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STORY: 9/10
SCORE: 9/10
ATMOSPHERE: 10/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10 (can be glitchy with load-screens requiring restarting game)
ACHIEVEMENTS: This is not an easy game to get 100% completion and will take multiple playthroughs. While updating this review, I’m at 48% with 6 playthroughs and around 81 hrs of playtime. The first Banner Saga took me around 6+ playthroughs and 90 hrs to get all of the achievements (with poor planning), and some of them were pretty tough when doing the hard mode ones. The Banner Saga 2 and 3 hardmode-win and hardmode-no lost fights achievements took 2 playthroughs (in TBS2 I was just being an idiot and not watching my last fight close enough while pondering the story and setup, and with TBS3 it was due to a glitchy achievement--make sure to switch the difficulty to hard BEFORE starting a new game in the main menu, and not IN the game before the first fight). It is also worth noting that a few of the achievements do not pop until you sit through all of the credits at the end of the game until it goes, automatically, to the game menu, and I possibly messed up some achievements by trying to get around sitting through them all. (updated 03/2024)

THE GAME:
The Banner Saga series is episodic. There are three games that each continue the story from the previous with this game finally finishing the story! Therefore, this game is the end of the story, and if you haven't completed the other two games yet, I strongly suggest you play them before this one.
The story to these games is refreshing and unique with a dark theme. Be prepared to laugh, curse, and possibly cry. While the series is story rich, unlike many other story rich games, the fighting is strategic and, depending on the difficulty setting, can be challenging to a degree of cursing at your screen. This is a pretty unique series since it feels like a blend of an interactive novel with almost rogue-like difficulty game play in the survival and hard modes. You can make the game very challenging for the average player, or you can keep it fairly relaxing and simple in the easy mode to really soak up the story and atmosphere more than the challenge.

The Banner Saga 3 maintains the same gameplay as the other two, with some minor changes/additions, like the heroic titles added to the leveling up/skill system.

Below are similar pros and cons that I reviewed for the other two games…
Possible CONS:

-The game is fairly short for an RPG (my first playthrough took around 10 hrs).
-As many others have pointed out, the game is even shorter if you are doing well in it. It becomes a bit of a challenge to try to get the most story out of this game, however, there are guides on the steam community that reveal all possible consequences from your choices to help you get all the story if you desire (just watch our for spoilers in them). I thought this was a kind of fun aspect to the game, but others did not.

-It is not an open world, if that is what you are looking for—it is linear with different automatic save points as you progress through the story (you cannot choose where and when to save, although each save point has its own save to access if you want to try something different or screw up, which sadly sometimes requires having to click through a bunch of dialogue again).
-The game has a lot of reading involved (there isn't a lot of spoken dialogue/narrative). In fact, this plays out similar to an interactive novel, with the exception that it also has a lot of turn-based fights in-between the reading that provide excellent strategic game play.
-This game was glitchy for me. It would sometimes get stuck "loading" before cinematics, and I would have to close out the game. This happened a good bit and did not happen with the first two games. It didn't make me generally miss out on anything, but was annoying, and I did have to back track a little sometimes.

With that said, many PROS to the game include:

-The Banner Saga 3 gives you the option to continue your saves from the other games!!
-The story feels unique and is well-done, but keep in mind that there is a lot of story to get out of this that you might miss on a quick first playthrough if you speed through it, so it can feel underwhelming in that case.
-The dialogue and choices are often entertaining and feel realistic for the setting (the little bit of voice acting in the game is excellent).
-The art, score, and general atmosphere of the games are beautiful.
-The game-play/turn-based fights are addictive, and the fights even get a little challenging on the normal setting (I cursed at my monitor a lot on hard mode for the first Banner Saga game and a few times for the other two [just takes a little practice and then hard mode isn't actually too bad when you get a team you like and are used to], but I also like the challenge).

Similar to the first two games, The Banner Saga 3 is worth multiple plays not only for achievements, but to also try out different choices as they can have a fairly large impact on the story (again, if you want to see all of the possible consequences of your choices, there is a guide for each of the games in the steam community.) I strongly suggest people playthrough the first two games before this one (considering they are episodic).

While this wasn't my favorite game in the series, this was still an entertaining game, and I was thrilled to finally get an end to the story!

This is a surprisingly simplistic but really fun puzzle/strat game. I love that it includes a dark mode too, as all the white can be a bit bright for sensitive eyes. I found most of the game to be fairly easy with a little practice, but it will probably have an achievement or a few that are just rough on you. I think I had 2 or 3 that had me wanting to break my keyboard before I finally got them. Beyond this, it is also another game that keeps releasing new content, so far, which is a mixture of fun and annoying because it also releases new achievements breaking your perfect achievement count--for other achievement ♥♥♥♥♥♥ out there who like to see those perfect games.

I love this game. I love city builder and resource management games. This is a very large city builder game with a lot of DLC, some that is linked to achievements (you can only get 100% completion by buying some of the DLC). Naturally, the game was not this large when I first bought it many years ago. I'm still amazed when they release more content. This also is not an easy builder to learn. There is just so much to it. Luckily, if you need help, there are plenty of sources online and in the steam community. Otherwise, you can learn a lot by also just exploring all of your buttons, options, and putting in a lot of play time.

IF YOU LIKE ACHIEVEMENTS:
This is not an easy game to get 100% achievements on. For starters, there are just a lot of achievements, and at least one of them, the last one I had to get the first time I got 100% completion (more on that in a sec), is very RNG based. While many of the achievements you will just get naturally while playing the game a lot, there are some you will have to seek out and can be very challenging, but most of the achievements I at least had fun getting.
One of the bigger downfalls of this game, for me, is that it is tough to keep 100% achievement completion on. This is kind of fun, but the new achievements it keeps releasing are linked to new content you have to buy, and I find that a bit annoying not just because I have to buy more content for it that I often didn't feel it really needed--nor did I know what I was getting into when I first bought the game so many years ago (for better or worse), but I like getting that perfect completion on games on steam, so it's a bit annoying to feel compelled to keep coming back to this just for the new achievements and not just to play again when/if I feel like it. It's a mixed bag though, and definitely not something that will keep me from coming back to this beautiful game!

It is also worth noting that a larger city can also really bog down older PC builds, but beyond these aspects, this really is a great builder game if you have the time to put into learning it.

Updated 2024: for clarity and minor formatting changes.

I don't know what it is about building up a large army and well-defended empire for hours before wiping out the other empires, but I was doing this when AoEII first came out, and I'm still doing it now between other games. Great way to waste away the hours when bored with other games, like WoW. I get pissed at WoW, I go kill ♥♥♥♥ on other games.

IF YOU LIKE ACHIEVEMENTS:
It is also worth mentioning that this is not an easy game to get 100% completion on. I'm still far from it and will probably never get it as I only play the single-player modes for more of a stress-free build-an-empire-and-then-murder-the-others play.

Edited for additional thoughts and formatting.

Brilliant. Tedious. Sad. Creepy. Funny. You might not want to use your own name when picking one.

If you are only in it for the horror elements, like I was, just be patient, as it will most likely be worth it, but there is a lot of tedium involved around getting to know the characters. Still, I think this was a brilliant and unique game. While yes, it got a little creepy or even sad at some points, much of the horror cracked me up because it was such an impressive and unexpected direction to take in the game. I just wish they would add achievements to the game!

9/10 – Story
9/10 – Gameplay (point and click puzzles that weren’t too simple or too hard)
Achievements – Very easy to get 100% completion (around 3 to 4 hours)

This was a fun and short game that was intriguing enough to keep me playing until I beat it (took about 3 hours). It is largely an interactive story, but it has plenty of gameplay (solving puzzles) that allows progression through the story. For instance, finding items to get you through a locked door. I felt the ending could have been better, but it worked. I suggest buying this game on sale considering how short it is. Pay whatever you think 3 hours of entertainment is worth if you like mystery/sci-fi and point-and-click adventures.

For the achievements, if you click on everything until it begins repeating dialogue, and try most items on everything, you should get all of your achievements the first time. Otherwise, just play through the game to enjoy it, and look up an achievement guide after. Once you beat the game you can easily go back to previous chapters to get achievements you missed, and there are great guides online to tell you how to get them. As is, I got all but four achievements my first time through without trying to get them, and going back only took a few minutes for completion. Enjoy! :]

8/10 – Story (very short, simple, and heartwarming—if you’re in a mood for that)
9/10 – Score (lots of fitting and pretty piano pieces)
6/10 – Gameplay (this is an interactive story, but the interaction is so limited that it becomes tedious and would be better to just be a story you watch rather than take part in for occasional steering or jumping)
Achievement – Very easy to get 100% completion (around an hour)!

If you want a quick achievement and 100% completion for a game (interactive story), or you just like interactive stories that are short and cute, then you should check this out. Just be sure to buy it on sale. I think it is only worth 50 cents to a buck for entertainment and time value.

Keep in mind: This is a very simple story—kind of like a children’s story. I could explain the plot in one sentence and the store page already does a good enough job. The point is the emotion and nostalgia it evokes. Some people like that, others don’t. I personally found it largely tedious, but by the end of the story, I thought it was cute, somewhat creative, and worth one playthrough.

8/10 - Puzzles
9/10 - Visuals and Sound
6/10 - Story (?) or lack of
10/10 - Price (FREE - at least when I got it)
Achievements - Very easy to get 100% completion (around 20-45 minutes)

This is a very short puzzle game (15-45 min to beat for the average person). The concept is neat, and the puzzles are fairly easy. I didn't need help on the puzzles, but I did have to look up how to get the hidden achievement.

If you are an achievement junkie, I would suggest this game as it is easy to get 100% completion and it's free. Otherwise, since the game is free, just try it if you found the store page interesting and like puzzles. You may or may not like it.

The Puzzles:

The puzzles are based on your keyboard and mouse (including the middle scroll button). Some puzzles require sound to solve. You might find the lack of information for the puzzles annoying or fun, but in the end, they really don't require much to solve as they are very simplistic. If you do happen to need or want help solving them, the answers are online (e.g., google, youtube).

Updated for formatting.

STORY: 10/10
SCORE: 9/10
ATMOSPHERE: 10/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
ACHIEVEMENTS: This is not an easy game to get 100% completion and will take multiple playthroughs. While updating this review, I’m at 76% with 5 playthroughs and around 89 hrs of playtime. The first Banner Saga took me around 6+ playthroughs and 90 hrs to get all of the achievements (with poor planning), and some of them were pretty tough when doing the hard mode ones. The Banner Saga 2 and 3 hardmode-win and hardmode-no lost fights achievements took 2 playthroughs (in TBS2 I was just being an idiot and not watching my last fight close enough while pondering the story and setup, and with TBS3 it was due to a glitchy achievement--make sure to switch the difficulty to hard BEFORE starting a new game in the main menu, and not IN the game before the first fight). It is also worth noting that a few of the achievements do not pop until you sit through all of the credits at the end of the game until it goes, automatically, to the game menu, and I possibly messed up some achievements by trying to get around sitting through them all. (updated 03/2024)

THE GAME:
The Banner Saga series is episodic. There are three games that each continue the story from the previous with the third game finally finishing the story. Therefore, this game is the middle of the story, and if you haven't completed the first game yet, I strongly suggest you play it before this one.
The story to these games is refreshing and unique with a dark theme. Be prepared to laugh, curse, and possibly cry. While the series is story rich, unlike many other story rich games, the fighting is strategic and, depending on the difficulty setting, can be challenging to a degree of cursing at your screen.

The Banner Saga 2 maintains the same gameplay as the first, with some minor but pleasant changes (such as giving clansmen a purpose in gathering supplies for the group and the ability to train clansmen into fighters).

Below are similar pros and cons that I reviewed for the first game…
Possible CONS:

-The game is fairly short for an RPG (my first playthrough took around 10 hrs).
-It is not an open world, if that is what you are looking for—it is linear with different automatic save points as you progress through the story (you cannot choose where and when to save, although each save point has its own save to access if you want to try something different or screw up, which sadly sometimes requires having to click through a bunch of dialogue again).
-The game has a lot of reading involved (you rarely hear a person speak, but it seemed to be more speaking than the first game). In fact, this plays out similar to an interactive novel, with the exception that it also has a lot of turn-based fights in-between the reading that provide excellent strategic gameplay.

With that said, many PROS to the game include:

-The Banner Saga 2 gives you the option to continue your saves from the first game!!
-The story. I love it largely because it feels unique and is well-done.
-The dialogue and choices are often entertaining and feel realistic for the setting (the little bit of voice acting in the game is excellent).
-The art, score, and general atmosphere of the games are beautiful.
-The game-play/turn-based fights are addictive, and the fights even get a little challenging on the normal setting (I cursed at my monitor a lot on hard mode for the first Banner Saga game and a few times for the other two [just takes a little practice and then hard mode isn't actually too bad when you get a team you like and are used to], but I also like the challenge).

Similar to the first Banner Saga, The Banner Saga 2 is worth multiple plays not only for achievements, but to also try out different choices as they can have a fairly large impact on the story (if you want to see all of the possible consequences of your choices, there is a guide for each of the games in the steam community.) While I suggest people playthrough the first Banner Saga before the second (considering they are episodic), The Banner Saga 2 does a fairly good job briefly including descriptions of events from the first game for people who start with the second.

I bought this game almost at full price (10% off shortly before it was released) and it was worth it. I will buy the third game when/if it comes out, and I look forward to the day that I finally know the end to the story, damn it! --I did and am thrilled to finally have the story ending with The Banner Saga 3! :D

"To the Moon" is more of an interactive short story than a game, but it is a surprisingly good story, an easy achievement, and does have some gameplay (there in no fighting, but there IS roadkill).

The achievement is essentially for completing the game. It took me about 4 hours to casually go through the story, so it is an easy 100% completion game.

8/10 - story (a little slow to get into but overall worth it--some decent humor that helps break up all of the drama)
7/10 - gameplay (clever, but minimal and repetative - buy this for story, not gameplay which includes finding items, npcs, and a few easy puzzles to solve in a small area)

While I doubt I will play this again, it was well worth a couple bucks and one playthrough for the unique experience. :]