Ex-Bioware Devs Announce ‘The Banner Saga’
Now freed from the shackles of working on The Old Republic for Bioware, the three man team over at Stoic have been working hard on the game they want to make and that just so happens to be the slick looking The Banner Saga.
Arnie Jorgensen, Alex Thomas and John Watson are names you probably won’t recognise, but they have just spent half a decade working as lead developers on Star Wars: The Old Republic – a name you should be familiar with. Let’s get away from that part of their history though, just as they have.
Based in Austin, Texas these three men decided to put together what funds they could scrape up between them and make their own game studio. Consequently, Stoic was formed and its experienced developers were out to make the kind of game they really wanted to play. “We appreciate good art, thoughtful design and engaging story and think there are plenty gamers out there who agree”, it reads on their official website.
Their game, The Banner Saga, is described as a mixture of sorts but an interesting and unique one at that: “role-playing meets turn-based strategy, wrapped into an adventure mini-series about vikings.” The appeal of The Banner Saga is to mature gamers who appreciate strategy, a good story and some lovely animated art; a glimpse of which proves an impressive presentation.
“It will include BioWare-style dialog, exploration of gorgeously painted landscapes, and turn-based strategic combat,” John Watson told us. “The story is compelling and epic, and your choices will dramatically affect the outcome of the story.”
John also told us that the game will be realised in two parts – one free, the other not: “We intend to release the turn-based combat as a stand alone game this Spring, followed by the full story based and exploration game in the Fall.”
John revealed that a promotional video is due in our laps next week some time which will showcase all of the gameplay aspects of The Banner Saga – we’ll share that with you once it turns up.
For more information on The Banner Saga and Stoic, head on over to the official website. Follow the guys on Twitter (@StoicStudio) to keep up to date on development too.
