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What are the best turn-based tactics games for the Nintendo Switch?

9

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Considered

40

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Recs.

Oct 16, 2021

Last
Updated

9 Games Considered

Best turn-based tactics games for the Nintendo Switch	Price	Genre	Platforms
-- Disgaea 5 Complete	$59.99	Tactical Role-Playing	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
-- Mercenaries Saga Chronicles	$14.99	Tactical Role-Playing	-
-- Darkest Dungeon	$24.99	Role-Playing	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Windows, Mac, iOS
-- Valkyria Chronicles 4	$59.99	Tactical Role-Playing	PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Windows
-- Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle	$59.99	Tactical Role-Playing	-

Disgaea 5 Complete

Top Pro

Fun tactical gameplay

In Disgaea 5 it's all about having your character cooperate. They can perform combos together, multiplying the damage done and showing a cool animation. They can pick each other up, allowing you to throw them into a better position to perform a devastating attack. They can also pick up enemies to throw them among your squad, allowing for a multipronged beat down. Your monsters can be combined into a giant monster or turned into weapons a humanoid character can equip. All of these and many other things give the gameplay enough variety to keep it interesting for a long time. See More

Top Con

Can get really repetitive

Disgaea 5 is all about leveling your characters and items. This means repeating the same stage, defeating the same enemies, or running the item world hundreds of times. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing

Top Pro

Making your characters strong is addicting

The first time you 1-hit-kill an enemy, you'll realize how good it feels to overpower an enemy. So when you encounter stronger enemies, you'll want to keep this feeling up, turning it into an obsession. This will repeat all the way to the strongest boss in the game – Overlord Baal. Being able to defeat him in a single turn feels like a lifelong accomplishment since you've reached the pinnacle of strength in Disgaea 5. See More

Top Pro

Tons of content

There are multiple endings, secret superbosses, hidden items, unlockable classes, and even a map editor for creating new content. All of this keeps it interesting for a long time, allowing you to easily spend hundreds of hours playing Disgaea 5. See More

Mercenaries Saga Chronicles

Top Pro

Easy to jump into thanks to simple and easy to understand mechanics

The mechanics are easy to grasp within the first few minutes of gameplay. There's nothing convoluted or over complicated, and the game doesn't attempt to be anything it's not. Skills and abilities do what they say they do without a lot of fluff. For example "Throw Stone" does exactly that. Each ability also tells you exactly how much damage it's going to do before you use it. Combat takes place on a grid based system, taking turns with the enemy as you move your units around, attack, cast spells, and heal. The distance in which you can move or attack is marked with highlighted tiles so you'll never have to guess how far each unit can move or what the range of their attacks are. It's all spelled out for you in visual format. As in most typical RPGs, between battles, you can buy weapons, armor, and items with the gold you earned, as well as level up your characters with your experience points in a clean and simple UI. See More

Top Con

Each game in the series is the exact same gameplay with a different story tacked on

The only difference between each game is the characters, dialogue, and the story. The battle mechanics, menu style, skills, and gameplay of each game in Chronicles is the exact same. It may start to feel repetitive if you plan on playing the 3 games back to back. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing

Top Pro

Getting 3 games for the price of 1 is a great value

Chronicles is 3 different games released as one title. All three games are accessible from the main menu which includes Mercenaries Saga: Will Of The White Lions, Mercenaries Saga 2: Order Of The Silver Eagle, and Mercenaries Saga 3: Gray Wolves Of War. See More

Top Con

The stories are extremely generic and can be skipped without missing much

Each game in Chronicles features a different kingdom under attack, with the characters all wondering how they are going to bring peace to the land by defeating the big evil bad guys. The writing doesn't do much to leave this familiar fantasy territory that we've all seen a thousand times before, making all of it generic and able to be skipped. See More

Top Pro

A chance to play Mercenary Saga 1 in English for the first time

Prior to Chronicles, the first game in the series was only available in Japanese. It's been fully translated into English for this special release, making it accessible to a wider range of players. See More

Top Con

The color of gear quality in the weapon shop is confusing

When you go to upgrade weapons or armor in the shop, red colored gear is an upgrade and blue colored gear is a downgrade. This is the exact opposite of most similar games, which can be confusing at times and cause you to make costly mistakes when purchasing gear if you're not paying close attention to the stats. See More

Top Pro

Good port

A lot of care went into porting the games from mobile and Nintendo 3DS. The graphics for all three games were redesigned and well optimized for the Switch. Additionally, some of the newer gameplay features from Saga 3 such as aggro and minion summoning skills were retroactively implemented into the earlier titles, meaning even if you've played them before, you can play them again with these new features added. See More

Top Con

You'll be stuck with the same perspective of each battle for the entire game

Each map battle is displayed with a 3/4th overhead view, but the camera is unable to be rotated around for various views of the board. You're out of luck if you want to view the action from a different angle. See More

Top Pro

Starting battles with zero mana leads to more rewarding and satisfying spell casting

Unlike most tactical rpg games, Chronicles opts to start each character with zero mana at the beginning of each battle. This means you'll need to play strategically with your wizards by positioning them properly so your other characters can defend them while their mana charges. If you want to wind up that big fireball, you'll have to work towards it instead of just unleashing it right off the bat. When you finally do get that big spell off, it's much more rewarding to watch the enemy fall knowing that you set it up through skill rather than brute force openers. See More

Top Con

Difficulty spikes between battles means you'll be grinding a lot

The difficulty spikes from battle to battle are sometimes way too steep. You'll often have to grind side battles called "Free Battles" to level up your characters before you can progress the main campaign. These battles happen on the same maps you've already done, so it tends to get very boring and repetitive after a while. See More

Top Pro

Thieves are especially fun to play due to some of their non-combat abilities

Thieves add a really fun element to play that isn't battle focused, and allows for some interesting choices where you have to choose whether or not going for the treasure chest on the edge of the map is worth more than using your thief to attack enemies. Not only can thieves unlock and disarm traps on treasure chests, they can also steal items off enemies. That means even if you go into battle low on items, strategically using your thief to pickpocket and plunder may still give you the upper hand by acquiring more during the battle itself. See More

Top Pro

Lots of different ways to build each character

All the characters in the game initially start as one of the basic fantasy classes (fighter, thief, or caster) with a limited skill set. As you level up, you get to choose specializations at certain milestones. At level 10 you get to choose an intermediate class, followed by choosing an advanced class at level 20. Each of these class specializations have their own unique set of skills to use on the battlefield. For example, you may start as a fighter. At level 10, you have the choice to become a mercenary or a knight. Once you hit level 20, your mercenary can now evolve into a sword master or battle master; if you chose the knight tree, you can now evolve into a paladin or general. As you progress, you keep all your skills from any classes previously chosen in the tree resulting in characters that genuinely feel more powerful and dynamic as they grow. This end result is an exciting class system loaded with fun class advancement choices that can be used to create a bunch of different and unique combinations for each and every character on your roster. See More

Darkest Dungeon

Top Pro

Interesting adventurer management

While the fabled heroes are off slaying dragons, battling demon kings, and saving princesses, the small-time adventurers have to clean up the dregs. You as the lord of a small settlement will employ these adventurers to clear out the mysterious dungeons surrounding your property. To clear a dungeon you’ll need to prepare adequately. This involves having decent party setup, which usually consists of at least 1 tank, 1 healer, and 2 damage dealers. This also includes having enough provisions such as torches and food. Planning out what and/or who to take with you can sometimes take as long as running a dungeon but it really makes you feel like you’re organizing an adventure. Another interesting part is the stress mechanic, causing your adventurers to accrue stress as they keep adventuring. If stress passes the first threshold, your adventurer might incur various penalties or even refuse your orders. If stress passes the second threshold your adventurer will die from a heart attack, so it’s important to relieve it regularly. This can be done by sending them to the tavern to blow off some steam or to the abbey to request absolution. Either option will make them unavailable for a week, so it’s a good idea plan ahead and have multiple parties of adventurers ready. This mechanic makes it feel like you’re managing real people rather than the indomitable figures often seen in fairy tales. See More

Top Con

Gets really repetitive

You'll spend dozens of hours repeatedly running the same dungeon, killing the same enemies, and collecting the same loot just to progress further into the game. On top of that, if you lose a character at any point, you'll be set back by another 3 hours. If you don't enjoy grinding, Darkest Dungeon might not be the game for you. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Pro

Great monster visual design

There's a wide variety of extremely well-designed monsters and characters in the game. You confront bandits, skeletons, undersea terrors, pig monsters, and all sorts of otherworldly horrors. There's a lot of gruesome detail on each and every enemy, so the longer you'll keep looking the more you'll notice. This can be bloodstains, an extra set of eyes, an appendage that looks like a tentacle, and many more. It sometimes really feels like you're losing your mind alongside the adventurers, seeing whatever fits into your schema. See More

Top Con

It can be frustrating at times

Darkest Dungeon heavily relies on random events that can happen at any point in a dungeon. Some of them don't make any sense and most of them don't feel fair. For example, right after stepping inside a dungeon your characters might suddenly go hungry. If you don't feed them they'll get a penalty, setting you back for the rest of the dungeon. If you feed them you'll have used up your food but your characters might still go hungry again. You can't reliably plan around stuff like this, which can be annoying. See More

Top Pro

Outstanding narration

Even though the only character that talks in this game is the narrator, his delivery of the lines is excellent. He talks in a deep and raspy voice that is also very pleasing to listen to. The narrator usually describes the events happening on-screen such as upgrading your settlement buildings, recruiting adventurers, various dungeon interactions, and many more. Additionally, he’ll start dropping story bits every time you near a boss, creating a very minimalist approach to storytelling that is also very enjoyable. See More

Top Pro

Immersive atmosphere

Darkest Dungeon has an almost intoxicating atmosphere created by three main aspects. Firstly, it’s the visuals: the somber color palette that accompanies a sunset, the creepy environments your party of four will anxiously proceed through, and the detailed, fearsome, and sometimes disgusting enemies that will tirelessly try to slaughter you. Secondly, the audio: an eerie soundtrack filled with murmurs of otherworldly creatures, teemed with bloodcurdling sound effects that render monster strikes more impactful. Even a charismatic narrator providing insightful interjections, as uttered by his mysterious, deep voice. Lastly, it’s the highly unpredictable and sometimes unfair gameplay. Whatever short triumph you may have, it will get drowned in a sea of despair. These elements combined make it very easy to immerse yourself into the world of Darkest Dungeon. See More

Valkyria Chronicles 4

Top Pro

Tense and challenging tactical war battles

In this alternate version of World War II, you and your squad fight to defeat an empire with gameplay that really makes you feel like you're out on a battlefield. As the commander and tactician, you take turns controlling your different squadmates around the field, expending Action Points as they run to where you want them to go. Managing your AP while sending your squadmates to the most strategic location can be a challenge, but it pays off to outsmart your enemies. There may be times when you feel overwhelmed, but you have options at your disposal. Using the terrain to your advantage to send grenadiers to lob explosives over buildings for cover fire, while expending the rest of your AP to get your other squadmates to safety is one tactic that you can pull off. Figuring out the best approach to tackle any given situation helps you tackle anything that the game throws at you. See More

Top Con

Battles can take a long time to finish

Valkyria Chronicles 4 isn't the type of game you can pick up and put back down. Battles are quite long and involved, usually taking about an hour to finish. On top of that, there are no checkpoints during battle, so if you lose, you have to start all over again. If you don't have that kind of time or patience, then this may not be the game for you. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing

Top Pro

Side stories help you grow attached to your squadmates

Valkyria Chronicles 4 really gets you to care about your team. There are special side stories for each individual member, showing you more about their past and who they are as actual characters. It's a nice addition that lets you empathize with their personal struggles and appreciate how serious, funny, or down-to-earth any one of your squadmates are. This is especially important since, if anyone dies during combat and you're unable to get a medic to them in time, they will permanently die. These side stories are a good motivator to make you want to keep everyone alive because you're attached to the characters, and not necessarily just because of how useful they might be in battle. See More

Top Con

Anime tropes distract from the story

The story does a wonderful job of showing the gritty reality of how war changes people, but there's a serious issue with the way the narrative gets interrupted by anime tropes. Too often, grave moments during cutscenes get sidetracked by anime-like slapstick humor that ends up ruining the moment. These scenes would have been fine if they happened at more tactful times, but sadly, this just isn't the case. So if you don't have much tolerance for these types of tropes, you may not like the story all that much. See More

Top Pro

Great starting point for Valkyria Chronicles newcomers

Despite this being the fourth entry in the mainline Valkryia Chronicles games, this is actually a good starting point for anyone new to the series. The tutorials are simple to understand, the gameplay is easy to grasp after a couple of battles, and the story doesn't expect you to have any prior knowledge of the other games. You can jump right in with this one and not feel like you're missing out on anything. See More

Top Pro

Charming watercolor art style

Valkyria Chronicles 4's graphics are straight out of a storybook. The visuals look a lot like watercolor illustrations, giving them a unique charm that you don't see a lot of from other games. Green pastures in particular look beautiful in how vibrant and full of life they are. And the anime-style character models all look excellent, fitting right in with the environments as a cohesive look. See More

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Top Pro

Fantastic soundtrack

The the upbeat orchestral soundtrack in Mario + Rabbids fits really well with the cartoony madness found in this world. Whether it's the powerful booming of the brass instruments, gentle wafting of the pipe instruments, or intricate sounds made by string instruments, the soundtrack can make your journey feel all the more joyful or magical. See More

Top Con

Fixed camera can feel restrictive at times

You play M+RKB at a semi-fixed camera angle, which prevents you from moving the camera vertically. Because of this, you can't freely look around a level to enjoy the scenery. While this makes it easier to keep the framerate stable by limiting what the game has to render, it can feel annoying that most of the great views you can see are at a downward angle from a high cliff. This can also make exploration slightly more difficult in some cases, when you can't really tell where you're going because of foliage and other environmental objects. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing

Top Pro

Exciting turn-based combat

Despite having cover mechanics, the turn-based combat in M+RKB almost never feels slow or boring. This is partly because the cover is easy to destroy, so you can't hunker down in a single spot for too long, forcing you to move every time cover gets destroyed. It's also thanks to the great mobility of characters, allowing them to cover great distances and attack all in the same turn. For example, your character can slide into an enemy to damage it, move to cover, and attack again from afar. Or you can launch your character across the battlefield with the help of another character, take position in cover behind enemies, and freely attack them as their cover has no effect. There's still a lot of strategy and careful planning involved, but very little time is wasted before action begins. As a result, not only does the combat have a nice flow to it, but it's exciting from start to finish. See More

Top Pro

Enjoyable wacky tone

While Mario games are usually light-hearted with some serious undertones, the inclusion of Rabbids, Ubisoft's rabbit-like mascot creatures, pushes this game into the wacky spectrum. This is mostly because the Rabbids are very goofy, overreact to the events around them, and even strike ridiculous poses at times. There are even Rabbid versions of well-known Mario characters such as Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Luigi, and even Rabbid Yoshi, creating very silly moments and amusing encounters throughout your journey. As a result, M+RKB is a wacky adventure that players of all ages can enjoy. See More

The Banner Saga 2

Top Pro

Great hand drawn graphics

Banner Saga 2 environments, characters, and animations are all hand-drawn. This includes your caravan as it marches over a snowy hill, passing trees and houses in the distance. The various viking-esque soldiers, centaurs and other mythological creatures, swinging axes and thrusting spears on a worn out bridge. Even the very detailed character sprites as they discuss matters with extremely serious expressions. Everything just feels like you’re watching an animated movie, which is something almost never encountered in a game. See More

Top Con

Incomplete story

To get a full and satisfying story, you’ll have to play the entire Banner Saga trilogy. Banner Saga 2 on its own feels like you’ve suddenly started reading a book from the middle. There are a lot of characters you know very little about, making it hard to understand their motivations. The on-going events are not explained fully. Even the ending is not a satisfying conclusion but just a setup for the next arc. See More

Specs

Genre:Turn-based RPG

Top Pro

Solid tactical combat

Even though Banner Saga 2’s turn-based combat system is fairly straightforward. You and your opponent take turns in moving and attacking with units on a tactical grid. Each unit has its strengths, weaknesses, and set of unique abilities that you need to consider. For example, archers can attack from far away but they have low armor, so you can’t leave them out in the open. Another example are the Varl, very durable and strong melee units that occupy 4 tiles as opposed to 1. This makes it trickier to position them since more enemies can stand next to them and attack them. This creates combat that is not too simple but still has enough variety and strategy involved to feel rewarding. See More

Top Con

HP damage based attacks cause one-dimensional tactics

A unit's current number of hit points equals the damage it will deal to an enemy. Because of this, the best strategy is always to hit all enemy units in a sequence, so they inflict as little damage as possible. Any other strategy is too risky and can backfire way too easily, limiting your creativity. See More

Top Pro

Helps you to learn the gameplay thoroughly

Tactical RPGs can be really intimidating, especially if you're just starting out. The tutorials often blaze forward, causing you to miss important mechanics. Luckily, Banner Saga 2 tries to alleviate this by adding a trainer NPC who will give you challenges. These involve performing various combat exercises, helping you to solidify your understanding of the game and even learn something new. See More

Ironcast

Top Pro

Unique setting

The game takes place in an alternate timeline 1886 victorian England, but with a steampunk twist. England and France go to war over Voltite, a recently discovered resource which causes a great surge in mechanical and engineering advances. From this new technology springs the Ironcasts, a war machine that is a cross between a tank and a mech. In the pilot seat of your Ironcast, you play on the side of England as it attempts to thwart a French invasion. See More

Top Con

Favors RNG over skill

Due to the randomness of the gem matching game used for combat, an element of luck will always be present. Pure RNG determines what mix of combat gems (ammo, energy, repair, and coolant) are placed on the board, which may turn off those who want to truly master a game through skill. See More

Specs

Genre:Turn-Based Strategy, Roguelike, Puzzle

Top Pro

A new experience each playthrough thanks to randomized missions

You must defeat 9 missions in order to win the game, however these missions are randomly generated and you are allowed to select 1 from a group of 3 each time you advance. The missions are also highly varied. Some missions require you to only do enough damage to your enemy so that your foe's mech can still be salvaged. Another may require you to battle waves of enemies until reinforcements arrive. Some require you to collect a certain amount of resources or even diffuse bombs. There's enough variety where you'll always be trying something new, so the randomized mission setup helps to keep the game feeling fresh. See More

Top Con

Permadeath doesn't feel like it fits in a luck based game

Sometimes you simply won't get enough ammo gems to do much damage, or enough shield gems for a proper defense. This will result in a loss, and because of the randomness, it never quite feels like it was your fault. In a game based on RNG and luck, permadeath just doesn't work and can feel extremely frustrating. When you die, you lose all your gold, xp, blueprints, weapons, and upgrades. See More

Top Pro

Loads of strategic combat choices

While each mech has its own overall health bar, each of their subsystems (weapons, shields, and drive) also has its own individual health bar. That means you can target your opponents various systems to disable their weapons or shields, or even disable their drive so they're unable to maneuver away from your attacks. Deciding which system to go for at opportune times can result in some rather strategic and exciting gameplay. For example, you might take down their shields so your weapons hit harder. Or you may opt to take out their weapon systems so they will have to repair before they can unleash more attacks. In addition to being able to target various systems, you can also choose a pilot and a mech separately. The pilots and mechs all have their own special abilities and cooldowns, meaning you'll be able to mix and match quite a few different setups. See More

Top Pro

Gameplay feels fresh and new due to the puzzle based combat

Combining match three puzzle solving with resource management results in an extremely fresh combat system that is rarely seen in the roguelike genre. By taking turns with your opponent and matching various colored gems on a 6x6 grid, you'll build resources. These resources do such things as fire your weapons, power up your shield, repair, and keep your mech from overheating. While you are only able to make 2 gem matches per turn to build resources, you can take as many actions as you want provided you generated the resources needed to pull them off. See More

Top Pro

Fun and exciting combat

Choosing which gems to focus on matching each turn results in some fun combat choices. For example, you could focus on pooling your ammo gems for several rounds, only to turn around and unleash a devastating assault on your enemy. If your enemy is relentless, you could work on matching only repair and shield gems to keep your shields up. The combat revolves around deciding which gem matches should take priority versus working around what gems the board is providing. Since it's always random, it can lead to some pretty exciting choices where you'll have to think and react on the fly. See More

The Banner Saga Trilogy

Top Pro

You can carry over your save files across all three games

There's a good incentive to play through the whole Banner Saga tale through carrying your save files over from the first and second games. Plenty of the choices you make have an impact across the trilogy. Characters who survived across games also acknowledge how far they've come, with enough character development to keep them relevant for the most part. Getting to see how your choices affect the entire trilogy adds a lot of replay to all three games, giving you the chance to tweak certain outcomes here and there whenever you decide to go back and play from the beginning. See More

Top Con

If a party member dies in battle, it's permanent

Permadeath in battle is the main way that combat stays tense and engaging, forcing you to make the best decisions at every opportunity. But this can get draining over time. When things spiral out of your control, you can end up losing a valued party member, who's then completely axed from the main story. Depending on how important they are, this may or may not be a big deal, but it's still a significant mechanic that you need to keep an eye on as you play. See More

Specs

Genre:Turn-Based Strategy, Role-Playing

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences throughout the stories

The Banner Saga trilogy has an involved story over the course of three games where your decisions matter in the long-run. You're part of a group of soldiers traveling to eventually save the world from an encroaching darkness taking over the planet. The first two games do a great job of investing you in the plot, while leading up to the dramatic events of the third game. All three games tell a compelling story where you have to decide how all of the battles unfold, along with who lives and who dies. Certain choices you make can have some unintended consequences as well, so you always want to choose carefully before deciding. It's an overall gripping tale, showing how war can really affect people. See More

Top Con

The story in the third game is short

Even though you get to carry over save files from the previous games, the story is incredibly short as a finale to the entire trilogy, lasting about ten hours or so. It's underwhelming to spend so little time piecing together all of the threads across the games. Going for a completionist run can take you about twenty hours, which is a bit better, but it's still disappointing that this third installment doesn't have more to offer. See More

Top Pro

Engaging turn-based tactical combat that plays in an isometric view

The Banner Saga games have a great combat system that's familiar to anyone who enjoys strategy RPGs. You have all of your units with the enemies on square grids, taking turns to attack, defend, and use special skills. The battles are tough enough to keep your attention, meaning you have to do your best to make the right decisions during each of your turns. And the stakes are pretty high, where deaths can result in permanently losing your party members, including missing out on any story bits that they're a part of. The isometric view keeps things classic and traditional as well, which is great for fans of the genre or players looking to get into this style of games for the first time. See More

Top Con

Combat can get overwhelming at times (The Banner Saga 3)

Much of the difficulty in this game's combat revolves around the constant wave of enemies that come after your units, one after another. You have to pace yourself when deciding to take on these waves of foes, or else you may lose too many party members and have to pay a heavy price throughout the story. You can also choose to run away, but this also has negative plot-related consequences. It can get pretty frustrating having to deal with these waves so often, especially when you end up losing valuable party members by trying to push onward. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful hand-drawn art style

The games have such a gorgeous, effortless art style that really shines during cutscenes. Even though the graphics are cartoon-like, the characters and environments look mature and full of vibrant details. It's such a distinct style that drives home how unique it is to the Banner Saga and is immediately recognizable. See More

The Banner Saga 3

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences throughout the story

The Banner Saga 3 has an involved story where your decisions matter in the long-run. You're part of a group of soldiers traveling to save the world from an encroaching darkness taking over the planet. There's a lot of in-fighting among those journeying to stop the darkness as well as the only remaining tribe of normal citizens living in fear for their lives every day. All of this fighting, and the journey, sets up a compelling story where you have to decide how the overarching battle unfolds, along with who lives and who dies. Certain choices you make can have some unintended consequences as well, so you always want to choose carefully before deciding. It's an overall gripping finale to the Banner Saga trilogy, showing how war and the end of the world can affect people. See More

Top Con

The story is short

Even though you get to carry over save files from the previous games, the story is incredibly short as a finale to the entire trilogy, lasting about ten hours or so. It's underwhelming to spend so little time piecing together all of the threads across the games. Going for a completionist run can take you about twenty hours, which is a bit better, but it's still disappointing that this third installment doesn't have more to offer. See More

Specs

Genre:Turn-based, RPG

Top Pro

You can carry over your save files from the first two Banner Saga games

There's a good incentive to play through the whole Banner Saga tale through carrying your save files over from the first and second games. Plenty of the choices you make in the previous games have an impact here in the third game, which lets you see how different decisions play out. Characters who survived across games also acknowledge how far they've come, with enough character development to keep them relevant for the most part. Getting to see how your choices affect the entire trilogy adds a lot of replay to all three games, giving you the chance to tweak certain outcomes here and there whenever you decide to go back and play the other games. See More

Top Con

Combat can get overwhelming at times

Much of the difficulty in combat revolves around the constant wave of enemies that come after your units, one after another. You have to pace yourself when deciding to take on these waves of foes, or else you may lose too many party members and have to pay a heavy price throughout the story. You can also choose to run away, but this also has negative plot-related consequences. It can get pretty frustrating having to deal with these waves so often, especially when you end up losing valuable party members by trying to push onward. See More

Top Pro

Engaging turn-based tactical combat that plays in an isometric view

The Banner Saga 3 has a great combat system that's familiar to anyone who enjoys strategy RPGs. You have all of your units with the enemies on square grids, taking turns to attack, defend, and use special skills. The battles are tough enough to keep your attention, meaning you have to do your best to make the right decisions during each of your turns. And the stakes are pretty high, where deaths can result in permanently losing your party members, including missing out on any story bits that they're a part of. The isometric view keeps things classic and traditional as well, which is great for fans of the genre or players looking to get into this style of games for the first time. See More

Top Con

If a party member dies in battle, it's permanent

Permadeath in battle is the main way that combat stays tense and engaging, forcing you to make the best decisions at every opportunity. But this can get draining over time. When things spiral out of your control, you can end up losing a valued party member, who's then completely axed from the main story. Depending on how important they are, this may or may not be a big deal, but it's still a significant mechanic that you need to keep an eye on throughout the entire game. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful hand-drawn art style

The game has such a gorgeous, effortless art style that really shines during cutscenes. Even though the graphics are cartoon-like, the characters and environments look mature and full of vibrant details. The supernatural elements are fantastical in the best of ways, going a long way to show off the seriousness of the darkness overtaking the world and how the remaining people cope with the looming threat on an emotional level. It's such a distinct style that drives home how unique it is to the Banner Saga and is immediately recognizable. See More

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