The Banner Saga 3 Critic Reviews

The moving, fitting climax of a true epic. The Banner Saga took four years to complete and is living proof of what a strong vision, flawless artistic direction and well-tuned game mechanics can achieve when working in perfect synergy. If the screenshots speak to you, you will find here a game that is truly in a league of its own.

In the end you experience emotional exhaustion, relief and light sadness at the same time. This is normal when you complete any great journey, even if it has happened in a video game.

This is a tight trilogy with so few slow parts that I could barely tell I had sunk 13 hours into the third episode by the time I was finished with it. I could easily see myself returning to the series at episode one just to experience the story from an entirely new perspective. If you've played the first two games, I have to wonder why you're reading this. Quickly, save the world from the dark! Or you know, some other choice betwixt saving the world and desolation.

Like closing the final chapter on a thousand-page-long fantasy novel, The Banner Saga 3 delivers a dark and thrilling conclusion to remember.

Basically, it’s George R. R. Martin rules here. The stakes are stupidly high and no character is safe. You may be paying for a full front-row seat to watch one of the most well-realised worlds since the original Mass Effect trilogy, but you’ll only ever need the edge of your chair.

A daring, exciting and bleakly powerful payoff that handsomely rewards your investment in its characters.

One of the best tactical and adventure saga comes to an end bringing to the table the usual stellar production values in narrative, choices and tactical battles. A must have, and play.

The trilogy reaches its eventful climax. If you like tactical roleplaying games it doesn’t get much better than with this epic entertainment.

Even if the battles can sometimes feel tedious, The Banner Saga 3 is largely a fantastic resolution to the trilogy. It’s bleak, it’s desperate, and you’ll finally see the end of the stories for these characters you’ve followed for three games. Whether it’s a happy ending or not, though, you’ll have to see for yourself.

A fitting end to the trilogy, and fans of the series so far will not be disappointed with the new gameplay features or the excellent storytelling.

I will miss this series; but this final instalment brings it to a worthy conclusion. I also imagine that, as with the Mass Effect trilogy, I will replay it many more times throughout my life, revelling in the worlds that my cumulative decision making will create. The Banner Saga has made some moments that will stay with me a long time.

For what is worth, The Banners Saga 3 is a fitting end for a great adventure that's meant to highlight the qualities and downsides of the human spirit: sacrifice, love, heroism, friendship vs. malice, hate, thirst for power, cowardice. The story and the objective in The Banner Saga 3 doesn't change, it only becomes bleaker and more intense. On top of that, the sense of hopelessness and despair is present now more than ever, making The Banner Saga 3 a journey full of angst and melancholy.

Ferocious and heartbreaking, this is storytelling with serious clout: against the odds, Stoic has stuck the landing.

With a sigh of excitement, a frustrated scream and a sad sob you will arrive at the ending of this art-y, pitch black trilogy. We won't give it our coveted Gold Award, because there hasn't been a lot of innovation through the years (part 1 was from 2014), but the trilogy as a whole definitely deserves cold gold.

Tougher strategies, higher stakes, and high production values are the order of the day. By the time the Saga is coming to a close, you’ll look back and feel your growth in an epic warlord.

What makes The Banner Saga 3 fantastic is the feeling of its predecessors. The whole series is traversed by a certain despair and sadness, which belong to the inevitable end. The finale drives this melancholy to the extreme, motivating me through struggles and decisions but at the same time to continue.

If you've played the first two, The Banner Saga 3 is impossible to ignore. In this final chapter, everything is broken and mended and broken again. I was never sure if there would be--or even could be--any kind of happily ever after to this massive mythology Stoic Studios has built. It's an excellent uncertainty.

As the final chapter of the trilogy, The Banner Saga 3 should not be bought with the hope of finding some kind of gameplay innovations, but to savor the last part of an epic journey in search of safe place and truth.

The Banner Saga 3 ends one of the most exciting and mature epics that the world of videogames has given us in recent years.

Good news: The Banner Saga series will offer you an amazing ending that does the franchise right. Everything fits together perfectly and that makes for a very emotional ending of this beautiful adventure.