So, due to Corona. the release has been changed.
See below:
I was about to flip a table until I saw it was a day early.
Hahaha same
You aren’t alone :-D
Taleworlds announcement took FOREVER to get to the point!
Greetings warriors of Calradia!
After eight years of blood, sweat, and tears, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord’s Early Access release is finally upon us. In just a few short days you will be able to gird on your sword, don your armour, summon your followers and ride forth to win glory on the battlefields of Calradia!
But before we move on to discuss the release of the game, we want to take a moment to talk about the current coronavirus pandemic. It probably goes without saying, but this certainly isn’t the scenario we envisaged for the release of the game. However, we have tried to make the best of a bad situation and thankfully, with the help of our IT team, have been able to continue work on the project from home. This has come with its own challenges of course, but we are still very grateful and lucky to work in an industry where it is possible to work remotely, which we know isn’t the case for many of you. It might seem like a pretty ideal time to release a game (after all, everyone is at home right!?), but we know that the current situation has placed a lot of people in a difficult position when it comes to balancing their finances and risking their health.
With that in mind, we have decided to make the game available for 10% off for the first two weeks of sale. In addition to this, anyone who owns any previous Mount & Blade title will be eligible for an additional 10% off in select digital stores. Also, you can breathe a sigh of relief because there won’t be a delay… In fact, quite the opposite! We have decided to bring forward the release of the game to 10.00 am UTC, March 30th.
So, you know the release date and the price, but what content is included in the Early Access release?
In singleplayer, you will have access to Custom Battle and Campaign game modes. Campaign is a new and somewhat more structured approach to the Mount & Blade experience that blends a storyline and key events with the traditional sandbox gameplay that our players are familiar with. Campaign aims to provide players with clear goals and missions that can lead to a successful conclusion to a playthrough. However, if you refuse to take any direction and prefer to plot your own rise to power, you can simply ignore the campaign missions and go about your business!
During a campaign playthrough you will do most of the things that you would expect from a Mount & Blade game, including creating your own character with their own backstory; exploring a vast, re-envisioned continent of Calradia; hiring companions to accompany you on your journey; raising warbands and armies to devastate your enemies on the battlefield; conquering towns and castles; progressing your character skills and equipment; learning and mastering the game’s much-improved combat mechanics; and commanding and fighting alongside your troops; among a host of other things, many of which have been featured in previous blog posts!
And while there is definitely plenty of content for players to dive into and enjoy, we must be clear in reminding you that this is an Early Access release. There may be bugs and glitches, there will certainly be balancing issues, some features may be missing or currently disabled, and certain aspects of the game might not receive full-support until later down the line. You can expect to see reused scenes (our eventual aim is that each town and castle will have its own unique scene) as well as other types of placeholder content, such as voice lines, animations, quests, etc.
In terms of multiplayer content, you can expect a continuation of the recent multiplayer beta, which features 4 different game modes: Skirmish, Captain, Team Deathmatch, and Siege. We will continue to work on multiplayer throughout Early Access by introducing new features, game modes, and other additional content. We expect to enable our community to host private servers closer to the full release of the game.
Our current plan is to localize the game into the following languages: French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Spanish and Turkish. However, during EA, localisations for these languages may be missing entirely or may be incomplete. Other languages may be added later.
If you would like to experience everything that Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has to offer, then we strongly encourage you to hold off on buying the game until the full-release.
Finally, we would like to announce that we are officially drawing a close to this series of blogs. With the game on the verge of release, we would prefer to switch our attention and limited resources to work alongside our community. Of course, if we feel that we have something newsworthy or a new feature that we want to highlight and discuss, we will share a post, but for now, this will be our last scheduled blog post.
We wish you all the best during these difficult times and hope you and your family stay safe. Now go wash your hands!
So I haven’t been following the long development but I did really like the first game.
This is going to be great, right? Anyone in the multiplayer beta or watched much youtube footage?
I am in the MP beta - havent played much though, since its a mode I have little interest in. Its the same game, more or less, just a lot prettier and better looking.
There is a new siege multiplayer mode though, with 120 people which looks like a ton of fun!
Are the controls better? I thought they were terrible in the first.
Haha, then I doubt you will like these. Its pretty much the same.
The thing about Mount & Blade , at least warband, which is what I have some experience with, is that they are deceptive. You can do a LOT more than you realize at first, which is probably also why you find them terrible I suspect. Most people play with automated swings and shield directions, but you can disable that and do lots of interesting, and clever stuff. Its quite difficult though.
For me, the commanding has always been the most interesting - I just join where I can see I will do the most damage, but let my army do most of the intense battling.
Personally, I didnt find the controls much different than I warband, but I know a lot of people complain about them - They have a slight delay, and there are some things you used to be able to do, you cant do anymore. Its the way it always is when a sequel appears - some want it to be the exact same system as before, and others want new things. Cést la vie!
I will say though - once you get a game going the first time, its really easy to lose tens of hours, if not hundreds, trying to achieve world domination in these games. Especially in the mods (Shoutout here to the finest mod ever made - Prophecy of Pendor!).
That’s disappointing, I kept reading how they allegedly improved combat. Ah well.
I can’t wait to read some first impressions of single player tomorrow. If it’s not terrible I’ll buy it, I really like this franchise. :)
Well, maybe its different in single player?
I honestly dont think its bad - its kinda like those dark souls games, where you have to work a bit to understand it. Or maybe I am just used to it after 400 hours of playing the game :-)
I seriously doubt its terrible!
The game is out, and GMG has a VIP voucher giving 26% off.
I hope the improved the campaign AI, where the a faction with your help (without you doing all the work) will eventually win. One thing that pissed me off about the old AI was when you were riding around with a bunch of lord, they would often stand around for days doing nothing or ride around forever raiding villages and then the campaign would end with nothing being accomplished.
Lol - 87,725 playing right now on steam :-D Thats the 9th most played game on steam.
I’ll most likely play it tonight and let you now what I think. ;)
I purchased and installed it before work this morning. I played two quick skirmishes.
Yep, it’s Mount & Blade.
143,697 - 6th most played on steam. Thats rather amazing. I still say, that I dont understand why this particular type of game /genre, isn’t picked up by anyone else. Clearly there is a massive market for it, and not half-assed look-alikes that only focus on multiplayer.
Very interested in hearing impressions on SP campaign for this one, as I very much hope they didn’t spend the better part of a decade just making a prettier version of the same game.