Back in 2012 Fireaxis games reinvented the idea of squad-based real-time strategy with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and again with their re-release Enemy Within last year, and it's from this mould that the sumptuously delicious Banner Saga has emerged, jumping into your retinas with a fantastically unique art style, yet retaining a very hard learning curve and a balancing act of core mechanics that'll undercut you if you're not paying attention. Thanks to the sun stopping in the middle of the sky in this vastly detailed, fantastical world, both humans and the giant 'Varl' have teamed up to trek across the land both in search of answers, but also to rid the surrounding villages of evil Dredge; armoured up demons who are essentially Tolkien-esque Orcs in terms of their numbers and penchant for wanton destruction. The accompanying art style is staggeringly gorgeous whilst combat is on turn-based on a tiled grid, and there are a few core change-ups that make playing so addictive. Firstly, all friendlies and enemies have both shield and health stats, the latter of which doubles as strength; so when attacking, you have to make a decision between chipping away at some armour to do damage over time, or targeting health directly which can reduce an enemy's strike, but their armour will be taken off your attack number. That might sound a tad complicated, but it's this pendulum-swing of effectiveness that makes for incredibly tactile decisions some two or three moves ahead of yourself, and with the addition of a modifier that lets you pool from a finite resource to buff certain attacks, you can go for broke if you're certain, but the consequences will be dire if not.
