Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is the continuation of the series of role-playing action games set in a fictional medieval world with numerous battles. Horns are blowing, 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 boundless fields of Calradia. You can expect dynamic seasonal changes, crafting, and a global economic system. Battles have also evolved — siege weapons, which you can control, have been added to the game.

A hybrid third-person action-RPG 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 periods. The game offers several different multiplayer modes. When creating the in-game cultures, their lifestyles, weapons, and equipment, the developers drew on traits of the Celts, Vikings, Rus, late Romans, and other European peoples.

The gameplay concept is straightforward: a ragged character is thrown into the world and offered to hustle, earn capital, and build a reputation. The possibilities are not limited: 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 peasants, but it is not mandatory — being a hermit is also allowed.

The action of Bannerlord takes place in an alternate reality, on the vast continent of Calradia, containing most known biomes — forests and green meadows; rivers, oceans, and seas; plains and steppes; mountains and dangerous ridges. The landscape has become more rugged, and the new engine has allowed for more details and a more diverse environment. There is a change of time of day, weather types, 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 (security), and associated villages (resource extraction), offering the player procedurally generated tasks based on different templates. And in between, there are open fields — you might encounter ambushing robbers, marching feudal armies, or distressed merchants. The player is free to wander as they wish, but the terrain and time of year affect movement speed.

Calradia is inhabited by different peoples, forming five main factions, each with its strengths in military and civil spheres. As befits feudal states, the population is divided into estates — peasants, merchants, manufacturers, warriors, above them the nobility and noble lords, and everything is governed by a king, khan, or sultan. The player can establish relationships with all and even pledge allegiance over time.

The events of Bannerlord start 200 years before Mount & Blade: Warband, in the era of the fall of the Calradian Empire, whose prototype is the Roman Empire. With the death of the last emperor, a political crisis ensued, 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 Imperial lands.

The plot in Bannerlord is given more attention than in previous games, but it will still be functional: in an interactive form, it will teach the player the basics of trading, combat, squad management, and character development, forcing them to visit all of Calradia. At first, the character is a grain of sand in the chaos, but over time will play a key role.

At the time of the game's early access release on Steam, the plot was dedicated to the question of whether to preserve the Empire or destroy it. The developers promise to add an extensive main storyline with numerous secondary 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 already at character creation thanks to an advanced editor:

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

The character development system is complex and multi-component. There is a general character level and 6 main attributes, which improve with level growth (for which you need to complete quests and gain experience). Each attribute is responsible for three main skills (18 in total). In the spirit of Skyrim, all skills slowly level up with use; the more you fight in battle, the faster and more accurately the character wields the sword, the more you trade, the more discounts and higher margins from buying and selling.

The main skills have their own development system; with active use, the level grows, giving focus points that enhance the skill's quality. Passive perks also open up, providing very powerful bonuses to the character's abilities.

Bannerlord has a new, much more complex and well-thought-out life simulation system; the sandbox is completely autonomous without player involvement. States start and end wars. Rulers terrorize or help the population. Lords unite to seize power. Industrialists introduce barriers and eliminate competitors. Merchants make fortunes on speculation. Peasants from neighboring villages feud and crave blood vengeance. In cities, gangs of bandits operate, which can unite into bands and terrorize travelers.

All these conflicts and disputes generate numerous quests, requiring the player to have a wide range of skills and abilities, creating a vast space for role-playing with a significant influence of randomness. The player can't help everywhere, although Bannerlord leaves room for maneuver—different situations can be resolved in different ways based on the character's skills. For instance, a merchant will ransom a prisoner, while a warrior will chop the kidnappers to pieces.

Боевая система отдаленно напоминает Total War: герой набирает армию их четырех типов войск (пехота, кавалерия, лучники и осадная техника), а во время боя отдает команды, но действует от первого лица, то есть находится в одном ряду с братьями по оружию.

Предусмотрена отдельная система развития армии – как по уровню солдат, так и по качеству их оснащения. Кроме обычных NPC, выполняющих роль пушечного мяса, игрок может набрать соратников, NPC-персонажей со своей мотивацией и местом в отряде, способных разорвать отношения, если игрок в чем-то сильно напортачит.

Улучшены политические возможности. Игрок может провозгласить собственное государство и выдержать натиск нежелающих видеть еще одного феодала соседей. Либо принять вассалитет и прирастать влиянием внутри выбранной фракции путем династических браков, интриг и подковерной борьбы.

До уровня градостроительных стратегий расширены возможности по управлению и обустройству поселения. Излишки золота тратятся на строительство полезных для города и деревень зданий, увеличение производств и торговых маршрутов, укрепление стен и охрану порядка.

Сетевой режим Bannerlord является самостоятельной игрой, не зависящей от достижений в одиночной кампании, со своей системой классов и развития, ориентированной на умения игроков, уникальность каждого персонажа и ассиметричный баланс.

На момент появления Bannerlord в раннем доступе Steam в мультиплеере четыре режима, но их число, как и геймплейные возможности, будут расти и после релиза полной версии: