The Banner Saga 2

[b]TLDR:[/b] There are some improvements on the narrative side, but other aspects feel worse. So overall TBS2 isn't really better than its prequel. [h2]Story[/h2] The story is moderately better, partly because I'm already familiar with the characters and world. But also because it has more cutscenes, some of them were even voiced. The available choices remain tough and meaningful, although there are more outcomes that I didn't expect. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] There are a few interesting new mechanics (such as barricade) and more character combat styles. But even on easy difficulty, both the battles and resource management felt harder. While I still won many battles on first try, I had to put more effort into strategy. But the biggest issue is leveling up characters still requires certain amount of kills. At least with my play style, it creates a wide level gap between characters that I primarily use to kill enemies or as a support role (breaking armor or non-damaging skills). [h2]Other[/h2] I didn't experience any gameplay or visual bugs frequently mentioned by negative reviews. But the game crashed more frequently on my Linux device, compared with TBS1. It was annoying to replay battles and see the same cutscenes again. If you also use Linux device, you must to copy TBS1 save file to other folder, so TBS2 can see it and load your past choices. I used a tutorial from ProtonDB to found out the folder source and destination. [hr][/hr] I can only recommend TBS2 only to those who are in for the story where your choices carry into the next game and only when it's at a huge discount.