Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord studio TaleWorlds Entertainment has released a new video showcasing the chaotic combat of the game's multiplayer "Captain Mode." The new mode will enable "large-scale, epic battles" for up to five players per side, each one controlling a unit of infantry, cavalry, or archers. 

The video isn't narrated, but the basics seem clear enough, especially in the second battle. Units can be customized in a variety of different ways—better armor, more speed, modified weapons, and so forth—and then ordered to move, attack, and assume various offensive or defensive formations. As in RTS gameplay, soldiers aren't controlled individually, but instead operate as best they can under the conditions set by the commander.   

It might be pushing the definition of "large scale" a little—this obviously isn't going to operate at the scope of, say, Total War: Warhammer 2—but the action seems pleasingly brutal, and keeping the battles on the smaller side of big will hopefully translate into a more hands-on feeling of command. Relying on the competence of your fellow commanders in a 5v5 showdown should lead to some interesting conversations, too. 

Despite being in development for the past five years, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord still doesn't have a release date.

A couple of weeks ago, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord developer Taleworlds Entertainment kicked off a new weekly developers blog as part of its effort to be more transparent and communicative with its fans. But while those fans were surely hoping it would communicate a release date in fairly short order—especially with the big Gamescom show looming—the studio explained in today's blog that it's not going to happen. 

"We have not disclosed a release date so far because it does not exist. We don’t work like that. We are not a company who sets a timeline to release a product and then works to meet that deadline," the studio wrote. "We create games because we love making them, and we want them to be the best games that we can possibly make. We think that our fans don’t deserve less than our best efforts, our total commitment. We don’t believe in releasing a game before it is ready just because we might miss the hype." 

The post emphasizes that Taleworlds, unlike many other studios, isn't beholden to publishers, shareholders, or anyone else who might push it to cut back on features or scale in order to meet a schedule. It obviously doesn't benefit from holding Bannerlord back, but "the only thing that is important to us is developing a game that is truly unique, something that you will enjoy playing as much as we love making." 

As for why it's taking so long to get the thing out, the answer is simple: This is a really big game. "Five years is actually not that long for the development of a game which encompasses as much as Bannerlord does," Taleworlds explained. "There are a lot of fundamental tech and architecture changes compared to Warband: It’s more complex than just adding some new textures and animations. It involves the technology, such as the new engine we built from scratch, but also the system, the mechanics—this is about balancing the invisible, the look and feel of the gameplay." 

"This is why we have not announced a release date, and why we won’t do it at Gamescom either. And these are the reasons why we think of it not as a sign of weakness, but of respect for our work and our community. We are working as hard as we can to develop the great game you are all waiting for, and our primary focus is the quality of the final product." 

Taleworlds will show the game off at Gamescom, however, with "something slightly different from the demo that we took to E3." The show will be open to the public from August 23-26 in Cologne, Germany. 

We've been looking forward to Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord for a long time now—a really long time. It's not that we haven't seen progress on it. We got some promising hands-on time with it just a couple of months ago at E3, in fact. But on the whole, developer TaleWorlds Entertainment hasn't been overly communicative with its fan base about the new game, a shortcoming it acknowledged—and promised to address—in a message posted today on Steam. 

"We realize that we haven’t communicated with you as frequently and as openly as we should have. We failed at connecting with our community, and sometimes it might appear as if we are not paying you as much attention as you deserve," TaleWorlds wrote. "We are incredibly grateful for having such fantastic support and we were unsuccessful in letting you know just how much we appreciate you being there for us over the years." 

To improve its relationship with Mount & Blade and and make the Bannerlord development process more "transparent," TaleWorlds said it will start a new weekly blog, with posts going up every Thursday. "You will get to know who is behind Mount & Blade, the diverse and talented team of designers, artists, programmers and others that make the game possible; you will glimpse our struggles and hopes, our daily work, and our favorite parts of the game," the studio wrote. "We hope that you enjoy the read and also that it makes the waiting easier!" 

The announcement coincides with the departure of Frank Elliott, longtime community and PR manager for TaleWorlds:

The first blog post is actually the announcement of the new blog series, so there's not much more to be seen—including, unfortunately, any indication of when it might actually come out. We said in April that Mount and Blade 2 "is on a mission to be 2017's best RPG," but a release date (even a tentative one) still hasn't been announced. Given that we're now into August, I'm starting to think that maybe we were being a little optimistic.