Banner Saga 3 has some new DLC available called Eternal Arena on Steam and GOG.

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Greetings, Bannerfolk!
We have great news to warm your hearts this December - Eternal Arena is here! The team has worked long hours on this piece of Banner Saga 3, available today as DLC on Steam and GoG.com.
Eternal Arena is a new game mode which pits your best combat tactics against quick-play challenges! Sandbox-style battle options, different gameplay rules, alternate turn order mechanics, timed tournaments, leaderboards and more!

Our community has been asking about this for years. The time is NOW!

• Eternal Challenge: Come back every week to compete in a tournament with a global leaderboard.
• Arena Mode: Design your own battles, choose the enemies, and change the rules in this spellbinding sandbox mode.
• Play with all 46 characters, plus all enemies, and battleboards from the entire Banner Saga Trilogy and refine your party tactics.
• 39 new achievements (including 3 hidden ones)!
• 3 new leaderboards.

Thanks Couchpotato!

God is a Geek interviewed Stoic about The Banner Saga 3.

...

Who are your favourite characters within TBS?

Personally, my favorite was Mogr. He’s probably the character I imagine closest to my own personality; not the protagonist but the reliable right-hand-man that gets things done, even if that hasn’t always been me in real life. Even still, I made a real effort not to make him a Mary Sue because it’s such a corny thing to do but in a way there’s a little bit of yourself in anyone you write. Writing such a large cast is a strange task, because you have to get their personalities from somewhere and work to make sure they don’t all have the same voice, sometimes it feels like you spend all day pretending to debate with yourself. That said, it was always a lot of fun and a nice reprieve for the darker themes to write the lighter characters like Tryggvi, Sparr and Dytch.

What will you miss most about working on TBS series?

Honestly, just thinking about the world and the world-building is what made it feel like a place that could have existed. I remember writing the history of the gods all the way back before Saga 1 released and being really happy with it, thinking about how some people might learn this fiction and legitimize it. In some ways, reality is what we all collectively believe. It almost felt like bringing something into existence. The good news is that we have plans to keep expanding the world in the Banner Saga through various means, and absolutely intend to continue doing this type of world-building on our next project.

Thanks Farflame!

TechQuila reviewed The Banner Saga 3.

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Conclusion

The Banner Saga started off as a heart-warming story but towards the end started getting really dark by killing off characters and incorporating more mature themes. The Banner Saga 3 is the culmination of that Viking inspired story where the fate of the world and your characters depends on your choices alone.

Thanks trespasser!

Gamingbolt interviewed the developers of The Banner Saga 3.

What are some of the main changes we will be seeing to characters and the setting as the Darkness takes over in this final chapter?

ALEX: From the outset in the first game we always had the intention of working real change into the gameplay. In particular, the Darkness really does change the world, and we intentionally let the player see the effects of this on some places they’re already familiar with. From the standpoint of characters, we always look at them as experiencing character growth, whether it’s bad or good. Characters should evolve their outlook on things based on what’s happening in the story. We had an absolute ton of characters in this game, and we tried to give them each a moment, or an arch that implied their change. Hopefully we pulled it off!

Where does the game’s story begin? To what extent will it be determined by players’ actions from the previous games?

ALEX: The end of Banner Saga 2 had a lot of different threads for us to pick up. We worked hard to let the player resolve everything without just glossing over anything, so Saga 3 will pick up right where Saga 2 left off and take into account the choices you made. That said, some of the things you expected to be true might have surprising resolutions.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Here are some more reviews for the Banner Saga 3:

RPG Site - Score: 9/10

MMORPG - Score 95/100

Trusted Reviews - Score 4.5/5

Here are the first reviews for the Banner Saga 3:

US Gamer - Score: 3/5

PC World - Score: 4.5/5

Metro - Score: 7/10

Twinfinite - Score: 4.5/5

Gamespot - Score: 8/10

Macworld - Score: 4.5/5

Gamingbolt:

The Banner Saga 3 has been released on Steam and GOG to positive reviews.

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About This Game

THE GAME

Banner Saga 3 is the epic conclusion to a sweeping viking saga six years in the making. This strategic RPG, acclaimed for its strong story and compelling characters has has won over 20 awards and been nominated for 4 BAFTA awards.

As the world crumbles around you, how will you survive when the Darkness draws near, and who will you trust with the fate of the world?

FEATURES

• A cast of powerful characters - In the final chapter of the Banner Saga, guide more than 40 heroes to survive against the toughest odds yet, many old and familiar faces, and some new allies you’ve never met before, including powerful menders and, for the first time, playable dredge. Just remember that nobody is safe.
  
• Decisions matter - Determine the fate of your travel-weary allies with a multitude of outcomes truly tailored to the decisions you make- not just here, but carried over from previous games in the trilogy as well. Nothing is unimportant. Nothing is forgotten.
  
• Finely-tuned tactical combat - in a series known for innovative combat, this chapter delivers more unique and custom battles than ever before, from disturbing new warped enemies and multi-wave combat to unique and powerful heroic titles for allies that can turn the tide of battle.
  
• A timeless art style - the gorgeous landscapes and animation of the Banner Saga are at their best in Banner Saga 3. Explore unimaginable vistas warped in strange and beautiful ways by the Darkness, and more fully-animated story moments than both the previous games combined.
  
• An epic soundtrack - composed by Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory, this final full-length score, recorded by a live orchestra, concludes the trilogy on a high note.
  
• Play it again - experience the trilogy as it was meant to played. Import your saves from one game to the next and discover a wealth of new an unexpected outcomes from decisions both large and small.

THE END HAS COME

As the Darkness covers the land, the end has truly come. Now it is up to you and the survivors who have travelled so far from home. The Banner Saga 3 brings closure as all is finally revealed in the definitive conclusion to the award-winning Banner Saga trilogy.

Rally your allies, steel your resolve and push into the wind!

Arnie Jorgensen and Zeb West from Stoic Studio discuss the ending of the Banner Saga trilogy:

End of a Saga: What Stoic learnt from the Mass Effect finale

Studio co-founder and ex-BioWare dev Arnie Jorgensen joins producer Zeb West to discuss ending the Banner Saga trilogy

Trilogies in the games industry are often just a series of loosely connected stories rather than a single cohesive narrative, typically an excuse to go on one adventure after another until there are no adventures left and the whole thing can be rebooted.

In essence, the games industry rarely takes advantage of the trilogy format in a traditional sense: to tell one epic story.

Of course, a trilogy is nothing without a conclusion which often leads developers and publishers alike to keep pushing. Every great saga is judged ultimately by how it ends, and there's likely not a person working in the industry today who doesn't remember the carnage which ensued following the conclusion of Mass Effect 3.

With the narrative-focused Banner Saga series set to conclude next week following the launch of its third installment, indie developer Stoic is in the precarious situation of having to actually deliver a satisfying conclusion to a project six years in the making; a prospect so terrifying that most developers either stumble at the last hurdle, or keep running until there are no games left to make, and the series simply collapses under its own weight.

It's a reality which has not failed to dawn on the team, the founders of which were working at BioWare's Austin studio during the Mass Effect 3 debacle.

"Being on the inside of the studio, even though we weren't directly working on the game, we were even more cognisant of what was going on and where maybe there were some missteps, and we really took that to heart in our own game," Stoic co-founder Arnie Jorgensen tells GamesIndustry.biz.

"Here's the point: if people play our game and they say: 'Finally someone nailed it. They finished an epic and I feel like it was a satisfying ending for my playthrough. My personal playthrough'... it really feels satisfying for the player. We focused on that with the Banner Saga 3, really trying to make sure people feel that way and we hope we did it."

[...]

A new video for The Banner Saga 3.

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A creature of such monstrous size, it cannot be far from a god in it's own right... the serpent has emerged from the earth and struggled to accomplish its goal of destroying Juno, the spell weaver who knows more about it than she admits. Is the Serpent a world-eater? Or a harbinger of the end of times?

Your saga continues July 26, 2018.

The previews for The Banner Saga 3 have started to emerge.

Gamespew

It’s hard to play The Banner Saga and not draw parallels to Game of Thrones. They’re both gripping tales of bravery, politics and conflict. Unlike Game of Thrones, however, in The Banner Saga it’s you calling the shots. You’re the one making the hard decisions and living with them. But as we move into the final throes of both sagas we’re left with trepidation. There will be shocks, there will be surprises, and there will be deaths. But there’ll also be closure; good or bad. And you know what? I’m looking forward to it.

The Banner Saga 3 will launch on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC on 26th July.

Cogconnected

Oozing with Visual Elegance 

That gorgeous style does a lot to draw you in. I just wish there was more of it. I eagerly wait for the beautiful cutscenes in this game. I can’t think of another RPG where I enjoyed watching as much as playing. But those cutscenes are few and far an in between, and regretfully short.

Go catch up on The Banner Saga if you haven’t already. It’s one of the best and most original fantasy stories in gaming. It achieves a sense of melancholy and grandeur I’ve only been able to find in fantasy literature. The third entry in the trilogy is sure to satisfy fans. It continues everything that’s taken you this far while ever so slightly cranking it up. The tension, the tough decisions, the desperate gambits, all of them hit you in full force in part three.

Techraptor

The Banner Saga 3 has shot up to be one of my most anticipated titles. The excellently crafted epic fantasy is currently in its crescendo, and I can’t wait to see it at its peak. I can’t say whether the story will end in a satisfying way, but the journey so far has been a joy to soak in. Combat has some good additions, and the density of meaningful decisions I’ve made in such a short time is much higher than at any point in the first two games. Everything’s on track for this to be an incredible end to an amazing series.

The Banner Saga 3 was previewed on PC with a code provided from the developer. It will be released on July 26th on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. It will be coming to mobile at a later date

Thanks Farflame!

The Banner Saga 3 has a new video about Juno the Mender.

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What are menders Juno and Eyvind up to and what part will they play as the end of the saga draws near? They have proven to be powerful allies thus far, but even Juno’s own order sentenced her to death for a reason.

Does she really have your best interests at heart?

Or is she driven by a darker underlying motive? So many questions remain unanswered.

Rock Paper Shotgun watched a Banner Saga 3 demo at the GDC:

The Banner Saga 3 will be a final foray into darkness

[...]

“One of the things we’re concentrating on in Banner Saga 3 is that we need to stick the ending of this,” says Jorgensen, who’s taking me through a demo of the battles. “If we don’t stick the ending – and it doesn’t matter what you’ve chosen along the way – you chose A, I chose B – if we don’t stick the ending then we’ve really failed in the whole thing. It’d feel like a disservice to the community, the story, everything.

“We’ve really taken our time to make sure the endings are as satisfying as possible… It’s a very wide range of endings you can have in this game and they come back to decisions you’ve made in Banner Saga 1 and Banner Saga 2 which you thought could have been small decisions.”

[...]

Thanks henriquejr!

The Banner Saga 3 will be released July 24th according to the latest update.

Greetings, Backers!

We've got exciting news to share with you today - we have an official launch date!

July 24th 2018

We know many of you were excited that we were able to beat our original estimate of December (that never happens!) and we're excited to bring you the trilogy's conclusion this Summer. We're so grateful for all your support - this has been a six year journey from the seed of an idea, to the conclusion of an epic three-game saga. Thank you for all your support, and please mark your calendars!

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PCGamesN interviewed Arnie Jorgensen, co-founder of Stoic:

The Banner Saga 3's new time-bomb combat is delightfully apocalyptic

Plenty of the ingredients that make The Banner Saga the harrowing dish it is stay constant across the travels you go on with its caravan: the harshness of the world, the moral dilemmas, and don’t forget the perpetual misery. But between the first and second games, developers Stoic put together a number of combat improvements that made the sequel feel that bit more refined. The same can be said about The Banner Saga 3, which features a novel mechanic that ties directly into its doom-laden story. Prepare to fend off The Darkness in more ways than one.
[...]

“Everything you are going to be fighting is going to be nasty and weird,” Arnie Jorgensen, co-founder of Stoic, says. These enemies are based on foes you have fought before, but their purple, ragged skin indicates that The Darkness has turned them into something much more fierce. “They have new passive abilities since they've been warped,” he adds. “They have heightened statistics.”

A fight in Darkness-covered lands is characterised by more than fearsome foes, though. “It's a race against time because The Darkness is encroaching,” Jorgensen explains. “In combat there is actually now a turn counter, where literally in each fight you are racing against the clock as well. If the turn counter reaches zero, another wave attacks you.”

[...]

Banner Saga 3 has a new video on the Dredge.

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As we approach the release of Banner Saga 3, the final installment in the award-winning RPG trilogy, our attention turns to the race all have feared since the dawn of creation - the Dredge! But are they the real threat, or is there more to this mysterious race than meets the eye? Banner Saga 3 - COMING SUMMER 2018

Learn more about Fasolt, The Loyalist - a character of Banner Saga 3:

Banner Saga 3: Fasolt, The Loyalist

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The final installment of the award-winning RPG, The Banner Saga, will be launching this year! We kick off the road to launch with a series of vignette trailers highlighting influential characters in this epic Viking saga. Varl loyalist, Fasolt is the first warrior we review. What are his true motives and will he turn his back on civilization in their greatest time of need in revenge for wrongs past?

Thanks henriquejr!

Versus Evil revealed the first artwork for Banner Saga 3:

Banner Saga 3 Art Reveal

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Thanks Farflame!

GodIsAGeek checked out Banner Saga 3:

The Banner Saga 3 will be the darkest, most intense game of the trilogy

Misery is coming

 

Summer is rolling in. It’s tops off and beers out, as the fiery ball of death in the sky slowly cooks us all. It’s beer gardens, park picnics, loud music, and bright, beautiful colours.

What better time to take a look at the forthcoming slice of misery that is The Banner Saga 3?

Because things get dark in The Banner Saga 3. Really dark.

“It will definitely be the darkest, most intense, and have the highest stakes,” says Stoic’s co-founder and Technical Director John Watson. “The destruction of the entire world is at hand. Your heroes and refugees are fighting to survive for a few more days, while Juno, Iver, and Eyvind rush into the darkness in a race against time to save the world. The tone is dark, and the consequences final.”

Blimey.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Game Watcher has interviewed Stoic's Co-Founder and Technical Director John Watson:

The Banner Saga 3: An Interview With Stoic's John Watson

The journey through the epic that has been The Banner Saga is like few other tactical RPGs out there. This Nordic-inspired adventure has mixed elaborate storytelling and gorgeous art and music with a compelling combat system that challenges players to think on their toes as the characters evolve through the story. At times it feels like taking The Oregon Trail towards Ragnarok. Other times it feels like Iron Age X-COM, but always it has pushed us to care about the people involved in the journey and the decisions and sacrifices we’ve chosen for them to make along the way.

Now the final leg of the trilogy looms. The Banner Saga 3 crushed a KickStarter goal and is well on its way to development. It promises to bring our time with characters like Alette, Rook, Juno, Eyvind, Iver and more to defining close. With that in mind, we reached out to the developer Stoic to talk about what we can look forward to in this final harrowing adventure for the heroes. Stoic Co-Founder and Technical Director John Watson was kind enough to heed our call and talk about Banner Saga 3’s story, new features, and the future of the franchise.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

With 4 hours to go the Banner Saga 3 Kickstarter campaign has reached the $400k Stretch Goal 'Eternal Arena':

FINAL PUSH - Last Day!

We are in the FINAL HOURS of our Kickstarter for Banner Saga 3! It's the last day to update your pledge and get that cool Saga Swag you’ve always wanted!

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Sound Director Michael Theiler explains how he created the audio experience of the Banner Saga series:

The Audio Experience of Banner Saga

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Kpow Audio

Hello I’m Michael Theiler, Sound Director at Kpow Audio. Since Kpow began working with Stoic on the Banner Saga series so many years ago, we have grown as a company both figuratively and literally. Through Stoic’s vision paired with the amazing talents of Austin Wintory, we were fortunate enough to contribute to this multi-award winning series. Our growth is in many ways directly due to their trust in us bringing the world of Banner Saga to life. It allowed us to dive into this rich, deep, and fully-formed world populated with interesting characters. The team at Stoic created this world and gave us the freedom to give it an audio identity, and this freedom has been one of the greatest gifts - one we have been determined not to squander!

[...]

The Banner Saga 3 will have more variety in its combat according to the latest kickstarter update.

Hi, everyone! I'm Matt Rhoades, Lead Designer at Stoic. I'm excited to share some of the new combat designs we have in store for you in Banner Saga 3. Hopefully this will answer some questions as well as serve to start more discussions in the community about what's to come.

Our unique Strength-versus-Armor dynamic has always been the hallmark of the Banner Saga trilogy, but Banner Saga 3 will utilize new combat-focused features that we haven't been able to implement until now.

Battlefield Variety

In Banner Saga 2 we had destructible props, such as barricades, but in Banner Saga 3 we want to create more dynamic battle boards that can change and evolve over the course of a fight. Picture a flaming urn that, when struck, tips over and ignites a line of oil on the ground, creating a wall of fire with which your enemies (or your heroes) have to contend!

Enemy Minds (Updated AI)

We're improving enemy Artificial Intelligence to make enemies feel smarter and more dangerous! We're enhancing ‘pathfinding' to let the enemy be attracted to or repelled from certain areas. This will let us tether enemies to make them better at defending objectives and also better at avoiding dangerous areas of the battle board (like fire pits). As a side effect, we will also be able to create battles that incorporate more hazardous terrain, which will make movement a more tactical choice for players.

We'll set AI target priority in a more granular way, which will allow us to do more interesting attack/defend scenarios, and tell stories through our battles with a higher fidelity. This will lead to more organic behaviors and new strategic opportunities for players who want to build a plan around anticipating enemy's actions.

Fighting in the Darkness

There's a growing Darkness overtaking the world, and we've been crafting new mechanics that differentiate these battles from what you've seen before. I'm not going to say TOO much, but I will tell you that you can expect a replacement for the war horn and a press-your-luck element. This should have even our most experienced players torn while trying to decide what to do.

Lastly, I want to mention our "Alpha Access to Game Battles." This will be your chance to try some of these new mechanics, including new bosses, in story - free battles that will help us gauge difficulty, fine tune some of our numbers, and, of course, make sure things are FUN! We're looking forward to sharing these battles with you and we can't wait to get your feedback on the backer forums.

@PCGamer The Banner Saga 3 could be using voiceovers according to a reddit AMA. The Banner Saga 3 is currently on kickstarter.

During a Reddit AMA, Stoic admitted to having some "exciting news" regarding voiceovers-a feature which hasn't appeared in the series thus far-in line with the current Kickstarter.

"We hope to have exciting news about this goal. It is an expensive thing to get in the game for a small studio like ours, but it's something we'd love to offer the community," says the developer. "Can't say much more about it, but if you want to see this someday, please support the Kickstarter that we're currently running."

Reddit users were quick to suggest voicing their own interpretations of The Banner Saga's whimsical cast is central to their enjoyment, and that introducing professional voiceovers could risk belittling its charm.

"We have a lot of debate internally about that," adds Stoic. "Some folks definitely like that feeling you get from a novel that the voices are acted in your imagination. If it comes to pass, I'm excited to do some experimentation to figure out how to get it right. I love the voices we've worked with thus far, and want to maintain that level of Nordic grit."

Stoic announced two new stretch goals for Banner Saga 3:

Two More Stretch Goals Revealed!

By Lauga’s lips!  We’re already more than halfway to our first stretch goal, which means Playable Dredge are nearly upon us!  So many of you asked us what stretch goals are NEXT, we decided to reveal two more!

We’re excited to announce the next two stretch goals:

• $350k - The return of a character many thought lost - Ubin!

• $300k - Survival Mode for Banner Saga 3!

The Banner Saga 3 has funded and has announced its first stretch goal of playable dredge in the latest update.

DUNDR'S BEARD! Thanks to you, we reached our funding goal for the development of Banner Saga 3 in less than a week! This game really is the type of project that simply could not get made without the backing of the best community a small team could ever ask for. Your support, and your help spreading the word, have put us well on our way to finishing this epic Saga.

This is just the beginning, though! This is when the fun starts and from here on out it's cherries on top for everyone! We have lots of great stuff planned that we simply didn't think we'd get a chance to put in the game. Let's do it together, shall we?

You've been calling out for this a long time, and it hasn't fallen on deaf ears; We are pleased to announce our very first Stretch Goal: Playable dredge!

Stoic are kickstarting for The Banner Saga 3. The goal is 200K with 42 days to go.

Bannerfolk!

It's finally here - the big announcement we've hinted at and are now so excited to share!

We're kicking off development of the third (and final) chapter of our epic saga, and we want to bring YOU along for the journey! We're calling all Bannerfolk to help us make the best game possible, and follow the game's development. The project is now live and we've got hoards of loot, including the chance to immortalize yourself as a character in the game!

We'd sure appreciate it if you could help us spread the word - share the link on social media - retweet it, Facebook share it and paint it across the sail of your viking longship!

Also! To celebrate, we've refreshed the Banner Saga website which now gives you all a place to learn more about all things Banner Saga - check it out at bannersaga.com and let us know what you think!