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Game vs game · side by side

Songs of Conquest vs The Banner Saga

Songs of Conquest is an RPG strategy game from Lavapotion (2024) while The Banner Saga is an RPG strategy game from Stoic (2014).

Songs of Conquest

2024 · Lavapotion

7.3GamingPickz Score

$29.99

Steam: Very Positive

The Banner Saga

2014 · Stoic

7.7GamingPickz Score

$24.99

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Steam files Songs of Conquest under RPG and Strategy. In contrast, it files The Banner Saga under RPG and Strategy.

Songs of Conquest

Raise mighty armies, wield ancient magic and forge an empire. This turn-based strategy adventure game fuses strategic decision making, tactical combat and kingdom management.

Description from its Steam store page

The Banner Saga

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.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Songs of ConquestThe Banner Saga
GamingPickz Score7.3/107.7/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (86%, 13,524)Very Positive (89%, 15,950)
Critic aggregateNo aggregate80/100
Price$29.99$24.99
Install size4 GB4 GB
Steam Deckverifiedverified
Released20242014
DeveloperLavapotionStoic

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Songs of Conquest 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.

  1. Genre and premise

    Songs of ConquestRPG strategy game
    The Banner SagaRPG strategy game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Songs of ConquestLocal Multiplayer, Turn-Based Tactics, 4X
    The Banner SagaRPG, Turn-Based, Strategy

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Songs of ConquestScore 7.3 · 86% on Steam
    The Banner SagaScore 7.7 · 89% on Steam · 80 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Songs of Conquest13,524 reviews · 7 add-ons · 4 GB
    The Banner Saga15,950 reviews · 2 add-ons · 4 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Songs of Conquest$29.99
    The Banner Saga$24.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Songs of ConquestVerified
    The Banner SagaVerified

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

The Banner Saga takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Songs of Conquest 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

01000100PlayersPopularity

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.

See the whole grid

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 higher-rated of the two: The Banner Saga (GamingPickz Score 7.7)
  • The cheaper right now: The Banner Saga ($24.99)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

TacticalTurn-Based StrategyFantasyStrategy RPGStrategyAtmosphericStory RichTactical RPG

Where they differ

Songs of Conquest is also

Local MultiplayerTurn-Based Tactics4XTurn-Based CombatPixel GraphicsMagic

The Banner Saga is also

RPGTurn-BasedIndieGreat SoundtrackKickstarterChoices Matter

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Songs of Conquest is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. The Banner Saga is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

Songs of ConquestThe Banner Saga
Minimum GPUIntegrated graphics card
Minimum CPUi5 Dual Core
Minimum RAM8 GB2 GB
Install size4 GB4 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Songs of Conquest · The Banner Saga.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Songs of Conquest and 1 for The Banner Saga. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Songs of Conquest and The Banner Saga in scope?

Songs of Conquest has drawn 13,524 Steam reviews, ships 7 add-ons and installs in 4 GB. The Banner Saga has drawn 15,950 Steam reviews, ships 2 add-ons and installs in 4 GB.

Is Songs of Conquest or The Banner Saga better?

By the GamingPickz Score, The Banner Saga rates higher (7.7 to 7.3). 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, Songs of Conquest or The Banner Saga?

The Banner Saga is cheaper right now at $24.99, against $29.99. 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.

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.

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