The combat feel is identical in almost all ways. Climbing the steps of a Lord’s Keep ready to once more swear my allegiance in the hopes of future lands and glory.Īnd despite 15 or so years since that time, playing Mount & Blade 2 transported me back there immediately. I had pledged my allegiance to the Swadians, I’d had a few villages placed under my control - and yeah sure - they weren’t doing so well just yet - and I’d participated in a number of Castle sieges as a vassal to my lord.

I had just started to get the hang of the game, how to appropriately aim weapons while mounted and starting to feel like a battle-God of the field.

I was playing Mount and Blade extensively then while listening to interviews with Peter Hines talking about all things Oblivion. In any case, if I were to narrow down that timeframe a little more it was probably late 2005 – early 2006. Over the course of its development, you could buy in for a lower than retail cost that would occasionally raise in price for new purchasers as additional features and content were added. The original Mount & Blade title didn’t launch until 2008 but it had what was perhaps one of the first examples of an Early Access release in 2004. Riding through a relatively peaceful (for now) village in the snowy reaches of Calradiaīut it took me all the way back to… *checks* Sometime between 20. A fresh coat of paint has been applied - and no mistake, it’s a pretty spiffy new coat of paint. Or perhaps I should just say the Mount & Blade formula because at it’s core? Very little is different.

So like my very first impressions would seem to suggest - there is still something incredibly engrossing about the M&B2 formula. I started that session… Oh… You know about three hours ago. But I’ve just now come out of a session with an intent to take another couple of screenshots for this post. I think part of the reason I’ve been holding out writing about Bannerlord is that as I spent more time with it - I came to a realisation it wasn’t quite as fun as I wanted it to be.

Mount and blade raiding villages