Fight For The Top 50 2014 – The Banner Saga

The Banner Saga isn't a game filled with spectacle. It doesn't feature motion-capped voice acting, or big budget particle effects, or hundreds of hours of side quests. Still, it's an incredibly intelligent strategy game wrapped around a compelling and heartfelt story. Even more impressive, the game was made by a team of only three developers. The Banner Saga is a small indie project, but it does big things, and it definitely deserves a spot on any gamer's end of the year list.

Learn more about the Game Informer Fight For The Top 50 Challenge 2014.

Admittedly, I was drawn to The Banner Saga even before the game released. I had been keeping a close eye on the title after Stoic's Kickstarter campaign raised over $700,000. In fact, I'm sure The Banner Saga's stunning Eyvind Earle-inspired art turned a lot of heads. However, the gaming landscape could fill a landfill of titles that have looked great and failed to perform. Thankfully, Stoic didn't drop the ball there either.

Professional PC lover Dan Tack already touched on much of this in his review, but the Stoic nailed many of the basics found in top down, turn based strategy games: players control a team of a half dozen character all with their own special attacks and weaknesses and then plot out the best way to clear off a chess board of attacking foes. However, Stoic added a few unique twists to the standard strategy systems that will make you rethink your tactics. For one, attacks alternate between you and your opponents, so even if you have the enemy out-manned you can't just sweep your foes by attacking with multiple characters in a row. Second, a character's health is tied to their strength, so as a character takes damage they grow weaker – which means that even your beefiest heroes will eventually grow weak during an encounter just like in real life. All of these changes added some great wrinkles to combat and kept me on my toes during every second of each fight.

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However, I think that one of my favorite aspects of the game is its engrossing story. Inspired by Viking legend, Stoic has created a fantasy world filled with horned giants and massive world-eating snakes. The game begins after all of the world's gods have died and a warlike faction of stone golems, known as the Dredge, begin to invade the world. Players control a couple of clans as they travel through the world looking for a safe place. Unfortunately, every bend is filled with tough choices and difficult encounters that will leave your heroes constantly wrestling to find food and supplies. The story alone is worth the price of admission.

The Top 50 Challenge
The Banner Saga is an indie title, so it didn't have the same marketing reach as something like Call of Duty or Destiny, and since the game came out earlier in the year, I think a lot of people might have forgotten about it for their year-end lists. Therefore, I'd love more people to play this brilliant strategy title (especially now that it's on iOS). If you're a fan of strategy series like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, or even XCOM you owe it to yourself to check out this delightful little title, so that Stoic can keep working on the second part of this planned trilogy. As a fan of both RPG and epic storytelling, I feel like Kim Wallace will agree with me about this little gem.

Kim Wallace was given one day to play The Banner Saga. Come back tomorrow at 10PM CT to read her impressions and see if she'll support the game's inclusion on our Top 50 Games of 2014 list.