Mount & Blade has earned itself a fairly large fan following over the years and it’s easy to see why. While it certainly doesn’t hold up graphically, twelve years after its initial release the game still has a diehard community of players and modders that have kept it alive longer than most would have expected. I’ve put my fair share of hours into it, loving how fluid and open-ended the game is. It’s one of the few RPGs that really can gloat about letting you do whatever you want as the opportunities to take whatever career path are bountiful. The sequel, first announced back in 2016, has been tickling and titillating fans for ages now with a series of delays, consistently pushing the release date further and further away. That’s no longer the case as Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has been confirmed for an early access release on March 31.
While developer TaleWorlds has yet to reveal what content will be available in the early access version of the game, they have confirmed that Bannerlord will be available on both Steam and the Epic Games Store and will retail at $49.99, so at the time of writing that will be roughly R750. While Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord has been designed to be as open-ended as possible as a way to prompt players to do whatever they want within the game’s massive sandbox, there is a story at play here. Set approximately 200 years before the kingdom conquering of the first Mount & Blade, players will be able to take an active role in the fall of the Calradian Empire and choose sides and factions in the impending chaos.
I got some hands-on time with Bannerlord at Gamescom 2019 and was mighty impressed with what was on offer. Take a look at my preview here!
Last Updated: February 21, 2020
