The Banner Saga 3 Updates, #353,080 and Counting

The Banner Saga 3 is in the last three days of its Kickstarter campaign. With some time still left for the final push, the penultimate stretch goal of $350,000 has been reached. This means Ubin, the Scrivener will return for the Saga’s finale. Update #16 talks a bit about him:

Ubin, called the Scrivener, is one of the oldest living varl. The Saga begins with his voice, and follows his caravan into Strand.

Ubin is tasked with collecting taxes from the cities residing under the influence of the varl king, Jorundr. Strand is the largest of the trade cities on the varl-human border, and it will be last stop before Ubin and his caravan return to the varl capital, Grofheim. At the point of Ubin’s arrival into Strand, the sun had only been stopped in the sky for several days, a dire omen that leaves everyone unsettled.

Ubin is present through much of the Saga, following Hakon’s caravan through Ridgehorn to Grofheim, and joining Rooks’ caravan in Einartoft. As a very old and thoughtful varl, he often provides valuable insight and advice to the heroes.His role is to catalogue and record the events he witnesses, and his immense wisdom commands respect from everyone he encounters, varl and Human alike. He takes great pleasure in his reputation, and his easy demeanor and great patience make him a valued friend to many.

Although much of his long life has been spent as an accomplished warrior, he prefers to live out his days in the service of the varl king as a chronicler of the events surrounding his dying race. The varl were each created by the god Hadrborg as a combination of Yox and Human, and unable to reproduce.

With the death of the gods, and Hadrborg with them, no new varl can ever be created. As each varl’s life ends, the race is one step closer to extinction. Ubin’s hope is to be the last varl alive, and to have the honor of writing the final chapter in the books of their race. Only Krumr and Snorri are older than Ubin, and Snorri likely perished in the destruction of Grofheim. This means that these varl witnessed, either directly or indirectly, the creation of every other varl by the hand of Hadrborg.

A few other updates have gone up since the last time we’ve checked. Update #17 showcases some nice fan art. Updates #18 and #19 touch on the second Kickstarter Live Q&A event, which is now available as a recording.

Finally, Update #20 has a few words from Michael Theiler, responsible for the game’s audio. He has some interesting things to say:

Into Darkness

One of the aspects the Banner Saga world introduced in Chapter 2 is The Darkness. It appears as a presence in the distance, but is obviously getting closer. Indeed as you play through Chapter 2 you see it covering more of the map until later in the game it becomes its own character. Getting the sound just right for this presence was an interesting journey. It was such an important part of the world of the game that it needed something fairly iconic, but would be used in many different scenarios. The audio needed to be layered, and still be recognizable and have impact at different audio levels.

We achieved this by using three layers of sound:

• a growling bass loop
• a paired loop which also had some bass to it (but was a spatial gritty mini-explosions type vibe)
• a high frequency uncomfortable shimmer

When these were combined it created a kind of womb-like, surrounding tense pressure that was not too overpowering but felt fairly claustrophobic. It was the type of sound that gave you relief when it stopped.