The Banner Saga

The Banner Saga 1 – A Flawed Tale of Exile and Ambition
Score: 6.5–7.0 / 10
1. Language and Translation: Global Reach, Local Weakness
The Banner Saga’s English narrative, while ambitious in scope, is weighed down by both its linguistic choices and its uneven translation efforts.
The early Chinese machine translation—though it helped popularize the game—was plagued by inaccuracies. In the Simplified Chinese version, entire meanings are often reversed, or rendered as nonsensical, immersion-breaking text.
On the English side, the use of Norse-style names in Latin script feels half-committed. If authenticity were a goal, keeping original Scandinavian forms (e.g., Swedish) would offer more cultural texture and perhaps greater clarity for those familiar with Norse culture.
The writing itself is inconsistently stylized—sometimes overly archaic in minor scenes, while using modern terms where immersive vocabulary would suffice. A clearer balance between narrative atmosphere and readability would improve engagement.
2. World-Building and Caravan System: Illusion of Scale
The core theme of exile is indeed powerful. But the game system fails to support it meaningfully:
The caravan mechanics—tracking clansmen, fighters, and Varl—seem designed to suggest grand scale and social survival. But functionally, they are hollow:
More Varl or fighters don’t offer combat advantages. Clansmen, despite needing supplies, don’t improve morale even when well-fed. The population feels like a burden, not an asset—counterintuitive in a survival scenario.
The system offers almost no player agency:
Events rarely allow reduction or strategic shaping of your caravan size.
Opportunities to convert clansmen to fighters are so rare (e.g., Oddleif’s single event) that the mechanic feels undeveloped.
This undermines the emotional tension of leading refugees through a collapsing world. The caravan is symbolic, but not systemic.
3. Combat Design: Monotony in Strategy
Tactical gameplay is visually striking, but strategically shallow:
Encounters consist almost entirely of repetitive battles against Dredge, who lack unit variety or tactical challenge. Combat strategy reduces to the same loop: break armor, then reduce strength. There’s minimal variation in enemy AI or battlefield condition. Moreover, battles don’t impact the story—whether you fight well or poorly, the narrative proceeds linearly, stripping victories of meaning.
This design makes the game feel like a glorified visual novel with light tactical interruptions, rather than a tactical RPG with narrative consequence.
4. Narrative Structure: Contrived Heroism and Weak Payoffs
While the opening premise—an ordinary family thrust into a mythic disaster—is compelling, the final chapters unravel the story's credibility:
The climax, where Rook or Alette must shoot the arrow, feels forced:
Juno, the orchestrator of the plan, arrives from the capital with powerful allies, yet doesn’t bring a skilled archer for this one crucial task? Why must a humble hunter from the village of Skogr carry this burden—especially when their only goal had been survival, not heroism?
After the sacrifice of Rook or Alette, there is no visible response from the many powerful NPCs involved in the journey (e.g., Juno, Hakon, Ludin). Only Iver acknowledges the loss.
Juno’s silence feels disrespectful, or worse, deceptively manipulative—as if she knowingly used Rook/Alette with no emotional consequence. This evokes the negative side of Deus Ex Machina—not to resolve conflict, but to artificially impose dramatic weight through player sacrifice without narrative support.
5. Characterization and Dialogue: Minimal and Underdelivered
Despite its Fire Emblem-like structure, the game fails to build relationships among its cast:
There are almost no interactions between characters, including Rook and Alette, which is a wasted opportunity in a character-driven narrative. The format of a scripted, mostly static conversation system would not have required significant resources to deepen—yet the developers chose minimalism to a fault.
In the end, the characters feel more like narrative pieces than emotionally resonant individuals.
Conclusion: A Saga in Form, But Not in Depth
The Banner Saga 1 delivers visual artistry, a unique aesthetic, and the atmosphere of Nordic despair, but falls short of fulfilling its own ambition. Its gameplay is undercooked, its story climax contrived, and its systems often symbolic but not substantive.
Despite its strengths in presentation and tone, the experience is ultimately frustrating, especially for players seeking strategic engagement or emotional payoff. Stoic Studio's vision is admirable—but like its namesake philosophy, this title may leave players emotionally restrained, and narratively unsatisfied.
If you want to try a Norse featured game, you can give it a try. Otherwise, I won't suggest you do so.

怎么说呢，人物太多而流程不长导致人物刻画并不深刻，只建议打骨折时买，否则不值

很独特的战棋，独特到上次启动是18年但是我还能记得它..
游戏优秀的美术和音乐绝对是最吸引人的点，精致的画面风格加上宏伟和悠扬的原声使得本来有些简陋的游戏也呈现出了一种史诗感，再加上北欧风满满的剧情，陨落的诸神、危险的巨蛇、补天师、入侵地上世界的黑裔、拯救世界的人类和巨人，光是想想就让人觉得有趣是吧？
然而游戏的剧情和世界关我是玩到了二周目打困难难度才了解的，因为这个翻译实在是太诡异了，有一种可能是中文，但是是中文又不太可能的感觉，明显机翻痕迹配上喜欢说反话、yygq的角色还有一串串的名字地名和名词，看的比字不对音的译制老片还要费劲。偏偏文本又是这游戏体验中最重要的一项，游戏中逃难路上会出现各种剧情事件和随机事件选择，随机事件一个没选好就是扣士气扣补给扣人数，而剧情事件就更重要了，可能翻译看的云里雾里都不知都发生了什么一个事件选项过来，选错了你加了半天声望的角色可能就是出意外死了、退队了、反叛了、被杀了等等，游戏战斗中倒下的角色不会死只会受伤，休息几天就好了，但是事件选错了就是直接没了，你可能刚刚还0损伤的打退一波敌人，然后转头你最强的战士就没了，而且还要继承到二代的那种没了。可气的是这还可能不是选错了而是破翻译导致你根本没看懂发生了什么，这是这个游戏最让人难受的点。
游戏的战斗系统属于是玩懂了就有好玩的类型，策略性很足，不存在什么t0单位无脑一刀一个的情况（至少普通和困难难度是这样），等级和数值比较平缓，一直到最终战放上1级单位也是可以打的，不同兵种的角色技能都有用处，巨人高力量高护甲但是占地大容易出意外，人类高专注而且灵活。战斗系统的问题在行动模式上，和fft这类的战棋游戏根据速度决定移动的模式不同的是，旗帜传说的行动模式就是我方一回合敌人一回合，死掉的单位行动力会给活着的单位，只要敌人有两个或以上的单位存活，那存活的单位就能轻易做到带走你站位不好的单位，而你的单位就只能像木头一样看着残血敌人动了又动，这样导致战斗会越打越难，本来6v10的战斗打到敌人只剩两个但是感觉和在打八个人似的。

非常好玩的战棋游戏，开创了战旗类游戏的新纪元，兵种多样性非常丰富且克制关系有趣，整个系列浑然一体，而且居然在n年后补上了中文版！

好，但是有几个缺点
1.战旗没有撤回选择我觉得还是有点糟糕的，(我只需要一个操作的撤回)因为很多次都是误触导致的读档重玩.
2.文本真的是太阴阳和喜欢说反话了，有时候你不留神真的就绕晕了，看的发困。
3.就不能多做几张插图吗？剧情没过场动画就算了，人物很多时候我都搞混都是因为只有文本和一个头像，有时候搞不清谁是谁了个屁了的。
4.咱这个士气到底有啥用啊主要咱就是说。。。没用你赶路的过程咱们能不能就是可以给个加速键，困。有也可以给！
除了这些其实总体我觉得还是好玩的，但是这些缺点是真要命的困，特别那些个地名人名是真不好记。
——来自小黑盒用户老K老不老的评价

诸神已死，太阳从很久以前便不再运动。巨人曾与人类联手抵御过来自北方的黑石造物入侵，到了现在，前者的种族已因无法生育而走向消亡，后者则沉沦在贵族间相互攻伐的战争泥潭中
在北方的边缘 文明的尽头，坐落着一座村庄，几个世代以来这里的人们靠着捕获为数不多的猎物为生，而你是这座村庄中德高望重的一名壮年猎人
一次捕猎时，你在距离村庄不远的森林中遭遇了黑石生物，你不敢相信自己的眼睛，这些本该存在于古老神话中的生物重现在现实世界，更令你恐惧的是透过树林边缘不难看到，漫山遍野的黑石军队正在荒原上集结....
村庄很快被攻破，你接过了战死村长的嘱托，带领自己的族人一路南逃。你目睹了一座又一座城邦在黑石大军压境下陷入动荡，一座又一座堡垒被黑石军团轻易碾碎。你看到已是风中残烛的巨人族又一次集结起来对抗入侵，你也看到他们的抗争化作泡影，连首都都毁于一旦
一位疲惫的魔法师向你暗示现实世界正在缓慢崩溃，似乎连黑石一族的南下也不过是在逃避另一场灾难。越来越多的难民加入你们的逃难队伍，你并不知道余下的补给还能再坚持几天
你咬了咬牙，望向队伍中的亲人,族人，可即使是在绝境中他们也决心继续完成那面无限延伸着的旗帜，他们在旗帜上绣下了自己的经历，那面旗帜上记载的传说，或许会成为这个消亡世界中的最后一个故事。

北欧神话背景下的史诗故事，感觉还不错，但可能碍于游戏的体量，没有很好地展现出与黑裔战斗的恢弘感，以及末日下的那种绝望感。
战旗类游戏，还是挺有趣的，但有些地方设置不太合理。应该一人一动的，而不是一方一动。