# Banner Saga

> Tactical RPG with branching narrative, Norse mythology, and strategic combat. (iPhone/iPad app by Stoic.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/banner-saga/id911006986 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Stoic](https://appshunter.io/developer/911006989)
- Category: Games, Role Playing, Strategy
- Price: $9.99
- Rating: 4.80/5 from 2,057 App Store ratings · 770 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 9.0 · 1.9 GB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Polish, European Portuguese, Russian, European Spanish
- Released: 2014-10-02
- Data updated: 2026-09-03
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/banner-saga/id911006986/reviews.md

## What is Banner Saga?

Embark on your own epic journey in Banner Saga, the critically acclaimed tactical RPG where your strategic choices directly affect your personal story and the world around you.

Leave your home and strike out on a desperate journey to save your people. Lead your caravan across stunning environments and into war with enemy clans and vicious Drudge soldiers. Build relationships and make choices that will shape the future of your clan as you scramble to survive in this beautiful, bleak world.

Banner Saga Features:

- A unique fantasy realm inspired by Norse mythology – explore a grim world shaped by the legends of the Vikings. Uncover ancient lore and battle tooth and nail to carve out a new bastion in a world abandoned by the gods.

- Beautiful 2D rotoscope animation - immerse yourself in beautifully hand drawn combat sequences and animations, accompanied by an evocative score from Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory.

- Real choices with real consequences – every decision you make on the trail, in conversation and during combat has a meaningful effect on the outcome as your unique story unfolds.

- Over 25 playable characters with unique personalities – form relationships in and out of combat with a variety of characters from 7 different classes, each with unique abilities and upgrade options to fit your play style.

- Strategic combat with permanent repercussions – choose your warriors, form your strategy and strike. Adapt to a dynamic battlefield where your tactics determine who lives and who dies. Victory, defeat and even the permanent loss of a character depends on the choices you make.

- Winner of the Geekie Award for best Indie Video Game, 2014, Independent Games Festival Finalist for Excellence in Visual Art and Honorable mentions for Design and Audio.

Only your choices can guide your caravan through the harsh winter, past mystical enemies and brutal Viking clans. When the trail is uncertain, can you take the lead?

Download Banner Saga and begin your journey today.

NOTE: Banner Saga does NOT run on iPhone 4. iPhone 4S and more modern devices recommended.

## Key features

- Epic tactical RPG journey
- Norse mythology-inspired world
- Branching narrative with real consequences
- Strategic turn-based combat
- Over 25 playable characters
- Beautiful 2D rotoscope animation

## What do users think of Banner Saga?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🎨 Beautiful artwork and animation
- 🎵 Excellent music and sound design
- 📚 Compelling and immersive story
- 🤔 Meaningful choices with consequences
- 🕹️ Engaging and challenging tactical combat
- 🔁 High replayability and multiple playthroughs

**Cons**

- 🔍 Small text and UI elements on smaller devices
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 🕰️ Slow loading times between scenes
- 🗺️ Limited exploration of the game world
- 💰 Perceived high price for the length of the game

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Crashes on loading screens or during battles
- Unresponsive or misregistered touch controls
- Graphical glitches and visual artifacts

**Most requested features**

- Cloud save support for cross-device play
- Optimization for larger screens and newer devices
- More frequent updates and content expansions
- Additional difficulty settings and challenge modes

## Recent user reviews (10 of 770)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/banner-saga/id911006986/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Top Tier Gaming

*2026-07-17, version 1.06*

I have bought this trilogy for the PC, switch, PS5 and now on my phone. Excellent strategy game with so much replay ability. Always gotta have it on me. Story is fantastic. Cant say enough good things about it. My only complaint is that they didn’t make more.

### 5/5 — Grandiose

*2026-06-29*

Je découvre ce jeu en 2026… une pépite. Ça me replonge dans mon adolescence, jeu de rôle, tour par tour… graphiquement c’est somptueux… vraiment avec le temps ce jeu n’a rien à envier au jeu actuel.

### 2/5 — Trop rapidement terminé !

*2026-02-20, version 1.06*

Intrigue succincte. Jeu terminé en 3 jours !!

### 5/5 — Мощная игра

*2026-02-02*

Очень атмосферная и уникальная игра, играл на ПК в неё, давно, очень зашла, теперь через несколько лет купил её на планшет эпловский, заодно и вторую часть тоже.. вот третью бы ещё под планшет адаптировали 🙂.. спасибо за Игру!!

### 5/5 — Still great

*2026-01-30, version 1.06*

It’s just an impressive work. Puts to shame all the other games that try to grind your wallet with freemium BS. No in-app purchases. Just a truly memorable game.

### 1/5 — 没中文

*2026-01-26, version 1.06*

没中文版别买

### 3/5 — Ну такое

*2025-10-26*

Адаптация под экран 13 pro и выше отсутствует

### 5/5 — Feels like an epic saga!

*2025-09-12, version 1.06*

For me, the atmosphere makes a huge difference how much I enjoy the game. The art design on display is so incredible. It truly elevates when combined with the excellent writing, and stirring music. This game is a work of art. Incredible experience for anyone who considers themselves a reader, a thinking person’s gamer, or an artist at heart.

### 5/5 — best game of this genre in the recent years

*2025-08-26*

i just stopped everything to enjoy the strategic rpg game that brings a classic genre to life (for me)
i’ve seen critics about the translation into portuguese and as a language teacher and portuguese speaker would be an honor to share this story better ! thanks for the saga and i wonder why the 3rd version is not available on ipad!

### 5/5 — Gutes spiel

*2025-08-12*

Taktisch, spannend und schön gestaltet.

## Frequently asked questions about Banner Saga

### What kind of game is Banner Saga?

Banner Saga is a critically acclaimed tactical role-playing game (RPG) with a strong emphasis on narrative and strategic decision-making. It features turn-based combat and a story inspired by Norse mythology.

### What are the key features of Banner Saga?

Key features include a unique fantasy realm inspired by Norse mythology, beautiful 2D rotoscope animation, real choices with significant consequences, over 25 playable characters with unique abilities, and strategic combat with permanent repercussions.

### How much does Banner Saga cost?

Banner Saga is a paid application. The provided data indicates it is a one-time purchase and does not have in-app purchases or ads.

### What devices is Banner Saga compatible with?

Banner Saga is recommended for iPhone 4S and more modern devices. It is noted that the game does NOT run on iPhone 4.

### What is the main goal in Banner Saga?

The main goal is to embark on a desperate journey to save your people by leading your caravan across stunning environments, battling enemies, and making choices that shape the future of your clan as you try to survive in a bleak world.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.06 — 2017-05-01

This update from Apple will improve the functionality of this app. No new features are included.

We've re-balanced the final chapter of the game.  The final Bellower battle has been tuned to be more fair on Normal difficulty settings, and there are more opportunities for obtaining supplies and items in Chapter 6.

Banner Saga 1 has been updated to the latest version of the engine technology, and quite a bit of cleanup has happened under the hood.  A few of the improvements seen in Banner Saga 2 have been incorporated into this build.

Added adjustable 'UI Scale' to help readability on smaller devices - go to device's Settings App and use the UI Scale slider.
Upgrade '+' sign shows up on hero icons in heroes tent when appropriate
Extended tooltips in battle
-on stat banner, buffs, and items. 
-on hazards such as slag-and-burn, coals, etc...
Match Resolution:
-Consequences tab shows injured units
-Achievements tab shows new achievements
-Items tab shows newly acquired items
News Ticker on Start Screen
Injured units to not heal during travel, only when Resting in camp/village
Injured units' STR penalty now equals the number of days of injury remaining
Nid now starts at rank 2 when she joins the caravan
Increased loot drop chance for winning the second wave of a battles.
Varl that join the caravan after the Godstone in chapter 3 now have supplies.
Fix issue in Ludin/Vedrfell tutorial getting stuck if ludin has been upgraded
Fix issue preventing class achievements from unlocking
Fix typos
Fix issue causing some resume saves to get stuck when loading
Fix Backbiter Veteran enemy incorrectly using Dagr's appearance
Fix issue with Nid having a negative amount of stat points to spend
Fix Number of Varl in caravan does not increase despite varl choosing to join Iver when leaving Einartoft... now adds 23 varl to caravan
Fix Ubin's caravan does not add fighters or varl to your caravan when joining... now adds 15 fighters, 5 varl, and 40 supplies (rather than 30 supplies)
Added a slider setting for scaling the UI larger or smaller.
Disable the Quit Game button in options for the iOS builds.
Fixed an issue with the battle HUD elements so they scale up/down with other UI.
Added message for when players have iCloud disabled.
Fix for scaling of subtitles.
Update minimum iOS version to 9.0
Fix for Backbiter champion using Dagr's appearance.
Add 'Buy TBS 2' function to start page.
Changed the link for rating the app.
Fix bad quotation marks in Polish text.
Reduce max memory used by heraldry. 
Set anim compression values to those used in saga 2. Should fix a bunch of memory-related crashes.

### 1.04 — 2016-09-01

Added Japanese language support
Various bug fixes

### 1.03 — 2016-05-21

Fixed an issue preventing Italian translation from showing on some devices.
Fixed an issue causing some animations to render incorrectly.
Substantially reduced memory usage during battles.

### 1.02 — 2016-05-04

Added Italian translation
Revise Spanish, Brazilian, and French translations
Clear up some minor memory leaks and performance issues.
Ensure that all buttons in game have a visual feedback when tapped
Fixed a rare bug preventing Hakon from boosting his attack with Willpower
Fixed issue where Silver Arrow ability would sometimes not unlock during Bellower battle
Fixed issue with snow clumping in lines on the screen when zooming out

### 1.01 — 2014-11-07

Improved scene and battle load times
Fixed issue with multiple conversation choices being highlighted at once
Moved Save and Log files into the shared Documents folder, accessible via iTunes
Removed App Store references to unsupported languages
Tilt panning now slowly recenters the scene camera if the device remains tilted
iCloud save file conflict resolution dialog made more informative

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## More apps by Stoic

- [Banner Saga 2](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/banner-saga-2/id1107741196)

All apps by Stoic: https://appshunter.io/developer/911006989

## Related topics

[banner saga](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/banner-saga) · [banner saga 2](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/banner-saga-2) · [gamer banner](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/gamer-banner)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-03.*