Strength acts not only as a determining factor in how much damage you deal, but also as your hit points. The game's turn-based battles take place on a grid, using the party of heroes you've gathered so far, and whoever you've selected to take part. Especially since there's a finite amount of it, as there are a limited amount of predetermined battles in the game with no way to grind more. Since the game's turn-based combat is how you earn Renown, which is used for everything from buying supplies and items to promoting your party, there's rarely a situation where handling things yourself isn't a good idea in the long run. Occasionally, you'll encounter massive groups of enemy forces that you can have your unnamed soldiers deal with via a text option or two, but you can also choose to engage the enemy yourself with your main party for greater rewards. Though the game attempts to have some simulation aspects at least as relates to making sure your army has enough food so that they don't wind up marching over the starved corpses of their fellow soldiers as they days progress (a sure downer), your army isn't as important as you might think. (Note that while the game is available through several digital stores, it is only playable through Steam.) Throughout the game, you'll play everyone from a varl tax collector to a widowed hunter and his daughter, and their stories will come together in unexpected ways depending on the choices you make throughout the course of the game.

As Stoic's stunning indie RPG strategy game The Banner Saga begins, a new truce between the human kingdom and giant varl is being tested with both the immoveable day and the return of the massive armored creatures known as the dredge.

Even the most positive person in the world would probably have difficulty interpreting the sun permanently halting in the sky as anything other than a bad sign.

Banner saga baby dredge