Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut vs The Banner Saga
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut is an RPG strategy game from Harebrained Schemes (2014) while The Banner Saga is an RPG strategy game from Stoic (2014).
What each one is
Steam files Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut under RPG and Strategy. In contrast, it files The Banner Saga under RPG and Strategy.
Harebrained Schemes' biggest Shadowrun game to date, and the definitive Shadowrun RPG experience available on PC. Now a standalone title with tons of new content & improvements!
Live through an epic role-playing Viking saga where your strategic choices directly affect your personal journey. Make allies as you travel with your caravan across this stunning yet harsh landscape. Carefully choose those who will help fight a new threat that jeopardizes an entire civilization.
At a glance
| Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut | The Banner Saga | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.7/10 | 7.7/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (89%, 6,570) | Very Positive (89%, 15,950) |
| Critic aggregate | 87/100 | 80/100 |
| Price | $14.99 | $24.99 |
| Install size | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | verified |
| Released | 2014 | 2014 |
| Developer | Harebrained Schemes | Stoic |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut vs The Banner Saga, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's CutRPG strategy gameThe Banner SagaRPG strategy gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's CutRPG, Cyberpunk, Turn-BasedThe Banner SagaRPG, Turn-Based, StrategyThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's CutScore 7.7 · 89% on Steam · 87 criticThe Banner SagaScore 7.7 · 89% on Steam · 80 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut6,570 reviews · 2 GBThe Banner Saga15,950 reviews · 2 add-ons · 4 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut ✓$14.99The Banner Saga$24.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's CutUnsupportedThe Banner Saga ✓VerifiedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueShadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut and The Banner Saga on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The cheaper right now: Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut ($14.99)
- Better on a Steam Deck: The Banner Saga (verified)
- Lighter on storage: Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (2 GB)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: The Banner Saga (15,950 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
RPGTurn-BasedStory RichStrategyTacticalSingleplayerIndieAdventure
Where they differ
CyberpunkIsometricSci-fiCRPGTurn-Based TacticsModdable
Great SoundtrackTactical RPGChoices MatterHand-drawn2DStrategy RPG
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. The Banner Saga is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut | The Banner Saga | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | DirectX compatible 3D graphics card with at least 256MB of addressable | — |
| Minimum CPU | x86-compatible 1.4GHz | — |
| Minimum RAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| Install size | 2 GB | 4 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut · The Banner Saga.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut and 1 for The Banner Saga. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut and The Banner Saga in scope?
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut has drawn 6,570 Steam reviews and installs in 2 GB. The Banner Saga has drawn 15,950 Steam reviews, ships 2 add-ons and installs in 4 GB.
Is Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut or The Banner Saga better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut rates higher (7.7 to 7.7). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut or The Banner Saga?
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut is cheaper right now at $14.99, against $24.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.