I’m determined to own a castle. A big fortress with thick walls and tireless guards willing to throw their lives away for me. Good thing, then, that Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord’s demo plonks me in the mid-game, with loads of influence to spend on burly warriors. Finally, this humble writer is going places. 

First order of business: build an army. Instead of recruiting individual troops to take with me on my grand adventure, I hire captains, each with their own wee army. Prior to being hired, these mercenaries wander around the map and do their own thing, so it takes some time for them to merge with my growing horde. 

With the extra time, I search for a target. I’m in luck, as I’m already working for an empire that’s at war with another faction, and they’ve got territory nearby. I start the siege and a camp sprouts up around it, letting me build siege equipment. Unfortunately, soldiers from the fortress sneak out at night and sabotage my ballista. Nervous about another counterattack, I begin the assault. 

These fights can be auto-resolved, but I’m a hands-on boss. It’s dawn, with the sun slowly coming up behind my army and the huge, imposing silhouette of the fortress ahead of us. I’ve got direct control of my character, who can ride around, stabbing and slashing with his sword and spear, but I can also command my units. I keep some of them back, so they don’t get filled with arrows, and push up the siege towers and battering ram. 

The gate is quickly smashed, my troops swarm in, and by the time I’ve hopped over the remains of the battering ram, the enemy surrenders the castle. We outnumbered them a little bit. OK, a lot. The castle is now part of the empire and, after a vote, it’s given to me. 

Exploring my new home, I get to know some nobles, spend far too long playing an extremely boring minigame and finally sit on my throne. Conversations give me new things to look up in Bannerlord’s encyclopedia, so I can learn about all the movers and shakers and their relationships, letting me prepare for my life as a politically savvy lord.

With political clout, a whole new world opens up. I start throwing my weight around and try to push forward new policies, shaping the empire, and find the people I need to bring over to my side if I want to rule it myself. Lamentably, my dreams are too big for the brief demo and my tenure as lord is cut short. 

Bannerlord offers up a bewildering number of distractions and paths, but there’s a thrill in just jumping down the rabbit hole and seeing where it takes you. Maybe you’ll end up plotting to overthrow an empire.  

It's been a long wait, but it's finally due out in March, though only in Early Access. TaleWorlds is also currently hosting a closed multiplayer beta, so there might be other opportunities to check it out before launch. 

PC gaming old-heads had their prayers answered today when TaleWorlds announced that medieval RPG/war simulator Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord had been blessed with a release date. Well, it's not a specific date exactly—TaleWorlds says their hotly-anticipated game will enter Steam's early access sometime in March of next year.

After so long in development, some fans are understandably somewhat confused: Why an early access period after eight years in development? We spoke with TaleWorlds CEO Armagan Yavuz at Gamescom, right after the trailer and early access date reveal, to find out why.

"We can test one path quite easily," he said. "But with a game as ambitious as Bannerlord, we need to test and check out maybe a million different paths."

That's functionally impossible for TaleWorlds' team of around 90 developers, and it's something that offering the game to early adopters on Steam can help solve. What that means, of course, is that people who buy the game on Steam in early access are effectively functioning as beta testers.

"What it will be mostly for is making sure all these different interactions work, and the players are happy and have good feedback about all the different features," Yavuz said.

He was careful to emphasize that the early access version of the game, and the build players are seeing on the floor at Gamescom, are a long way off from a finished build.

"This is not going to be the kind of game where early access is…" Yavuz said, trailing off and reconsidering his words. "It's at a very rudimentary stage."

'Rudimentary' doesn't seem like the right word for a game that produces trailers like the one TaleWorlds used to announce Bannerlord's early access launch date, but we'll know more when March rolls around, won't we?

For as long as anyone can remember, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord has been a thing of legend. Old men whispered that it still lived, while the young people scoffed at them. It's become the stuff of games writing memes, because every time you do a story about Bannerlord, the only comments are along the lines of, "release date WHEN?"

Well, developer TaleWorlds has finally committed to a launch date of sorts. Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord will enter Steam's early access program in March 2020. Fraser was fairly shocked reporting news of the closed beta earlier this year, and I can only echo those feelings when I type the following words: You will be able to play Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord in less than one Gregorian calendar year.

The hype for a new Mount & Blade game is probably fairly confusing for anyone who hasn't experienced the singular joy of leading a raiding party in Warband. The basic idea behind Mount & Blade is that you play as a single character, a leader who builds up an army by gradually gaining notoriety and wealth, carving out each step of your path in battle, alongside your comrades. It's a heady power fantasy, but it's been nearly ten years since the last new game came out.

If that's not enough to get you excited, have a look at this trailer:

Isn't it just awesome? Barded horses charging through the forest! Trebuchets letting loose at castle walls! Pikemen forming up in a desert sandstorm! It's basically like Total War, except you're actually there, on the battlefield, doling out bread to your soldiers and barking commands from horseback.

Anyway, yes, folks (and by folks, I mean me) are pretty amped about this game and after many long years, we now have an actual timeframe to mark on our calendars. Next spring, we ride.

It's starting to seem like Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord might actually launch one of these days, what with some lucky players getting to test the skirmish mode in beta and the game's impending appearance at Gamescom later this month. If you didn't get into the beta and need a fix, you can watch some raw footage above. 

The skirmish is from last week's test and it's the mode you'll want to hit up if you're just looking to batter people in duels. Captain mode will give you soldiers to command, but skirmishes give players only their own character and their human allies to rely on.

Skirmish is the mode I'm least excited to play, as it strips out most of the RPG and strategy elements that make Mount & Blade such an interesting series. This is just straightforward combat, which I do still like to look of, despite being graceless and a bit messy. Skirmishes let you pick characters with particular loadouts, so it seems like it might be a good place to get to grips with different weapons.

TaleWorlds showed off some more of the larger Captain mode last year, which you can watch below. 

If you're attending Gamescom, both of these modes will be playable, but you'll need to wait a little longer to see more of the sandboxy campaign mode. 

Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord still doesn't have a release date yet, but I'm still predicting it will be announced this year. 

The Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord multiplayer closed beta finally got underway a couple of weeks ago, and today developer Taleworlds decided to talk a bit about what's going on. A new update posted to Steam digs into the details of the game's multiplayer class system, which enables players to gear up in preset infantry, ranged, or cavalry-based loadouts before spawning.

Taleworlds said that its goal is to ensure that every class is viable, with different strengths and weaknesses that prevent any of them from dominating in all situations. "Some classes are clearly stronger and better equipped than others, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they will perform at a higher level in all instances, and of course, they also come at a much higher cost which limits your options when it comes to respawning," the studio explained.

Players will use points to select their class, which is essentially a reworked (and renamed) version of Mount and Blade: Bannerlord's money. Better equipped classes will require more points to field, which is obvious enough, but where it promises to get interesting is in game modes that support respawning. Each respawn will also require points, meaning that point management over the course of a round will determine how often you can respawn, and with what classes.

Individual classes will be slightly customizable via a system of perks, and will reflect their factions not just cosmetically, but also in terms of the equipment they use and the actual jobs they perform. As a result, the strengths and weaknesses of each faction will be seen in their individual classes, which will influence the strategies and tactics they're best equipped to use—and which are best used against them.

"Overall, we think these changes to the multiplayer class system will make for a fairer, more accessible multiplayer experience that promotes teamwork and communication, and centers the gameplay on the skill-based directional combat system that is at the very core of Mount & Blade games," Taleworlds said. "It ensures that, at a glance, you can see exactly who your opponent is, and what their abilities and limitations are while eliminating the possibility of obscure meta builds from becoming prominent and ensuring that the game remains somewhat balanced."

The Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord multiplayer closed beta is ongoing, but alas, there's still no sign of a release date.

This week, Taleworlds started letting players into Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord for the long-awaited sandbox's first closed beta. It's a multiplayer beta, so players won't be mucking around in the campaign; instead they'll be skirmishing with each other and testing the game's matchmaking and combat systems. 

While the studio remains tight-lipped when it comes to a release date, it does seem like Bannerlord's approaching the last leg on its journey through development, and once this closed beta concludes, Taleworlds will start letting everyone test the multiplayer. But for now, it's being kept small. 

"With this being the early stages of testing, we have decided to keep the player count rather small and manageable," wrote Taleworlds, "allowing us to more directly engage testers and make better use of the feedback provided to refine Bannerlord’s multiplayer and make it the best that it can be. The game is far from feature and content complete, and these early tests are very much focused on testing the game’s systems and mechanics, as well as, stability before it’s ready for a more general audience."

It's been seven years since Bannerlord was first announced, so this sort of progress is pretty exciting. Taleworlds is calling this the first steps to releasing the game. I predicted a 2019 launch earlier in the year, and I still reckon there's a chance. At Gamescom, people outside of the closed beta will get their first opportunity to play, so that could coincide with the open beta. 

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, which we've been eagerly anticipating for the better part of a decade, will be making an appearance at Gamescom this year, and not just behind closed doors or in hands-off demonstrations. TaleWorlds will letting the public get their hands on it for the first time. 

Because of the limited time and the number of people who will likely be wanting a shot, it's the multiplayer modes that will be shown off. That means you'll miss out on the campaign and all the sandboxy, RPG stuff, but you'll get a good look at the combat system in Captain mode and 6v6 skirmishes. 

When TaleWorlds introduced skirmishes in March the developer also teased an upcoming closed beta. There's still no date for that, nor launch, but apparently all the work being done on the Gamescom demo brings the team "ever closer to the release of the game". 

More details about Gamescom will be offered in a future blog, along with the developer's plans for the beta.   

Gamescom will from August 21-24 this year, and you can get tickets here. 

The absence of a release date didn't stop me from picking Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord in our PC Gamer 2019 Fantasy Draft, and my decision could soon be vindicated. TaleWorlds very casually slipped the mention of an upcoming closed beta into a recent developer blog update, like it was no big deal after seven years.

It is a pretty big deal, though. Mount & Blade is one of the best RPGs of all time, and the sequel is promising to be an even richer blend of roleplaying, strategy and simulation, but it's yet to be shown off outside the controlled confines of events and previews. What exactly the closed beta will entail has yet to be announced; all we know at the moment is that the "upcoming" closed beta will be detailed in a future blog update. Given TaleWorlds' hesitance about announcing a release date too early, I suspect that the closed beta won't be far off. 

The update itself was concerned with multiplayer skirmishes, where players can beat each other up in 6v6 battles. You'll also be trying to capture and hold points, like in Captain mode, but there are no bots, just you and the other players. Because these battles will be asymmetrical, with powerful armoured knights charging into pitiful serfs who've just been tossed a sword, spawns are tied to the quality of your class. Every player gets a set amount of points to spend on a class to spawn as, but you'll run out of points faster if you keep going for the best warrior.

With the closed beta looming, brush up on the game by checking out everything we know about Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord.

So! What do we reckon? 2019 release date?    

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord's latest blog update tackles the important matter of party and army speed. You never really know if you're the type of person who gets excited reading about the speed of an unladen donkey or a band of knights until it happens to you. Don't look at me that way. It's interesting stuff!

Like its predecessor, Bannerlord features a system that calculates the speed you can travel across the map based on several factors, but Taleworlds has introduced a bunch of new wrinkles while also adding something Mount & Blade was never great at: clarity.  

"The game, after all, can bring your party to a crawl but it should at least have the decency to explain to you why everyone and their cow can move faster than you on the map," reads the blog post. "Our previous titles were a bit lacking in the transparency department since they didn’t share much beyond the end result."

You'll be able to check on your speed by just looking at the info bar, and for a more detailed description, you can hover over it and see exactly what's having an effect on your party's pace. If you're just watching the world pass you by, you can check the tooltip and see exactly how it's been calculated, giving you a better idea of what you'll need to do to get to your destination faster. 

Generally, you'll want horses. Even if your army is full of infantry, you can still bring along spare horses for them to ride, giving them a boost. They've not spent their life in the saddle, however, so they will still be slower than proper cavalry. Larger armies are also slower, which means you can outrun bigger armies that would wipe you out in a fight. Cargo will weigh you down, too, but only if it goes over your carrying limit. Increasing carrying capacity with more soldiers and animals will help. 

Solutions can create other problems, though. Since larger armies are slower, adding more soldiers and horses to allow you to carry more could still have a negative effect on your speed. Animals also have a herd effect—when there are a lot of them, they'll be more difficult to herd, slowing your army's progress. 

All the fanciful wish fulfilment stuff—winning tourneys, getting a castle, winning epic battles—will be wonderful, probably, but I'm really here for the logistics. Sweet, sweet logistics. 

Still no release date, I'm afraid. I've got it in our fantasy draft, however, so it had better be this year. 

TaleWorlds Entertainment has detailed the complex crime and punishment system for its upcoming medieval sandbox RPG Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord—expect to bribe guards, throw your political weight around to get charges dropped and, if you fail, visit the executioner. 

Every crime you commit will contribute to a Crime Rating that's specific to that territory. The rating of a crime depends on its severity—smuggling goods will get you into less trouble than murdering a trade caravan—and the world will react to your current rating accordingly. 

Broadly, your overall rating will fall into mild, moderate or severe brackets. Mild criminals will largely be left alone, but moderate criminals will be barred from entering settlements in the territory they committed their crimes, while severe crimes will see you hunted down and punished. Most of the time, you can clear your record by paying a fine—but sometimes that won't be enough, and you'll be dragged to a judicial executioner.

But there are ways around the law, too. You can bribe guards to get into settlements you'd usually be barred from, or you could try on a disguise and sneak in. If you're a vassal of the kingdom where you're wanted, you might be able to lean on your influence to get the charges dropped, but it will affect your relationship with your fellow lords. If you're the ruler of the area then you can do what you want, but again, it'll affect your standing with your lords, and the happiness of your kingdom will drop. 

Essentially, you'll be able to play the game as a criminal, but it won't be easy—you can read the full blog post on Steam. If you want to find out more about Mount and Blade 2, here's everything you need to know.