Mount & Blade II Bannerlord, after eight long years of development, it has finally come up PC (via Steam) and despite being in early access version however, he immediately received a huge and perhaps unexpected success in terms of sales. For those unfamiliar with it we are talking about the sequel to Mount & Blade, Medieval strategic RPG released back in 2008 whose popularity over time has grown together with the fun thanks to the care put into the project by the developers, to the addition of the excellent expansion Warband and the enormous potential in terms of modding.
While waiting for the review of the final version of the game, we tried it out, noting with pleasure the good things already seen in the first chapter of the franchise as well as numerous improvements made by the guys from TaleWorlds Entertainment.
The game mechanics present in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord are very similar to those already seen in Mount & Blade: Warband. TaleWorlds evidently preferred not to distort a practically unique game formula that has already proved successful in the past. Bannerlord mixes various play styles together, resulting in a skilful mix of a medieval open world, a sandbox, an action RPG and a strategy game.
If it seems too much meat to the fire put by the guys of TaleWorlds know that you will not be disappointed and that if you are willing to accept some compromises - we are still talking about an early version title and a production that is not triple A - you will find yourself immersed in a living and pulsating world in which your every action will move the many small gears. which are the main engine of the game giving you an absolutely one-of-a-kind gaming experience.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is set in a hypothetical medieval world of the early XNUMXth century: the kingdom of Calradia. The latter, after a civil war, is in decline and the various factions present battle it out to secure a prominent place within the former empire. The main campaign of the game will then offer you the possibility of at the beginning create your character through an editor in which, in addition to modifying the aesthetic aspects, the various statistics and the bonuses, you can decide its roots or which family it comes from, its lineage and consequently to which faction it will belong.
This does not mean that as soon as you enter the game you will find yourself immediately serving the noble on duty. If you want to rebuild your clan you will have to follow at least the first quests that the game will propose to you after which you can practically decide to take your path without any restrictions whatsoever and this will be one of the winning weapons of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. Yes why the beauty of the game is precisely the fact that it is capable of offering total and absolute freedom of decision of one's actions. You can move from one part of the empire to the other by visiting small villages, large cities, castles and more. In almost all the places you visit you will find characters who from time to time will propose missions which, if completed, will earn you honor points useful to ingratiate you with the powerful nobles who manipulate the politics of the kingdom of Calradia.
While you will be busy rescuing damsels in distress, helping shepherds in distress or freeing oppressed peasants from bandits, the surrounding world as well as the politics of the kingdom will evolve. Wars will break out between the numerous and different factions, peace treaties will be signed, battles between armies and much more. You too can do your part either by joining one of the many noble clans and fighting as mercenaries or leading your clan directly by clashing with anyone you want.
However, know that, as mentioned above, your every action could lead to a reaction both on a small and large scale. And if all this is not enough for you, you should know that you can participate in tournaments held in various cities to gain fame and respect, create caravans to transport goods from one market to another, enlist unique characters in your clan who will help you on your journey and much , much more.
All fans of the medieval period will know that life at that time was very hard and that to conquer a position of privilege it was very often necessary to use force and weapons. This will, without a doubt, also be one of the strengths of the game as very soon you will find yourself on the battlefield ready to lead your small group of men and then, with the growth of your fame, your honor and above all your money, you can even afford a fully armed army composed of knights, archers, infantry and siege weapons.
It will be one thing to challenge small groups of fierce bandits and another will be to face a rival army. In Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord you may find yourself commanding an army of 500 men divided in turn into different classes and units and manageable in real time by pressing a few keys with which you can order them where to position themselves, in what way, if attack or stay on the defensive. Even in this case, a right or wrong choice could make the difference between an epic victory or a heavy defeat with all that will then entail in terms of fame and reputation.
You too with your PG you can throw yourself into the fray but if you think that compulsively clicking on the left mouse button is enough to inflict blows to the right and to the left you are wrong. The management of attacks and parries in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord will take place in a directional way based on the posture of your character as well as at the right times. The AI, although the game is still in the early access phase, behaves in a credible way and takes advantage of your every wrong move to punish you and try to get you out of the scene prematurely.
At the same time, by mastering this system, it will be very rewarding to defeat the enemies of the moment. In short, even the combat system studied by the TaleWorlds guys works really well although sometimes there are imperfections or glitches on a graphic level but on which you can also turn a blind eye since we are not always talking about the final version of the game.
What a game set in the Middle Ages would be without the spectacular besieging castles? This aspect is also naturally present in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord and both in terms of pure combat and graphics it really is spectacular. Trebuchets, catapults, ballistae and fiery arrows that pass over your head while you are busy breaking through the doors of the castle with the ram will not leave you indifferent.
We guarantee that the level of involvement will be very high and we do not exclude that the victory of a siege to a can give you feedback and a sense of satisfaction that other video games will hardly be able to give you. We also add that the sector is also present in the game multiplayer which, challenging armies led by opponents in the flesh, increase - and not a little - the possibilities of differentiating the fun that the game as a whole is able to offer.
From a purely technical and graphic point of view we unfortunately noticed some imperfections especially during the clash phase such as interpenetration and sometimes questionable choices of the AI but we are sure that the guys of TaleWorlds will be able to solve before releasing the final version of the game of the which, surely, we will deal in a thorough review. The graphics engine of the game, at the maximum level of detail, often puts the hardware in difficulty, a sign of an optimization to be worked on and on some occasions we have even noticed sudden drops in frame rates especially in the most crowded situations.
Perhaps the fans of the first chapter of the franchise expected some more substantial news than Warband but there is still time as, and we reiterate it once again, we are talking about a title developed by a small software house and moreover released on the market still under development. Given the care with which TaleWorlds is working on the project and the constant correction of errors through small patches on an almost daily basis, it is reasonable to expect improvements from all points of view even in the short term. Not to mention that the broad support for mods - as already happened for Mount & Blade: Warband - will certainly make the game a further qualitative leap.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord proposes the winning formula of the predecessor and improves many aspects while remaining unique in its kind. At first glance it may seem like a somewhat dated title but the appearance, as you know, often deceives since once you enter the mechanics of the game you will soon find yourself involved in a living world full of surprises that will keep you glued to the monitor of your PC for a long time. Despite the presence of a main plot it was the complete and total freedom of action that gave us a unique feeling in which we truly felt the protagonists of our destiny. While not free from defects, more or less evident, on which we are quite sure that TaleWorlds will work, we can say that playing Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord you breathe a true medieval atmosphere made of battles, honor, betrayals and politics and blows. stage will always be around the corner. The enormous and perhaps unexpected success that this title is obtaining after the launch on Steam is certainly synonymous with a good job done with care and dedication and that can only improve thanks to the potential offered by the mods that fans will not be long in giving to many fans.
► Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is an RPG-Simulation-Adventure game developed and published by TaleWorlds for PC, the video game was released on 30/03/2020
