Here Are the Most Important Facts You need To Know about Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord
Mount and Blade 2 Release Date: late 2016
Mount and Blade 2. Just reading those words fills me with excitement. Its predecessor was such an incredible hit back in 2007. For those who missed it, it is a medieval-styled action/rpg/strategy game. Mount and Blade I was famous for its excellent gameplay and strategic choice when entering combat, such as the number of troops to bring; which angle to enter the combat from and whether to play all-out offensively, or a little evasively. what do you mean by strategic choice? ; and so Mount and Blade II will definitely be developing on this. TaleWorlds (the Turkish developers responsible for the series) understand what their followers need in this Action-Strategy game, and boy it does look like they are delivering.
How long exactly has the game been in development? Well, those with astute memory skills ( or if you’re like me, basic Google-ing skills) will remember back in 2012 at the E3 conference it was announced to be coming out, but there was no specific release date in mind. Now we know that it will be released late 2016, we have a rough idea of the development time- about 4 years or so.
Mount and Blade 2 Trailers
Now, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a Gameplay trailer? Well that’s worth its digital weight in gold to an avid fan! So, because I just love to pander to the readers, I have decided to include the gameplay footage that was released recently. Enjoy!
Release teaser trailer:
Gameplay footage ( Extended edition):
Now we are slowly approaching the coolest part about this- what can we see from the gameplay footage here?
The footage of the siege is only part of the game as a whole, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t turn out to be the most popular part on-line. The strategy options available are innumerable and detailed. At the beginning when planning the siege, you can set where the catapults will launch; where the siege towers will roll in from; the battering ram’s position, and a whole host of other actions pertaining to the strategy of the warring soldiers. The ability to modify the battle-plan adds an amazing dimension to the game, and makes it feel as though you genuinely ARE planning a method of attack, with every small decision being of the utmost importance and consequence.
The footage further shows us the player interaction with the world. An important part of all MMORPG’s, particularly nowadays, is seeing that what your character does actually has an impact on the game. A question I certainly knew I had was if you could interact with the war machines. I loved the idea of actually watching your soldier struggle to move the machine on his own; to watch him load the catapult (not a trébuchet, I checked) and to recoil when it fires. All these things are true of the game, and that adds to its credibility of being a worthy follow up to the original.
On the topic of war machines; the catapults, the siege towers, the ladders and the battering ram all actually interact with the world as well as the players. For example, if an irritating archer is camping at the top of the castle, firing down his blasted arrows of OP doom; then simply aiming the catapult his way, launching your own rock of fiery death and watching is incredibly rewarding. Even if it doesn’t cause any damage to the camper, the scenery you’ve hit actually breaks off, destroying his salvation whilst simultaneously freeing your soldiers to get to work on turning him into a weeping pin-cushion.
Mount and Blade 2 Gameplay - How the Game Works
Mount and Blade II gives you a lot of freedom with regards to what you can achieve, we’ll start from the beginning.
What factions are playable? What is unique about each faction?
There are several factions available in Mount and Blade II, each with their own heritage and general appearance traits. For example, there are the Vlandians, who are said to be highly skilled on horseback, and are feudal lords looking for complete dominance. Alternatively, there are the Battanians, who are much more about guerrilla warfare. They rely on ambushes and surprise attacks from the forests, simultaneously fearsomely screaming. The various factions all have clans within them, and there are a few “mini-factions” such as the barbarians, who add to sandbox feel. At the beginning of the game, there are a few quests that are interrelated, giving you some reasons as to why to side with one clan or another.
The character creation is the first aspect of the game you have complete control with. When in the menu, you can select from hundreds of different features available to make your Banner Lord truly unique. Ranging from a full spectrum of facial features, to skin tone, teeth prominence, hair and body build, it really does seem limitless how you can design your dream character- even choosing between voices and genders is thrown into the arsenal of creativity. Pick a feature to adjust (say, jaw line) and simply drag the sliders to the desired value to change the prominence to a super-strong, stoic jaw, or to an invisible, your-face-looks-round jaw. Quick, efficient and fun.
Check out the level of detail in this character creation!
Once you’ve laboured meticulously over this and are happy with your select hero, you can finally enter the world map.
From the world map, you can see a wealth of information about different locations. For example, you can see which faction the settlement belongs to; how many are in its’ population; how much money it has, along with a whole list of NPC’s of interest. There are innumerable options with regards to which location to go to first; which path to take; how many troops to bring with you etc. So it really has been left up to the player as to what they want to do. When you’re travelling, you will often see contingents of people wandering about (often barbarians) who essentially act as bullies in villages- which holds up economic production. To attack them it’s a simple matter of clicking their icon and selecting the attack options.
Once the combat begins, the real differences between this instalment and its’ older brother become clear. The attack animations are so much smoother, so when you’re swinging a sword it looks like just that- a person swinging a sword. You have control strategically, being able to place your soldier into tactical positions whilst still in combat. The archery is streamlined and the damage is calculated on genuine successful hits. An example of the combat system can be found here, against a gaggle of bandits in the countryside:
Earning money in the villages comes in a variety of different ways. Firstly of course, there’s bartering, as per standard in these types of games. Buying and selling items of value and you can get that cold hard cash. There are however, a few other manners in which to earn money. You can purchase property, and sit on the collecting revenue. Or, there is the option to make money the slightly-less legal way. You can join crime guilds to rob; murder and steal goods, making sweet income in dark ways. Again, it’s really up to however the player wants to act- and that’s the greatest aspect of Mount and Blade II. Free choice.
(The barter and customisation menu)
Excitingly enough, there are a vast variety of ways you’ll be able to customise your swords. With literally hundreds of varied options with weight, style, material and balance, there is literally no limit to what you can do if you can think it up. I cannot wait to see what sort of coo-coo crazy designs get brought out with innovative players, and if perhaps the cosmetic of the weapons actually changes its damage capabilities. If Mount and Blade II incorporates basic physics to the extent that a heavy weapon takes longer to swing and smaller blades attack practically constantly, then I might just wet myself a little in shameless excitement. (Well, maybe a little shame as I waddle to the nearest restroom)
Latest News
We’re always on the lookout for more information about new releases with these games; and the great thing about the internet is that someone has always already done the work for you. In this case, that ‘someone’ is me. Below, I’ve included a few helpful links an interested future Bannerlord might want to check out.
Firstly, the Facebook page here will give you snippets of life in the world of Mount&Blade II; and the admins of the site are constantly posting link to their updated blogs:
Also, in case you prefer the easy option to getting the latest updates, I’ve been thoughtful for you and included a direct link to their blog and media, where new information is being released constantly about M&BII ( You can thank me whenever you like) :
Mount and Blade 2 Price
Anyone who has ever used a PC for gaming knows about Steam. Currently the price for the pre-order of Mount and Blade 2 is £30 (just about $40 US) and I cannot oversell this incredible marvel of a game. It has everything one could possibly need to put themselves firmly in the shoes of a hero of war, and so much more. The minimum requirements to play the game are as follows:
OS: Windows Xp 32
CPU: Corei3-560 3.3GHz/ Phenom II X4 805
RAM: 4 GB
GPU: GeForce GT 730 v2 / Radeon R7 240 v2 2GB
HDD: 15 GB
Considering it has been said already that in the gameplay there are 500 characters all moving simultaneously, and there’s scope for even more, being boosted right the way up to 1000 simultaneously, the requirements are incredibly modest.
If you are new to this style of game, then I could not recommend a better game to introduce you to RPG/ Strategy gaming style by the looks of things. Not since Halo Wars have I been so impressed with such style of gaming- though this a touch different of course.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest information, and any comments/questions/ theories etc. About the game, do post in the comments! Healthy debate is encouraged amongst the ZyonNation!
Hold tight for the next few months, it’s shaping up to be a helluva ride!
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