‘The Banner Saga 2’ Coming April 19 On PC, Other Platforms To Follow


Stoic’s next installment in its award-winning franchise, The Banner Saga 2, has officially been given a release date — for PC and Mac at least. Having been officially announced a few years ago at the Video Game Awards in Las Vegas, Stoic Studios’ continuation of their Viking epic has been long awaited by fans of the series.

Stoic made the announcement on Twitter, finally releasing the date fans have been long looking forward to, continuing their journey in The Banner Saga.

As of now, The Banner Saga 2 doesn’t afford any pre-order bonuses like the original did (with Tryggvi), but those who do pre-order The Banner Saga 2 will be given a discount right now on Steam. Additionally, you can grab The Banner Saga 2 with the soundtrack, once again scored and orchestrated by BAFTA-winning and Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory. Wintory has given folks a sneak peek at the soundtrack for The Banner Saga 2 on his SoundCloud page, with the theme echoing the motifs found in the first soundtrack, but with a darker, more somber timbre.

If you’ve played The Banner Saga on any device, you’ll want to keep your save, as your choices in the original game will be reflected in The Banner Saga 2. Your decisions in The Banner Saga will have a direct impact on the story and characters you interact with in The Banner Saga 2.

For those who are looking forward to the console release, you’ll unfortunately have to wait a little longer, but not nearly as long as it took to get the first Banner Saga onto PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Stoic confirmed in a press release (via PlayStationLifestyle) that the console versions of The Banner Saga 2 are set to release sometime this summer.

Stoic, an independent game development company, and Versus Evil, one of the leading independent video game publishers, today announced that Banner Saga 2 for PC will launch on Tuesday 19th April, 2016. Banner Saga 2 is the exciting sequel to the award winning, BAFTA nominated, indie hit The Banner Saga, an epic Viking role-playing strategy game where a player’s choice directly affects their personal journey. The console versions of the game are set to launch this summer.

The Banner Saga 2 does much to improve upon the first game, with more cutscenes, increased enemy variety, better battle boards, and improvements to an already challenging battle system. The Banner Saga 2 also brings more story into the battles themselves, showing more narrative in all facets of the game over the original title.

Additionally, The Banner Saga 2 aims to expand upon the caravan journey gameplay, where battles are only a portion of your worries. Keeping your caravan alive during its travels is just as crucial as keeping characters from falling in battle.

Often called a “depression simulator,” The Banner Saga has been compared to stories like Game of Thrones, mainly due to the way it’s told from multiple perspectives, as well as the fact that at any given moment a character could meet a grisly fate, altering the course of the story as you move forward. Every decision you make weighs heavy because it could be one that benefits the caravan, at the cost of a powerful ally.

Previously, the Inquisitr talked about how well the gameplay of The Banner Saga translates to the gamepad on a console, something that The Banner Saga 2 will obviously aim to improve upon. If you’re a strategy fan, The Banner Saga is definitely worth a look, regardless of platform.

The Banner Saga 2 will release on PC April 19. Looking forward to The Banner Saga 2? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Image via Stoic LLC|Wikimedia Commons|Cropped and resized|CC BY-SA 3.0]

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