Mount and Blade: Bannerlord is still not really worth your money, but it could be given a bit more time.

After a number of bug fix passes I am happy to say the game no longer refuses to close down or causes Steam to crash when forced to close via task manager, but frankly that should not be praise worthy.

Regardless I have yet to get into any particularly large battles in campaign yet, though if it runs as smoothly as custom battles then it is obvious they've been doing quite a bit of optimizing in the background.

Particularly in regard to the length of load screens, which are about twice as quick now, their proclivity however especially if one is doing missions is still a bit much, frankly the use of more windows would be preferable to loading a map just to talk to someone, even if it was a feature of the previous games. After all I shouldn't have to load a map just to tell a bunch of looters to surrender or die for the hundredth time, or reload the same map to tell a merchant to mind his own business.

Beyond that, while they are certainly whittling away at the list of bugs and exploits, it is still quite large, not to mention there are bound to be quite a few balancing passes in the future, as some units have skills that don't reflect their tier or equipment, while others are basically unusable.

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OLD REVIEW
As much as I once loved Mount and Blade Warband: Bannerlord is not currently worth your money.

Between the innumerable minute long loading screens, utterly abysmal optimization, and a list of bugs so long it should be a forum unto itself, the minor improvements to graphics, combat, or control matter not, as you won't really get to enjoy it beneath the quagmire of inadequacy.

So try back next year, or better yet when it goes on sale for more than a 20% discount.

Mount and Blade: Bannerlord is still not really worth your money, but it could be given a bit more time. After a number of bug fix passes I am happy to say the game no longer refuses to close down or causes Steam to crash when forced to close via task manager, but frankly that should not be praise worthy. Regardless I have yet to get into any particularly large battles in campaign yet, though if it runs as smoothly as custom battles then it is obvious they've been doing quite a bit of optimizing in the background. Particularly in regard to the length of load screens, which are about twice as quick now, their proclivity however especially if one is doing missions is still a bit much, frankly the use of more windows would be preferable to loading a map just to talk to someone, even if it was a feature of the previous games. After all I shouldn't have to load a map just to tell a bunch of looters to surrender or die for the hundredth time, or reload the same map to tell a merchant to mind his own business. Beyond that, while they are certainly whittling away at the list of bugs and exploits, it is still quite large, not to mention there are bound to be quite a few balancing passes in the future, as some units have skills that don't reflect their tier or equipment, while others are basically unusable. ... OLD REVIEW As much as I once loved Mount and Blade Warband: Bannerlord is not currently worth your money. Between the innumerable minute long loading screens, utterly abysmal optimization, and a list of bugs so long it should be a forum unto itself, the minor improvements to graphics, combat, or control matter not, as you won't really get to enjoy it beneath the quagmire of inadequacy. So try back next year, or better yet when it goes on sale for more than a 20% discount.