Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is a continuation of the series of role-playing action games set in a fictional medieval world filled with battles. Horns are sounding, and crows are gathering in flocks. The Empire is torn apart by civil war. New kingdoms are being born beyond its borders. Take up your sword, don your armor, gather loyal allies, and set out to seek glory on the endless fields of Calradia. You can expect dynamic seasonal changes, crafting, and a global economy system. Battles have also changed — siege weapons have been added, which you can control.

A hybrid action-RPG from a third-person perspective and real-time strategy, a sandbox in a vast open world, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is set in a pure medieval setting with some elements from later times. The game offers several different online modes. When creating the game’s cultures, their way of life, weapons, and equipment, the developers drew on the traits of Celts, Vikings, Rus, late Romans, and other ethnicities of Europe.

The gameplay concept is straightforward: a ragged character is thrown into the world and is encouraged to hustle, earn capital, and build a reputation. The possibilities are endless: you can be a greedy merchant, a valiant warrior, an honest worker, a cunning politician, or a mercenary thug. All for the sake of rising above the crowd of commoners, but it’s not mandatory — being a hermit is also allowed.

The action of Bannerlord takes place in an alternate reality on the vast continent of Calradia, which contains most of the known biomes — forests and green meadows; rivers, oceans, and seas; plains and steppes; mountains and dangerous ridges. The landscape has become more varied, and the new engine has allowed for more details and diverse environments. There is a change of time of day, weather conditions, and seasons, with the environment reacting accordingly — NPC activity decreases at night or in winter.

The main points of interest are cities (production and trade), castles (safety), and the associated villages (resource gathering), offering the player quests generated from various templates. And in between, the fields are open — you might encounter ambushing robbers, marching armies of feudal lords, or distressed traders. The player is free to roam as they wish, but the terrain and time of year affect movement speed.

Calradia is inhabited by various ethnicities, forming five main playable factions, each with its strengths in military and civil matters. As is typical of feudal states, the population is divided into estates — peasants, merchants, manufacturers, warriors, above them are the nobility and noble lords, and everything is governed by a king, khan, or sultan. Players can establish relationships with all of them and even eventually pledge allegiance.

The events of Bannerlord begin 200 years before Mount & Blade: Warband, during the era of the fall of the Calradian Empire, which is inspired by the Roman Empire. With the death of the last emperor, a political crisis arose, dividing the Calradian nobility into three warring factions and plunging the country into the chaos of civil war. Formerly loyal vassals - neighbors declared independence and aggressively seized the lands of the Empire.

The storyline in Bannerlord has received more attention than in previous games, but it will still be functional: it will teach the player the basics of trade, combat, squad management, and character development in an interactive way, compelling them to explore all of Calradia. At first, the character is just a grain of sand in the midst of chaos, but over time they will play a key role.

At the time of the game's early access release on Steam, the plot was focused on the question of whether to preserve the Empire or to destroy it. The developers promise to add an extensive main storyline with numerous side quests. All of this will work independently of the sandbox mode, which the player will be released into a couple of hours after starting the game.

Role-playing in Bannerlord begins right at character creation with an advanced editor:

The last four points determine starting parameters and equipment, throwing the character into the game world not entirely empty-handed.

The hero development system is complex and multi-faceted. There is an overall character level and 6 main attributes that improve as the level increases (for which quests must be completed and experience gained). Each attribute corresponds to three main skills (a total of 18). In the spirit of Skyrim, all skills slowly improve with use; the more you fight in combat, the faster and more accurately the character wields a sword, the more you trade, the greater the discounts and higher the margins from buying and selling.

Each main skill has its own development system; with active use, the level increases, granting focus points that enhance the quality of the skill. Passive perks are also unlocked, providing very powerful bonuses to the character's abilities.

Bannerlord features a new, much more complex and thoughtful life simulation system; the sandbox is fully autonomous without player involvement. States start and end wars. Rulers terrorize the population or assist them. Lords unite to seize power. Industrialists introduce barriers and eliminate competitors. Traders make a fortune on speculation. Peasants from neighboring villages feud and thirst for blood revenge. In cities, gangs of bandits operate, which can unite into groups and terrorize travelers.

All these conflicts and disputes create numerous quests that require various skills and abilities from the player, generating a vast space for role-playing, with a significant influence of randomness. Not everywhere can the player help, although Bannerlord leaves room for maneuver — different situations can be resolved in various ways depending on what the character can do. For example, a trader may buy back a captive, while a warrior may chop the kidnappers to pieces.

The combat system vaguely resembles Total War: the hero gathers an army of four types of troops (infantry, cavalry, archers, and siege equipment), and during battle gives commands but acts from the first person, meaning they are in the same line as their comrades-in-arms.

A separate army development system is provided — both in terms of soldier levels and the quality of their equipment. Besides ordinary NPCs serving as cannon fodder, the player can recruit companions, NPC characters with their own motivations and roles in the squad, capable of severing ties if the player makes significant mistakes.

Political opportunities have been improved. The player can proclaim their own state and withstand the pressure of neighbors who do not wish to see another feudal lord. Alternatively, they can accept vassalage and grow in influence within the chosen faction through dynastic marriages, intrigues, and behind-the-scenes struggles.

The management and arrangement capabilities of settlements have been expanded to the level of city-building strategies. Excess gold is spent on constructing buildings beneficial for cities and villages, increasing production and trade routes, strengthening walls, and maintaining order.

The multiplayer mode of Bannerlord is a standalone game, independent of achievements in the single-player campaign, with its own class and development system focused on player skills, the uniqueness of each character, and asymmetric balance.

At the time of Bannerlord's early access release on Steam, there are four multiplayer modes, but their number, as well as gameplay possibilities, will grow even after the full version release: