Recent reviews by Mothra!

I can't sing enough praises !

The story was beautiful, The world building, design of the 3 main maps was very good. Especially to note was exploration, so many nooks and crannies and hidden caves/dungeons and quests to find.
Everything had a coherent aesthetic, I liked the armor designs and weapons/spells.

A few quests/questmarkers gave me problems and some of the ending slides didn't make sense but the devs seem to regularly patch since release so I hope this will be ironed out. But nothing I would call gamebreaking.

The story hits you right in the feels, the combat has depth and although QTEs are an aquired taste (I for one do not like them in games), they are handled very well. On expert difficulty (or even on lower ones for certain bosses) they are mandatory or your party gets oneshot. I hope the developers remove this on the lowest difficulty because I would love for more people to experience this amazing game if they find it too unforgiving. Strongly recommended.
I am playing on a ryzen5/4060 and with DLSS Quality and mix of med/high settings I get 60fps without any stuttering. No crashes/bugs sofar.

I love the atmosphere and little details in the environment, the movement and gunplay is buttery smooth.
You research new guns, equipment, items by playing the game, opening chests and defeating powerful enemies. To gain more power you take bigger risks and regularly have "oh ♥♥♥♥, I bite off more than I can chew" moments. Going in blind in some of the side dungeons or getting swarmed by minions, surviving with 10 hp left ....ah, the good times. If you get defeated you loose most of the stuff you picked up during a "run" but you can try to recover it on the next one.

One of the best RPGs I played.

What an adrenaline rush !

I read/hunted down every secret and bit of lore, marveled at the ambient storytelling and played a few rounds in the demon prison. Took me ~ 26hours on UV.
I didn't mind the platforming, It is very basic and in no ways a "puzzle", just a change of pace between fights and helps with mastering the movement in combat. Gamedesign masterclass, deep and rewarding mechanics that demand to be mastered at higher difficulties...I found a use for almost all of the weaponmods although some are very situational and switching them in combat is a bit much with all the other stuff going on :)

Tip for Urdak: max distance for travel is:
Double Jump (2nd jump at end of first jump, do not spam), dash (wait for max distance), 2nd dash
If you have good reflexes you can do a 180 and use the ballista to propel you even further although it is not needed anywhere, just for style points :)

If you haven't played BannerSaga 1 this game will leave you scratching your head.

If you did like me and had a gripes with the boring way they implemented the turn-based system and "forced" difficulty by stripping you of freedom (choosing certain units, making decisions unclear, unclear battle map etc) and unsatisfying ending/cliffhanger this will leave you scratching your head times 2.

While it retained the impeccable artstyle, soundtrack and story it exacerbated everything I didn't like about the first part:
Unclear decisions had me scratching my head
The Battlefield is even more obstructed, sometimes you can't even see your units blocked by foreground art.
Fights that force you to take certain types of units you don't like or are "gimped" (aka forced difficulty)

Training tent can now give you alot of resources if you complete the challenges but again, it is a challenge you can't overcome with your wits/units, no no, the developer chooses for you. Most of the challenges are there to teach you of certain aspects/interaction between units but in a "real" battle you would never use them, why position/wait for dozens of turns for one cool thing to happen when you can just kill most of the enemies before they reach you.

I still love the interaction and characters, how they present themselves, the lore and tales. I switched to easy midgame and just zombied through the fights (which there are too much of).

Nothing much will change I guess for the last chapter, I will play it for sure but I have serious doubts this developer can put together compelling encounters that do not rely on gimmicks.

If you got hooked on the world/lore/characters in the first part, this game is for you.

A gripping tale of vikings, men and other ethnicities in a far away land. An enemy from the past emerges, bound on destruction. You follow 2 groups trying to fulfill an order or just plain fleeing from the advancing armies.
Landscapes of beauty and despair pass by you while you try to keep your loved ones close, bolster morale, manage food and fend off attackers. You engage in turn-based battles, level up your fighters, decide on the fate of many, uncover mysteries and secrets that raise more questions, especialy about the nature and motivation of the enemy.

The gameplay loop consists of travel/caravan management and turn-based battles.
Decisions range far and wide: who to keep in your caravan, who to help (or not), how to approach new found allies or foes. Some decisions may come back to haunt you.

The emphasis lies unfortunately on rather boring turn-based battles and there are numerous ones.
Easy mode lowers the strength/armor of enemies and fallen allies don't receive wounds.
Normal+Hard add injuries that have to be removed by sleeping in your camp (making the trip longer and consumes supplies.

The game tries to change things up, some battles are forced, some avoidable, some decisions must be made even if you have no way of making an informed decision. While that sounds good on paper many encounters/decisions I made felt ultimately in vain since the game has certain "chokepoints" in the story where you don't feel any agency at all.
A limitation by the small team and budget I hope.

My biggest gripe is still the unimaginative gameplay, you can choose the turnorder of your fighters before the fight and their positioning. This is where the game gets gamey for its own sake. Instead of giving you freedom they restrict your positioning before the battle forcing a certain "challenge" on you each fight. Sometimes you can't even choose who your allies are making some fights extremely drawn-out because the developer chose for you. You can't really plan ahead since you don't know the turn order of your enemies beforehand. Many classes sound nice on paper but ultimately have no effect on battles, I found myself coming back again and again to the same formations because they almost one-shot each enemy.

I still recommed this game for its atmosphere, soundtrack, art and story alone.

I backed the project through Kickstarter and I can say I am more than pleased.
After a few hours of intense NON-combat questing in the town I solved a few quests in surprising ways, had disagreements with "myself" that lead to new friends or foes, skipped questlines by pickpocketing the right people, crafted my first gear and ventured out of town for my first big fights. There is enough content in the first town and surroundings to pass as a proper game these days and that is only scratching the surface. The implementation of co-op, the way that fights can play in turn-based mode while other party members venture the world in real time add another layer of depth and fun to the game. Together with the classless system I am already contemplating which skill/ability combination I will try for my next playthrough !

Highly recommended, a true RPG offering freedom, experimentation and challenge without holding your hand while never being obtuse or confusing.

Highly recommended !