14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Stoic Games and Sony are announcing that The Banner Saga 2 is at the moment in development and will be launched at some point on the PlayStation 4 home console, although at the moment neither of the two companies are talking about potential release windows.
The new game received an official trailer during the PlayStation Experience event, but the studio working on it is not yet willing to deliver more details about the narrative it will deliver or about the changes that are being made to the core gameplay.
The Banner Saga 2 footage shows the premise of the story, which feels suitably heroic, but there are no images of the game in action at the moment, which might be a little worrying for those who loved the original title.
At the same time, neither Stoic nor Sony are talking about the platforms on which the title will be offered and it would be a shame to learn that it is not getting a PC version, seeing how well the original release performed on the platform.
The announcement that The Banner Saga 2 will be an important title for the PlayStation 4 in the coming years is a good sign when it comes to the support Sony is willing to offer to smaller developers who have innovative ideas about storytelling or core game features.
The Banner Saga is a beautifully tactics-driven experience
The original The Banner Saga is one of the most interesting titles to be launched in early 2014, created by a team that includes some veterans of the BioWare development studio.
The style of the title borrowed plenty of elements from the Viking culture, but this is not a historical title in any way.
Stoic Games has created an entirely new fantasy setting which involves humans and some very interesting other races that need to work together to basically stop the end of the world.
The core of the game is a classic turn-based battle system, allowing players to choose which characters they want to take into battle and then asking them to manage special abilities and limited moves to take out superior enemy forces.
All units in The Banner Saga have both health and armor values, and gamers need to balance their attacks to eliminate both, taking into account that wounded characters deliver less damage and special abilities can have a big impact on the battlefield.
Update: Stoic games has just confirmed The Banner Saga 2 will be coming to PC and Xbox One as well. More details here.
