Bannerman

Relatively slow-paced but decent - deserves a try.

This is the latest review there is. I do not advise you to trust the negative reviews that were written years ago. I strived to research Bannerman as much as possible over the course of my 9 hours. I do like the idea of Bannerman. I respect its sole developer who spent a few years on this first game of his. However, I cannot say that Bannerman is a very good game. So what's the deal? [h1] Good Developer, Bad Storyteller, Terrible Worldbuilder[/h1] (No spoliers ahead) 1. Good Developer. Bannerman mechanically is done quite well. It has a simple, polished, straightforward combat system which rewards patience, quick reflexes and adaptability. It is realistic too - instead of long cinematic brawls, fights in Bannerman are quick and merciless. The faster you can kill the opponent, the better. There are no continuous clashes of swords - dodging and good footwork are more effective options than blocking. The enemies are diverse, each with unique attitude towards combat: spearmen are cautious and try to keep you at bay; naked bruisers are cocky and easy to strike; swordsmen are oppressively quick and therefore deadly. You have a good amount of tools to use against your enemies, but your trusty longsword and dodge button will always be effective options. Archers, the bane of negative reviewers, are not an issue once you understand that your character performs dodges differently depending on a stance and direction. And the checkpoint system? It is challenging, sure, but not bad at all. I actually enjoy the fact that Bannerman has no save system except for this. The music is great. No, like GREAT! Sound design and ambience are satisfying. The art is nice and warm, and I wish there were more games like Bannerman. 2. Bad Storyteller. Although Bannerman is a good game in its genre, its plot is lackluster and weak. It feels rather incomplete and lazy. The characters and the lord that interact with us are empty - their names only appear on... steam trading cards! And there is no explanation for why they are like they are! Especially Spearman Konrad - there is just no info on what his role in the story is. As for the main hero, his personality is void except for the fact that he is depressed. Damn it, there are already enough indie games with depressed protagonists, give 'em a break! Additionally, the dream scenes are a little too long and drawn out. It's a shame that they can't be skipped on a second playthrough. As for the levels, they are planned out nicely. But problem is - they are absolutely lineal and have no secrets or easter eggs at all! At best you can read some minor stories or notes, but that's all! No interesting details on the world or what happens. No rewards for curiosity... 3. Terrible Worldbuilder. The world of Bannerman is weird. Although the developer seems to like history and he participated in festivals related to medieval swordfighting, apparently his knowledge on Middle ages ends there. Swordfighting is good and all, but the world of Bannerman makes little sense: a 13th-14th century army of Lord Randall is at conflict with the 9th century VIKING forces of Lord Crowley, who himself wears a 12th century Crusader tabard with flattop helmet and commands a TREBUCHET on an OPEN BATTLEFIELD. European villages and cities exist together with ancient Greek sculptures, Moai and some Victorian architecture, as well as a VERY tall keep with dozens of repetitive Renaissance paintings. I heard someone complain about magic, but it is not a cruicial element. With all this in mind, I can't say that Bannerman is a bad game. Remember - it was done mostly by one person, and for that it deserves some love! However, it has some glaring issues with design, story and the world. Take it if you want to try out something special. Give some respect to the dev and enjoy the challenge he presents you.

If you like the artstyle you see on the trailer and slow tactical 2D sword-fights , then this game is worth your attention for sure. The combat feels very intuitive once you get the feel for the rhythm of the game. And the controls are very responsive. Besides fighting you'll also be doing a lot of walking in this game. Almost to the point where it becomes a walking simulator. This is the game's way of telling its' story which is very clever imo. The game is pretty short with no replay value. And the enemy variety could be larger. But you can tell there was a lot of passion poured into this project. I got it during a sale for only 1,63 euros and i feel that was money amazingly spent :)

Really enjoyed this! The soundtrack is killer, I enjoyed the way the story is presented, and there is a tangible sense of progression, of becoming stronger and being able to quickly dispatch encounters that were previously seen as extremely deadly (something that is mostly derived from learning enemy movements and becoming more comfortable with your own move set, not something extrinsic like a bigger damage number on your sword or higher health). The combat system has just enough complexity, in my opinion. A mid-stance, I feel, would have been one layer too many for this kind of game, so I'm happy to see the dev went down the path they did. The art is also nicely done, and I really like how the sky is stylised in particular. The animation given by rotoscoping is also nice and hefty. Loved walking down hallways like a bad*ss, greatsword over my shoulder. There are unfortunately just a few small issues that I feel, if they were addressed, would drastically improve the quality of life playing the game: 1) Regarding character movement out of combat, having the player sprite start to slide across the screen while executing the turning animation would make the character much nicer to navigate with. He doesn't have to move at full speed, even something like 1/3 or even less would be fine. It just feels sorta "bleh" that you have to have your character stay completely still until the turn is complete. 2) Allow the character to enter doors when facing right or left. Currently, if the character wants to enter a door, they must first turn to the right by executing the turning animation (if they're not already facing that way) before triggering the enter animation. Allowing the character to enter a door when facing in either direction would make navigating between floors a lot more comfortable. I understand that this would require a new animation, so if it's too much work, maybe just speed up the turn when entering doors only, or snap the character into right facing position as soon as they try to enter a door (like what is done at the end of a battle, where if the character is in low stance, their sword will snap up into high stance to play the end combat / sheath animation.) 3) Provide an audio cue for when the archers are about to let loose. Maybe something like the creaking moan of the bow's wood. The archer bosses do this in their volley phase nicely when an arrow is about to hit you, and the other ranged enemy has good animations and more visible projectiles that do a better job of physically cueing you in to their attacks (and all the melee enemies are good about telegraphing). If this would make the archers too easy, maybe speeding up the projectile might compensate? Idk, tricky to balance it just right, but I feel it needs to be addressed in some way. The archers in particular just feel a bit like a game of chicken rather than skill and reading your opponent, and while I did get better as the game went on, I never really got used to fighting them like I did the other enemies. Plus, early on, they can be frustrating to fight against until you get used to the timing, and might cause some players to drop out of the game prematurely. A tip to the other players: I found I most reliably dodged arrows when doing the default dodge, not the advance or retreat dodge. Not really sure why, maybe it has more i-frames? (Quick disclaimer on the archers: I love how once you close into melee, they can respond in one of three different randomised ways. It's a nice touch of... "realism"? Whatever it is, I really enjoyed it.) Like I said, I really enjoyed the game and all the different environments and enemies and systems it had to offer. I just think these 3 little things, if addressed, would disproportionately improve the experience in a positive way. Thank you for your hard work Armitage! Can't wait for your next game. :)

Je recommande ce jeu. Certes, il est un peu dure, surtout dans les combats avec les archers parce que les flèches sont très rapides et on ne sait jamais quand ils vont tirer, il n'y a pas vraiment de pattern prévisible. Du coup, c'est souvent un peu par chance qu'on évite une flèche. Mais sinon le système de combat à l'épée est très bien rendu. On bouge, on pare et on n'attaque que quand on est sûr de toucher. L'animation des personnages n'est pas en reste, c'est du beau pixel art. La musique est quand à elle...oubliable. L'histoire est assez simple, nous avons été choisi par un seigneur de guerre pour être son banneret, bannière que nous perdons au cours d'un combat. Il faut donc le récupérer pour regagner son honneur. Pendant l'aventure, on trouvera des casques, des cottes de maille et surtout des traités sur des techniques de combat qui nous permettent d'augmenter un peu nos stats parce que les ennemis sont de plus en plus forts et parfois, ils se mettent à plusieurs contre nous. Les protections se cassent au fur et à mesure que nous subissons des dégâts, heureusement de temps en temps, on rencontre un forgeron sympa qui nous le répare gratuitement. Un bon "petit" jeu pour ceux qui aime le pixel art et le combat à l'épée.

An absolutely brilliant game. The gameplay is fun and the storyline is one of the best I've experienced in the medium of videogaming.

[b][u]Hrateľnosť:[/u][/b] 8/10 [b][u]Príbeh:[/u][/b] 5/10 [b][u]Zvuky:[/u][/b] 8/10 [b][u]Grafika:[/u][/b] 4/10 [b][u]Dĺžka hry:[/u][/b] 5/10 [b][u]Finálne hodnotenie:[/u][/b] 7/10 [b][u]Klady:[/u][/b] Zaujímavo spracovaný systém boja Animácie Skvelý soundtrack [b][u]Zápory: [/u][/b] Miestami až zbytočne moc chodenia [b][u]Zhrnutie hry:[/u][/b] Bannerman je veľmi zaujímavo spracovanou 2D hrou zasadenou do stredoveku s pomerne temnou atmosférou v ktorej hráte za vojaka. Hru sprevádza tiež pekne spracovaní soundtrack. Vytvorilo ju indie študio Armitage Games ktoré ma za sebou aj ďalšie hry ako Berseker Quest, Innawoods, White Finger atď.. [b][u]Hrateľnosť a príbeh:[/u][/b] Hra má pomerne jednoduchý príbeh. Na začiatku ste v tábore a chystáte sa do bitky kde bude vašou úlohou chrániť štandardu lorda Crowleyho za ktorého bojujete. V tejto úlohe ale pomerne rýchlo zlyháte a náplňou hry bude následne preskupiť vojsko a prenasledovať lorda Randalla a jeho armádu. V hre budete po celú dobu chodiť a bojovať proti rôznym druhom nepriateľov. Rozhovory tu budú sporadické a pomerne krátke. Systém boja je pomerne zaujímavo spracovaní a aj keď môže na prvý pohlaď vypadať jednoducho tak tomu tak úplne nie je. Miestami si budete musieť dávať pozor na vzdialenosť a tiež nebudete môcť príliš ustupovať. Môžete sa uhýbať aj brániť proti útokom čo vám spotrebováva vašu výdrž. Brániť sa môžete proti útokom zhora aj zdola a rovnako tak môžete útočiť pomocou zmeny postoja. Máte dva typy útokov - ťažký a ľahký. V prípade že vám dôjde vydrž tak nebudete môcť útočiť, brániť sa a ani uhýbať dokiaľ si neoddýchnete pár sekúnd a neobnoví sa vám vydrž. Okrem meča ktorý budete používať väčšinu času budete mať možnosť nájsť aj luk alebo štít s mečom. Oboje vám uľahčia niektoré zo súbojov počas hry. Ďalšou vecou čo budete zbierať je zbroj a tiež bojové manuály pomocou ktorých si vylepšíte vašu postavu. Pokiaľ nebudete chcieť spraviť všetky achievmenty tak je herná doba zhruba asi 5-6 hodín. Okrem príbehového režimu tu tiež máte možnosť zahrať si Gauntlet alebo sa precvičiť v boji proti niektorému z možných protivníkov v hre. Gauntlet je režim kde si budete môcť vyskúšať vaše bojové schopnosti. Vašou úlohou bude prebehnúť čo najrýchlejšie úsek mapky pričom budete počas toho aj bojovať. Na konci ak prežijete sa váš čas uloží a tiež si ho môžete porovnať s ostatnými hráčmi. Jediná vec ktorá mne osobne ako tak vadila bolo miestami zbytočné behanie ktoré bolo podstate naťahovanie hernej doby. Napríklad kvôli zavretej bráne musíte ísť do podzemia zatiahnuť za páku a potom sa celú cestu vracať späť. Mohli tam vývojári spraviť východ priamo u toho a preskočiť tak celý úsek z vracaním sa. Väčšina máp má tiež možnosť skratky ktorá funguje tak že pri konci danej mapky pred bossom je možnosť nájsť páku za ktorú, keď zatiahnete otvorí sa vám brána ktorá bola niekde na štarte zamknutá. Hra vám oznámi že bola objavená skratka a v prípade že náhodou zomriete pri boji proti bossovi tak nebudete musieť celú mapu bežať znovu ale využiť túto skratku a dostať sa tak priamo na koniec. [b][u]Grafika:[/u][/b] Grafika je fajn vzhľadom na štýl hry a osobne mám rád tento druh grafiky. Paleta farieb je skôr tmavšia kvôli udržaniu atmosféry. Animácie a to hlavne u boja sú veľmi dobre spracované. [b][u]Zvuky:[/u][/b] Zvuky sú fajn a nemám čo vytknúť. Soundtrack hry je skvelý. [b][u]Záver:[/u][/b] Ak hľadáte nejakú 2D indie hru tak Bannerman určite odporúčam. Systém boja je tu veľmi dobre spracovaní v porovnaní s podobnými hrami. Hra má skvelý soundtrack a pomerne dobrú atmosféru. Za cenu 8 euro je hra pomerne krátka a neuškodilo by, keby bola dlhšia. Pre zaujímavosť prikladám odkaz na YT vývojárov o tvorbe Bannermanu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NBPVzUeFcQ&list=PL91qWcumeOU9iN14e9Rt__wc6cWA4QCAO

epic little game, love it