TLDR:
Rating: Light to Strong 7/10.
Needs touching up, but has potential to be a masterpiece.
Buy it if you want a fun experience.




So. Mount and Blade II came out a few months ago, during quarantine. This game only recently started taking up my time. Why? I don't honestly know, but here we go.

(The game is unfinished and in early access. Updates are being released a lot, and content will continue to be added. I am not going to say that the game not being finished is a con.)

PROS:
- Gameplay - The combat is as it has always been, fun but a little clunky. Games like Mordhau have improved upon this concept, but Mount and Blade pioneered it. However, this game is a lot a bit different than Mordhau. Not a bad thing, but people criticizing the game for continuing to stay in the past is just silly. When you play a Mount and Blade game, you expect this kind of combat. Aside from the occasional clipping issues and hitbox faults (axes and spears disappearing through bodies mostly) combat holds MUCH more weight than in Warband. Fighting is SUPER fun when you get kinda good at it, and makes your heart race.
- Map, Travel, Battlefields - Bannerlord, while it stays in the same continent as its predecessor, (Calradia) it expands upon the kingdoms and detail in the map. Instead of bland, boring map types in the Native mode in Warband, the overworld map is detailed enough to keep my attention. It feels more alive than Warband. Caravans and war parties travel the land, and early game it is amazing to see hundreds of soldiers travelling together in armies. Even though this feeling slowly wears off over time as you progress through the game, I will never forget that original first reaction.
- Family Content - I can see what they are going with here, and I like it. You get to have a clan and create your own lineage as well. While this is still in its infant stages, I have a lot of hope for this part of the game.

PRO AND CON:
- Mods - The mod community for Warband made it what it is today. Mods took a fun canvas to mod, and blasted it to space with possibilities. Bannerlord has that same potential, and the ceiling is even higher for creators. Taleworlds has stated in the past that they would be making this game even more modder friendly.
However, this means that Taleworlds could just, you know, not improve the game and let the modders work on it. Taleworlds has consistently been releasing updates to the game, and I don't expect them to just abandon this game for how long it's been in development. It is a pro and con for this reason. I want Bannerlord to be a good game on its own AND with mods. To be able to stand on its own feet is necessary for me to consider it a good game in it's own right.

CONS:
- Stability - Here we go. While I haven't quite experienced what many people have, I have gotten my fair share of crashes and bugs. I mean, jesus, I nearly refunded the game when I first bought it because it just would not open. The overworld map has many visual and frame rate problems, with the map sometimes even disappearing in my experience. There are MANY graphical bugs. Battlefields can disappear entirely for minutes and leave you unable to see literally anything.
- AI - Warband's AI wasn't good. Neither is Bannerlord's. Formations work some of the time, however the AI can be seen freaking out at times and ruining any type of tactic you had for battle. Cavalry seem to run wherever they want when you set them to charge and advance in my experience, doing 360s and 180s, running out of the map. While this can be annoying, it seems to fix itself half the time, thankfully.
- Economy - It is SUPER hard to make money early game unless you rush to villages and help with quests. Later game can be just as hard unless you are constantly in war and selling Tier 3, 4, and 5 soldiers, along with their drops, which can be laughably bad. You get little money fighting looters early game, so the best thing to do is to run around, buy as many soldiers as you can, and do a deserter quest. Those are easy and simple to do.

Anyway, my final rating, as of now, from 1-10 would be a light to strong 7. The game, while in its unfortunately early stages has so much potential, and with that potential its hard to have to doubt Taleworlds. But if they give up on it, let modders do all the work for them, and ruin the base game with empty, useless, and brainless content, then this game will be the letdown of the past 20 years for Mount and Blade fans, along with medieval game enthusiasts. Buy it, it is a fun game, and will take up much of your time. Thanks for reading.

TLDR: Rating: Light to Strong 7/10. Needs touching up, but has potential to be a masterpiece. Buy it if you want a fun experience. So. Mount and Blade II came out a few months ago, during quarantine. This game only recently started taking up my time. Why? I don't honestly know, but here we go. (The game is unfinished and in early access. Updates are being released a lot, and content will continue to be added. I am not going to say that the game not being finished is a con.) PROS: - Gameplay - The combat is as it has always been, fun but a little clunky. Games like Mordhau have improved upon this concept, but Mount and Blade pioneered it. However, this game is a lot a bit different than Mordhau. Not a bad thing, but people criticizing the game for continuing to stay in the past is just silly. When you play a Mount and Blade game, you expect this kind of combat. Aside from the occasional clipping issues and hitbox faults (axes and spears disappearing through bodies mostly) combat holds MUCH more weight than in Warband. Fighting is SUPER fun when you get kinda good at it, and makes your heart race. - Map, Travel, Battlefields - Bannerlord, while it stays in the same continent as its predecessor, (Calradia) it expands upon the kingdoms and detail in the map. Instead of bland, boring map types in the Native mode in Warband, the overworld map is detailed enough to keep my attention. It feels more alive than Warband. Caravans and war parties travel the land, and early game it is amazing to see hundreds of soldiers travelling together in armies. Even though this feeling slowly wears off over time as you progress through the game, I will never forget that original first reaction. - Family Content - I can see what they are going with here, and I like it. You get to have a clan and create your own lineage as well. While this is still in its infant stages, I have a lot of hope for this part of the game. PRO AND CON: - Mods - The mod community for Warband made it what it is today. Mods took a fun canvas to mod, and blasted it to space with possibilities. Bannerlord has that same potential, and the ceiling is even higher for creators. Taleworlds has stated in the past that they would be making this game even more modder friendly. However, this means that Taleworlds could just, you know, not improve the game and let the modders work on it. Taleworlds has consistently been releasing updates to the game, and I don't expect them to just abandon this game for how long it's been in development. It is a pro and con for this reason. I want Bannerlord to be a good game on its own AND with mods. To be able to stand on its own feet is necessary for me to consider it a good game in it's own right. CONS: - Stability - Here we go. While I haven't quite experienced what many people have, I have gotten my fair share of crashes and bugs. I mean, jesus, I nearly refunded the game when I first bought it because it just would not open. The overworld map has many visual and frame rate problems, with the map sometimes even disappearing in my experience. There are MANY graphical bugs. Battlefields can disappear entirely for minutes and leave you unable to see literally anything. - AI - Warband's AI wasn't good. Neither is Bannerlord's. Formations work some of the time, however the AI can be seen freaking out at times and ruining any type of tactic you had for battle. Cavalry seem to run wherever they want when you set them to charge and advance in my experience, doing 360s and 180s, running out of the map. While this can be annoying, it seems to fix itself half the time, thankfully. - Economy - It is SUPER hard to make money early game unless you rush to villages and help with quests. Later game can be just as hard unless you are constantly in war and selling Tier 3, 4, and 5 soldiers, along with their drops, which can be laughably bad. You get little money fighting looters early game, so the best thing to do is to run around, buy as many soldiers as you can, and do a deserter quest. Those are easy and simple to do. Anyway, my final rating, as of now, from 1-10 would be a light to strong 7. The game, while in its unfortunately early stages has so much potential, and with that potential its hard to have to doubt Taleworlds. But if they give up on it, let modders do all the work for them, and ruin the base game with empty, useless, and brainless content, then this game will be the letdown of the past 20 years for Mount and Blade fans, along with medieval game enthusiasts. Buy it, it is a fun game, and will take up much of your time. Thanks for reading.