The Banner Saga
Released Jan 2014
Live through an epic role-playing Viking saga where your strategic choices directly affect your personal journey. Make allies as you travel with your caravan across this stunning yet harsh landscape. Carefully choose those who will help fight a new threat that jeopardizes an entire civilization.
88% positive · 16K reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
High confidence
Where to buy
Steam $24.99 Green Man Gaming Steam key $24.99
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Evaluation
The Banner Saga is the first entry in a completed trilogy. The developer, Stoic, always intended this as a three-part story — the store description explicitly states "The Banner Saga is the first part of a planned trilogy." Banner Saga 2 launched on April 19, 2016, and Banner Saga 3 — described by Stoic as "the third and final game in the epic trilogy" — launched on July 26, 2018. With the trilogy complete, the narrative arc this game was part of has reached its conclusion. Following the launch of Banner Saga 3, Stoic released two maintenance patches for this first game (October 3, 2018 and November 1, 2018) addressing audio issues, localization fixes, and performance improvements. The last developer communication for this game was on November 1, 2018. Both DLC items (the soundtrack and a mod content pack) are released. There are no unreleased DLC entries, no outstanding content commitments, and no developer statements suggesting further updates are planned. The game launched as a finished product within a planned series, that series is now complete, and post-launch activity has been limited to maintenance patches that wrapped up in late 2018.
Evidence
Stoic announced Banner Saga 3 — described as 'the third and final game in the epic trilogy' — is now available, completing the planned three-part story arc.
Final patch (build 2.58.17) released on November 1, 2018, addressing audio, music, and localization issues. This is the last recorded developer communication for this game.
Content
2 of 2 released · no outstanding content
Media
Details
Developer
Publisher
Stoic Studio
Achievements
39
Platform
Windows, macOS
Controller
full support
Steam Deck
Verified
Players
Single-player
About this game
Live through an epic role-playing Viking saga where your strategic choices directly affect your personal journey. Make allies as you travel with your caravan across this stunning yet harsh landscape. Carefully choose those who will help fight a new threat that jeopardizes an entire civilization. Every decision you make in travel, conversation and combat has a meaningful effect on the outcome as your story unfolds. Not everyone will survive, but they will be remembered.
The Banner Saga is the first part of a planned trilogy. If you complete this game, your unique progress and storyline will carry over to the next part of the story.
Key Features
- Player choice that drives your own narrative – every decision you make in travel, conversation and combat has a meaningful effect on the outcome as your story unfolds.
- Over 25 playable characters from 2 different races, human and varl, the horned giants – embark on your epic journey with a variety of characters from 7 different classes, each with unique abilities and upgrade options to fit your play style.
- Strategic combat with consequences - victory or defeat and even the permanent loss of a character depends on which characters you choose to take into battle and what decisions you make afterwards.
- The journey is as important as battle – your role in building and managing your caravan as you travel the vast frozen landscape is critical to not only your own survival but the survival of an entire civilization.
- An epic Viking saga brought to life in 2D glory – beautifully hand drawn combat sequences and animations, accompanied by an evocative score from Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory, will immerse you into a fantasy realm inspired by Norse mythology.
- Multiplayer Combat Enhanced – sharpen your combat skills in the free multiplayer game “Factions”. Compete against other players with many of the character classes you see in The Banner Saga.
The Banner Saga is the first part of a planned trilogy. If you complete this game, your unique progress and storyline will carry over to the next part of the story.
Are these done yet?
Last evaluated Jun 28, 2026
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