The game reminds me of what I love most about videogames. That feeling of being a great tactician and making the right choices at the right time. Ever since I was little and I played Ogre Battle or Final Fantasy Tactics, the tactical rpg genre has always held my interest. This game is no exception.

For starters, its a continuing story. And when I say continuing, I mean for real you pick up right where The Banner Saga left off. Complete with importing the choices you made in the first game, which I admire very much. What is really interesting is that there are multiple branches, and the degree to which those branches differ from one another are really pretty impressive and enjoyable.

The battle mechanics are still a little strange to me honestly, but I got used to it quickly from the experience of playing the first game. Having your character STR be your attack and health still feels weird for sure. But you make due, and once you have full understanding of what Armor and Str do to your attacks and defenses for each unit you can really crackdown and punish your opponents for being in the wrong position or even attempting to harm you.

The survival mode was a great addition and kept me playing even longer than the campaign. I enjoy it a lot and I feel like more tactical RPGs could benefit from modes like this. You get to choose 6 heroes and then run through a gauntlet of 40 Battles. So it isn't true survival (as in traditional survival modes from fighting games and other genres essentially have you go on forever, until you die). As you progress you gain prestige points which allow you to upgrade your units or even purchase new ones. There are several different fun achievements to accomplish, such as defeating the survival mode gauntlet with all humans, all Varl, all women, not purchasing new units, never using the horn for extra Will, etc. This game really shines in this regard, as I feel its the most fun tactical RPG I've played in ages.

The story? Man... I love the story. And the art fits it so well. Sort of a Sword in the Stone disney/heavy metal hybrid. The narrative follows several threads which all converge towards the end. It is a little bit jarring to be invested in a party only to play a different side of the story with completely different units and characters, much like Saga Frontier 2 used to do. Once you get used to it, it becomes less bothersome. The switch happens maybe two or three times, and you kinda feel like without it the characters would get kinda boring because you aren't really delving in as deep as you could be. I think it was a good choice on their part, but I hope the third installment in this series involves less of that type of mechanic.

All in all, a wonderful game. Worth every penny, I'm glad I purchased it. Waiting for the next one for closure.

Here is a link to the trailer. It contains spoilers for some reason.