The Banner Saga 2 (PC) Preview

There isn't much that has changed since the first Banner Saga title, but honestly, nothing needed to. As a slickly styled and highly polished tactical RPG series, it's really set the bar high, both in terms of its charming visuals and well-crafted gameplay. The Banner Saga 2 takes place immediately after its predecessor, and allows players to import their previous campaign, much like, say, the Dragon Age series.

The combat and class systems have a ton of depth, and it's honestly really nice to see how the progression from the first game carried over so well. Not just characters, but the choices made have an impact on the world, and aside from the obvious gameplay effects, it does a lot to build the world in a way that makes it feel like the story evolves as it's played through.

The art style is really well done, and it especially comes to life once the fighting gets underway. The scenery make battles feel like a part of something more; the fighting doesn't end past the traversable terrain, and seeing the conflict being acted out beyond the current engagement is really, really cool.

Combat itself is a little bit different, being relatively simple, but having a lot of nuance in positioning and target priority. Strategizing around the stats and abilities of the team makes for some really interesting team dynamics, and being able to build a force with a certain tactical flair is a lot of fun. It's an easily approachable system for newcomers, but genre veterans definitely have a lot to get excited about, as well.