Steam Game Review] "Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord," a simple and fun medieval strategy action RPG

In this series, Mina Tsujimura, aka SteamMania, a core gamer on Steam, reviews in detail the recommended games available on Steam, a PC game platform that is currently enjoying a lot of popularity. She will introduce the fun of the games.

This time, we will introduce "Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord " (hereafter referred to as MBII), which is currently in Early Access. MBII). It is a sequel to a very popular game, and since its release at the end of March this year, it has remained at the top of the sales charts. The game is also well known as the original source of the game "MORDHAU," which we introduced previously. In this article, the author, who has never played in the previous game, played MBII for the first time.

Sequel to a very popular RPG! PVP is supported from this title!

MBII is a medieval strategy action RPG developed by Turkish developer TaleWorlds Entertainment. In addition, the game now supports multiplayer matches. Multiplayer modes include a Captain Mode, in which players fight each other with AI troops, and a Team Deathmatch Mode, in which players fight alone.

A hands-on experience with the "Single Player" version

Now, let's start playing in single player mode.

Select "Campaign" from the TOP menu, and you will be taken to a screen where you can select your character's culture. There are a total of six cultures: Ulangia, Stalgia, Empire, Acerai, Husayt, and Batania. Each culture has positive effects such as reduced speed penalty due to snow and increased construction speed, so choose the culture with the effect you like.

The next step is to create a character. You can set up your character in detail, from height to nose height.

Once the character is created, the player is taken to the family selection screen. Depending on the family, the player's status will change.

In addition, the character's upbringing (childhood, puberty, adolescence, and young adulthood) is selected. This also affects the status, so choose carefully.

Finally, once you have chosen the main character's story and given him a name, the tutorial will begin.

First, you will practice how to operate weapons in the training area.

After practice is over, it is time to get down to business. First, go to a village called Tebea and ask for help from the village chief, Andros. After learning from Andros the whereabouts of the looters who attacked the protagonist's family, the next step is to prepare to defeat the looters.

Hire soldiers, buy grain for food, and leave when you are ready.

When you leave Tebea, you find looters in the Tebea area!　You chase after them and attack them, and a battle with the looters begins. When I ordered my AI ally to attack, the AI instantly killed the looters; the AI was so good that I had no chance to play.

If you win the battle, you can get prisoners of war. You can release them or hire them as soldiers.

Next, I cleared out the hideout of a looting group called Ladagos. As usual, when you give an order to the allied AI to charge, the allied AI instantly kills the enemy. The allied AI is too fast to even catch up with them.

After the allied AI wipes out the mooks, a movie starts and the boss of the looting group appears. This group kidnaps children and sells them on the slave market. Too lousy!　After the conversation, you warp in front of the boss and a battle begins.

I was killed instantly in vain. What a blunder!　I didn't even fight the boss myself because the allied AI killed him instantly. So, suddenly fighting a boss is too much ....... It seems that once you die, you can't take revenge until you recover your HP, so you have to fast-forward time to recover your strength.

This time, I'm motivated!　I recovered my strength and practiced a little combat. Finally, the boss came out, but for some reason, the allied AI killed him instantly this time (I cried). Let me have a go .......

After the battle, Radagos is taken prisoner and the tutorial ends. From here on, you are free to explore freely, whether you want to proceed with quests or attack bandits.

Actual play in the "Multiplayer" section

Next, let's try playing in the multiplayer. In multiplayer, you can enjoy sword-fighting action in PVP. There are four game modes in total.

Captain".
Each player takes on the role of a squad leader and fights 6 vs. 6 with AI soldiers in a game mode unique to MBII that mixes AI and players.

Skirmish.
This is a 6-player vs. 6-player 5-player, 3-player, 3-player game mode. The winner is the player who either kills all the opponents or has a higher morale than the opponent at the end of the round (5 minutes).

Siege.
A siege game mode in which 60 players are divided into attackers and defenders to fight 60 vs. 60 players.

Team Deathmatch
A 50 vs. 50 game mode. The rule is that you win if you have a higher score than your opponent at the end of the time limit (20 minutes) or if you accumulate the maximum number of score points.

Team Deathmatch is the most popular of all, and it always seems to be easy to get matched. There are two ways to join a game: you can choose your favorite game mode and be matched automatically, or you can select the room of your choice in the server browser and enter. In this case, I will be playing in Team Deathmatch.

When you enter the server, you can choose from two teams that you want to join. Each team has the current score and the number of players participating, so you can join whichever team you prefer.

Once on a team, you can choose a class of your choice. Classes include infantry, cavalry, and archers, as well as the weapons you can bring and the cost required. Costs are earned by killing enemies and assisting allies. Except in the beginning of the game, weapons dropped by enemies and allies are everywhere, so it is recommended to select the cheapest class for infantry and collect weapons along the way.

The class can be selected each time you die and respawn at a cost each time. This time, we will take on the infantry.

When you arrive at the battlefield, the game is over, no way. You regain your composure and enter a different server. When you actually fight, you can instantly distinguish your allies from the enemy and fight easily because a mark is displayed above their heads!　There is no friendly fire (attacking allies), so you can unleash attacks on enemies without worrying about your allies!　It is stress-free and quite refreshing.

The battle system seems to be easy to win even by a fluke; there is no way to recover HP, and no matter how good you are, you have no choice but to die when you run out of HP, so there is no need to worry about advanced players being outmatched. Furthermore, there is no skill system like in "MORDHAU," and there are only a few types of weapons, so this is easier and more maneuverable. Even those who are not good at sword-fighting action, such as the author, were able to enjoy the game.

Incidentally, as for weapons, I recommend the spear-like weapon (Pike), which has a long reach and is suitable for beginners, and the axe-like weapon (Bardiche), which has tremendous attack power and can almost one-hit kill if it hits. On the other hand, I found bows and throwing weapons a bit more difficult.

Definitely a game that can be played for more than 100 hours!

I was impressed by the beautiful graphics in the single-player mode. After the tutorial, you can play in an orthodox way while completing quests, or you can play as a bandit by saving up money and collecting soldiers.

The multiplayer mode of combat is similar to "MORDHAU," but if you are a beginner in sword fighting, MBII is recommended. There are fewer and simpler weapons, so it is easier to find which weapon is right for you.

The "single player mode" and the "multiplayer mode" offer completely different ways to enjoy the game, and the game is structured like two games combined into one. Furthermore, this game also supports mods, so it is highly expandable, and like its predecessor, it is a game that you will be able to play for a long time.

Currently, Japanese is not supported, but it has been officially announced that Japanese will be supported in the future. The Japanese language mod I used this time was created by a volunteer, but the quality is very high and the game is enjoyable enough even in its current state.

Title Information

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord" (TaleWorlds Entertainment)
March 20, 2020 release (early access)
Price: 5,480 yen (as of May 2, 2020)
#: (as of May 2, 2020)

Writer: Suthumu Mana (Mina Tsujimura)

Writer and gamer who belongs to Office Mica. Her favorite game genres include sandbox survival games and horror games. Her style of game playing is a text-chatting game player who is afraid of VC players.

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