The Mount & Blade series is rather unique, providing an interesting mix of role-playing and strategy, paired with action gameplay that seeks to accurately model the brutality and fatality of medieval warfare. Following the two sequel-slash-expansions to the original game, Warband and With Fire and Sword, TaleWorlds announced that a true sequel, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord was in development since 2012. Now at E3 2016, the developers showed off a new trailer for the game which highlights one of the most iconic and complex types of battle: the siege.
As well as the basic ladders and handheld ranged weaponry from the previous titles, the trailer showed off a number of new and improved features for Bannerlord. One of the most immediately noticeable being the addition of siege weapons including catapults, siege towers and battering rams, which add a whole new dimension to siege warfare for the series, where your best option was simply to mount the walls by ladder. The core gameplay that made Mount & Blade a cult hit also looks to be intact from the snippets of melee combat that feature in the trailer, though of course it is a condensed version of a full siege, showing off the best and most exciting parts of the battle.
If there’s one thing that was immediately apparent with the original Mount & Blade games, it was that they seemed to be developed on a rather tight budget, with the character models being lacking and the animations stiff at times. Thankfully TaleWorlds look to have resolved this issue for Bannerlord too, with the visuals looking crisp and the action smooth. Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is currently expected to release later this year on PC. Are you looking forward to Bannerlord? Which was your favourite of the original Mount & Blade games?
