The Banner Saga: Factions soft-launched by Stoic, launching publicly Feb. 25

The Banner Saga: Factions developer Stoic Games soft-launched the game earlier this week, making it available exclusively to backers until the public launch Feb. 25.

Factions is the standalone multiplayer title related to The Banner Saga, which will launch later this year with a full single-player component.

Any progress players make during the soft-launch week will carry over to the public Factions release. The studio called the Factions launch "the first major milestone on the road to success, explaining that it can shift its focus to the single-player game now that Factions is out.

"We've effectively worked out the thick and thin of combat and we're soon on to travel and conversation outlined in the previous update, and thus, the [single-player] campaign," said Stoic.

Check out our preview of the Kickstarter-funded strategy RPG for more details.