Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord Preview

When Mount & Blade: Warband released back in 2010 it attracted a large following. The medieval setting, coupled with deep tactical gameplay that required you to conquer villages and plunder the land enthralled players, and for good reason. Now fans will be able to do it all over again with Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. I got to see a lot of the game at gamescom this year and it looks to be an expansive title, which improves upon many aspects of its predecessor.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is a prequel set 200 years before Warband. The video we were shown was an impressive developer blog showing off many of the new and improved features that the game has. Perhaps the most impressive and interesting feature is the way villages interact with each other. Within the world of Calradia each village has a lord who can manage the way how the village operates. Villages work with resources and lords of different villages can barter with each other. This allows them to change significantly over time, altering the map and the economic landscape.

You can also assign work projects at villages of your own and manage resources and taxes. Work projects include building farms, mines and even a castle which will make your village more defensible. You will have to trade resources with other villages creating a supply and demand around the map. The allocation of taxes is an important part of village management as all of these things can affect the morale of villagers. If your townsfolk lose too much morale then there is a high chance of them rebelling.

During the briefing we were told that the game is described as an RPG Action Strategy/Combat Simulator title. There are no fantasy elements to the combat and you’ll quickly die if you charge into battle, swinging your weapon wildly. The combat looks to be a slow, deliberate, yet tense affair that will task players. Blocking is essential and timing your swing is important if you are to avoid taking unnecessary damage. Siege weapons are also fully controllable by the player and the A.I, placing them takes place through a deployment screen.

Visually, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord looks superb, with dynamic lighting and detailed textures being obvious upon viewing. Cities look fantastic and environments are realistic, with the medieval setting looking alive and authentic. There’s also an in depth character creation tool where we were shown the varieties of people you can make. The developers have said that one of their aim was to improve on the visuals and the animations. Whilst this is certainly the case, some animations did look stiff, particularly during combat.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord looks like it’s a serious undertaking by developers Taleworlds Entertainment. The depth of the game, which includes saving the world, conquering villages, resource management, large scale combat and more, will nevertheless be something that fans are eager for, judging from the following of the previous titles in the series. No release date has been given but Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord looks likes it will satisfy players of the series in more ways than expected.