With Mount and Blade: Bannerlord right around the corner, I decided I wanted to do a review on Mount and Blade: Warband. First, let us talk about the new game Mount and Blade: Bannerlord, MB: BL for short, is going to be the prequel to Mount and Blade: Warband, or MB: WB for short. Set to be on the map Calradia, which is the same continent as Warband. It is set to be 200 years before Warband is, the Calradian empire has fallen apart. Your goal is to unite all of the warring factions of Calradia.
MB: WB is an open world style medieval game, your goal in single player is to conquer all of the established countries around the map and recreate the Calradian Empire. You choose what your past was, as well as your reason for going out on your quest for power. You also get the choice of which kingdom you wish to start at, as you are arriving by boat to that city of choice.
The map is divided amongst six different factions, to the northwest, we have the Kingdom of the Nords, they specialize in man-to-man fighting, as well as battle axes. They are the fiercest warriors in all of Calradia. To the west is where the Kingdom of Swadia resides, they specialize in heavy cavalry, the best horse back troops on the map. To the southwest, we have the Kingdom of Rhodoks, they have two specialized units, first, they have spearmen which lay into the cavalry, and the best crossbowmen to go with them. Now let's get to the eastern side of the map of Calradia.
To the northeast the resides the Kingdom of Vaegirs, their special units are regular archers. To the east lies the Khergit Khanate with their special unit being horseback archers seeing as they are in the mountainous terrain. To the southern most part of Calradia is the Sarrinad Sultanate living in the desert of Calradia, their special units are cavalry as well as light archers, to conquer and move quickly out of the newly conquered territory.
The combat in this game is unlike any other game, it is freestyled fighting when you go into to combat you have soldiers who fight alongside their commander, that commander is you. When in combat you can order your troops into formations and different attack stances, as well as a way to defend a location/position.
Whenever you conquer a city or castle, you get to create your kingdom, naming it whatever you want, as well as putting your own policies in place for your kingdom. The policies are about taxes to troop recruiting to who has the power in your kingdom. Conquering yourself a kingdom comes with risks, however, it comes with benefits as well. Those risks are some of the kingdoms might declare war on you to stomp out your easy nation, as well as the country you went to war with for the land.
Conclusion:
This game is phenomenal and I would recommend this to anyone who does not already own the game. Especially since Bannerlord is coming out something late this year, to early next year. This is a great game to get into and start learning how to play. Buy this game if you are looking for a new game to play, if you can wait, then get Bannerlord when the time comes.
Overall Rating:
8.5/10
Thank You for Reading!
As always I would like to thank everyone for reading if you liked this content feel free to let me know in the comments below and/or by a follow/upvote as well. I hope I showed you something new today or helped you make a decision on whether or not to get this game. Thanks again and game on!