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 full of 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 to the game, 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 multiplayer modes. In creating the game’s cultures, their lifestyles, weapons, and gear, the developers drew on features of the Celts, Vikings, Rus', late Romans, and other ethnic groups 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 limitless: 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 common folk, but it’s not mandatory — being a hermit is also allowed.

The events of Bannerlord unfold in an alternative 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 rugged, and the new engine has allowed for more details and a diverse environment. There is a change of day and night, types of weather, and seasons, and the environment reacts accordingly — NPC activity decreases at night or in winter.

Key points of interest are towns (production and trade), castles (safety), and the villages associated with them (resource gathering), offering the player procedurally generated quests based on various templates. And between them, the fields are open — you might encounter ambushing bandits, marching armies of feudal lords, or distressed merchants. The player is free to wander as they please, but the terrain and season affect movement speed.

Calradia is inhabited by various ethnic groups forming five main game factions, each with its strengths in military and civilian matters. As is customary in feudal states, the population is divided into estates — peasants, traders, manufacturers, warriors, above them are the nobility and noble lords, and everything is ruled 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, 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. Loyal former vassals - neighbors have declared independence and are aggressively seizing the lands of the Empire.

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

At the time of the game's release in early access on Steam, the story was dedicated to 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 operate 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 at character creation with the advanced editor:

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

The hero development system is complex and multi-faceted. There is an overall character level and 6 main attributes that improve with level growth (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.

The main skills have their own development system; their active use increases their level, granting focus points that enhance the quality of the skill. Passive perks also unlock, providing very powerful bonuses to character capabilities.

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 or assist the population. Lords unite to seize power. Industrialists introduce barriers and eliminate competitors. Traders amass fortunes through speculation. Peasants from neighboring villages feud and thirst for blood vengeance. Gangs of bandits operate in cities, which can band together and terrorize travelers.

All these conflicts and disputes generate numerous quests that require the player to possess a variety of skills and abilities, creating vast opportunities for role-playing, with significant influence from 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 can ransom a prisoner, while a warrior will cut the kidnappers to pieces.

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

A separate system for army development is provided — both in terms of soldier levels and the quality of their equipment. In addition to regular NPCs that serve as cannon fodder, the player can recruit companions, NPC characters with their own motivations and roles in the squad, who can sever 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 influence within the chosen faction through dynastic marriages, intrigues, and backroom struggles.

The management and arrangement capabilities of settlements have been expanded to the level of city-building strategies. Excess gold is spent on building useful structures 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 is released: