantage, so their inclusion is welcome for the way they impact on tactics. A crevasse or large tree stump might effectively cut your team in half, rendering some of your most powerful units useless as they watch the rest get mowed down, especially the slow-moving Varl units, who take up four squares at a time and have much less movement range per turn. Terrain also plays a much larger role in fights, with both destructible and indestructible elements taking up room on the battle area, affecting how you move about the map. These more dynamic win conditions create far more options when it comes to who you take into battle and where you place them on the field as it’s no longer just about survival, but piercing speed as well. Sure enough, once it fell, the battle was won. One character voiced the opinion that it might be the leader and that we might scare the rest of the dredge away if we concentrated our efforts on defeating that one unit. Early on, I was getting swamped, my team dropping like flies, when a major unit appeared. Centaurs and other creatures eventually show up, so there’s a lot more to consider when compared to the small handful of units the first game used on rotation.Īlso new is the introduction of alternative win conditions to encounters.
#THE BANNER SAGA 1 CHAPTER 8 HOW TO#
Within the first thirty minutes of The Banner Saga 2, I’d upgraded my main character with overwatch and encountered new enemies, some with baffling abilities that I had no idea how to counter, such as turning themselves invisible on the battlefield. Namely, the lack of unit diversity and, more specifically, the lack of an easily gained overwatch ability. Most of my criticisms of the first game get addressed in this sequel.
#THE BANNER SAGA 1 CHAPTER 8 MOVIE#
It’s okay if you didn’t quite finish the first game, though, as there is a recap movie you can watch and at the start of the game you can decide the major divergence from the first game, continuing on with auto-levelled characters.

The Banner Saga 2 starts off immediately after this, at Chapter 8, feeling very much like the second book in a trilogy.


At the end of The Banner Saga, tough decisions had led to the demise of main characters and the serious wounding of others.
