As a prequel to Mount and Blade: Warband, Bannerlord’s continent of Calradia offers a massive sandbox to play in. Following the Calradia empire’s downfall, you start from the bottom and rise to become anything you want. Adventure through the world, become a mercenary and take on various jobs, or ascend the throne and become a king.

Throughout all this, you’ll manage a fiefdom, recruit allies, create an entire army to fight alongside you, and partake in massive battles with siege warfare. Players can also create mods and share them through Steam Workshop. Of course, even with its 1.0 release, there’s more to come, with TaleWorlds promising new updates and content in the coming months.

Set 200 years before Mount and Blade: Warband, players once again venture through the world of Calradia. The sandbox formula allows players to enjoy the experience as they see fit. You can raise an army and venture forth, raiding other colonies and developing your skills with different perks. The economy also allows for profiting from towns by providing essential supplies.

Combat has also been expanded significantly, with battles now having hundreds of participating units. Multiplayer is also supported along with mods (as seen in the many different worlds and custom games that fans have created over the years). Stay tuned for more details on the sequel in the coming months.

However, it’s important to look back on several other problematic titles that were released last fall. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War received some positive feedback on Zombies and the campaign but there’s no denying that it was rife with bugs and issues including crashes. Multiplayer is a different matter altogether – from the initial alpha till now, it’s been criticized for its map design, lack of content, balance issues, matchmaking, the list goes on.

Watch Dogs: Legion also had a number of bugs when it launched, not the least of which included saves becoming corrupted. Complaints of lost progression would continue to be an issue on Xbox Series X/S (and it’s not clear whether they’ve been addressed yet or not). The development team made the decision to delay multiplayer to focus on polishing the base game and fixing bugs, which should indicate just how many problems there were. Then there’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla which, despite critical acclaim, launched with its own share of bugs from progression blockers to floating ships (which have been addressed recently). Other complaints also cite the problematic audio and animation quality.

One has to ask the question then – why don’t such titles go into early access? It sounds like a joke but triple-A titles are becoming bigger, if not more ambitious. Development teams number in the hundreds with budgets easily exceeding tens of millions of dollars. The challenges of optimizing for current-generation hardware also can’t be overstated and when crises like the current global “situation” come up, development is bound to be affected.

From that perspective, early access makes some degree of sense. Granted, the development team could still push out features that don’t make sense while not offering the complete game at release. Expectations are more managed in this regard – the consumer knows what they’re getting into, after all. Development is also at a stage where things can change pretty significantly.

The amount of feedback that can be garnered is also much higher – at least, depending on how many people play – and certain issues can be ironed out before the final release. Furthermore, if someone is interested in an early access title, there’s that feeling of waiting until the game is complete before venturing forth. It helps provide some much needed information on the actual development during this time. Are milestones being met? Features being dropped? How is the performance and optimization shaping up?

One might think this is only applicable for titles (like Hades) which are decidedly indie (and still incredibly worth your time and money). But there’s certainly a precedent for big-name titles entering early access. Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord has been in the works for years and launched into Steam Early Access last year for $50. Impressions were very positive but it still faced issues with optimization, bugs, crashes and lack of content. TaleWorlds Entertainment has been fairly transparent on all of this, providing regular updates on goals and breaking down major upcoming features. It’s a slow process, one that not every fan of Mount and Blade: Warband is happy about, but it’s working.

Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian Studios launched for the $60 price tag – its overall team size started at 200 developers internally and was stated to cross 300 in external developers. Before launch, the development team was incredibly transparent about what to expect. When it first debuted gameplay at last year’s PAX, it was from a work-in-progress build that didn’t even have the saves implemented, not to mention numerous bugs. As time went on, it showcased more features and outlined all of the classes and content that could be expected in early access while reiterating that it was for fans who wanted to play a part in the development process. It pretty much told players who expected a full, polished experience to wait until the game released.

And once again, there have been issues throughout early access, from corrupted saves to numerous bugs. But throughout it all, Larian Studios has remained transparent. Its most recent update saw animations improved, several non-combat situations providing XP and even reworked cinematics. Even with the current party members made to be evil, players complained that they nitpicked way too often and thus they were changed to be more tolerable. Various combat balance changes, quality of life features and UI improvements were also implemented.

Early access titles aren’t without their faults though. For every major success, there are several other titles that linger for too long, release half-baked or don’t release at all. Among the successes as well have been plenty of titles, from Dead Cells to Torchlight 3, that received criticism for their choices (with the level of severity varying). Furthermore, putting a title into early access may provide consumers with more transparency into the overall development process and afford opportunities for the developer to further polish its game, but all effort is still on the developer.

If the actual development process is highly flawed, then early access will simply expose this problem to more consumers. The final result may have less bugs yet even that isn’t guaranteed. You need only look at the various insider stories on development troubles at BioWare, Treyarch, CD Projekt RED and so on to see how anything from technology issues to a flawed vision and unrealistic deadlines can mire a project.

You’d think that’d be the only reason that major publishers wouldn’t have their titles in early access and are content to go with limited time betas before launch. Why allow fans to have a closer look at the process and attract criticism before launch? This is besides betas serving as incentives to drive up pre-orders, of course. The reality is that many triple-A titles won’t look at early access because of the loss of sales.

While Baldur’s Gate 3 will surpass developer expectations and Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord will rack up over 110,000 user reviews on Steam, big publishers are looking for millions of sales, at the minimum. They know that on the customer side, “early access” for content that will take time to release in full isn’t what their most rabid fans want. It’s more of the same and at a rapid pace, regardless of quality, bugs or development problems.

For big developers and publishers that aren’t bound by yearly releases, it’s about receiving the largest return on investment as soon as possible. If Rockstar Games launched Red Dead Redemption 2 into early access, would its fiscal year sales be high enough for shareholders? Probably but a publisher like Take Two Interactive knows that even more money can be made from a complete release.

Early access development has its ups and downs, providing some of the best titles over the years along with some of the least compelling. While a massive RPG like Baldur’s Gate 3 benefits from feedback over a longer period of time, the same principles just can’t apply to a different game with a different pipeline, developer practices or publisher expectations. It’s a difficult problem to solve, one that requires sacrificing profit, either short-term or long-term, for the sake of developers and the overall quality of the product. Whether most companies are willing to make that sacrifice while revamping their internal policies and practices will continue to be one of the biggest questions for triple-A development in the years to come.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

TaleWorlds’ Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord released about two weeks ago and has already become the biggest Steam launch this year. Despite the positive acclaim, it does have its share of issues. To bring some more structure to its update process, the development team has announced two more branches for the game on Steam – opt-in alpha and beta.

While the beta branch features content that’s seen internal testing and will be available to players for “at least one week”, the alpha branch is purely for content that’s untested. The goal with the latter is to update it daily and allow for modders and “explorers” to be “as close to development as possible – even at the cost of stability.” Either branch is likely to impact one’s enjoyment of the game so keep that in mind.

TaleWorlds has released patch notes for the beta branch, some of which can be seen below. It includes several performance fixes for RAM and VRAM usage which is nice. Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is expected to spend the next year or so in early access, though it could be longer depending on how fun the game is by the end. Stay tuned for more details on the alpha branch’s content in the coming weeks.

Beta Branch e1.1.0

Versions

• Native: e1.1.0
• SandboxCore: e1.1.0
• Sandbox: e1.1.0
• Storymode: e1.1.0
• CustomBattle: e1.1.0

Singleplayer

Crashes

• Fixed a rare formation AI exception.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when a mount without a rider heard an arrow.
• Fixed a crash that occurred at the end of the “Army of Poachers” quest when the AI tries to continue fighting.
• Fixed a crash that happens when a campaign is started for the second time without exiting the game.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when selecting the option to attack in the “Rival Gang Leader” quest after loading a game.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when AI characters tried to barter prisoners.
• Fixed a bug where talking to a companion in settlements during the main storyline would crash the game.
• Fixed a crash in main storyline conspiracy phase.

Performance

• Ram and VRAM usage is reduced and many leaks are fixed.
• Scene loading performance improvements.

A new patch is available for TaleWorlds’ Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord, which recently launched in early access and became the biggest release of the year on Steam. Patch e1.0.2 allows older saves to be used again and fixes crashes that occurred when playing on them. Steam cloud saves have also been enabled and a crash occurred in Custom Battle mode has also been fixed.

In a separate post talking about the game’s early access launch, TaleWorlds apologized issues that players were facing. “We know that many of you are experiencing issues that are preventing you from enjoying the game right now, for which we are very sorry. With the help of you, our community, we are finding and fixing these issues and pushing updates out as soon as we can.”

However, it noted that just like with its previous patch, the current patch may result in older save files being unplayable. “Unfortunately, as was the case with yesterday’s patch, this [patch e1.0.2] may result in previous save files becoming unplayable for some people. We will always try to ensure that your save game remains compatible with each update, however, sometimes this will not be possible.” Such are the trials of an early access release.

Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord will be in early access for about a year though the developer has clarified that this isn’t a hard deadline. It will ensure the game is fun to play before launching it in full. The current build, aside from bugs, isn’t too shabby in terms of content with Campaign, Custom Build and multiplayer modes available. That’s even with certain events having placeholder assets.

Stay tuned for more details on Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord in the coming months. Check out some of the patch notes for patch e1.0.2 below.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord April 1 Update Patch Notes

• Some of the crashes from older saves are fixed and these saves can be used again. (especially caused by fencing stolen goods & rival gang leader quests).
• Enabled Steam cloud saves.
• A bug that was preventing some players (especially Windows 7 users) from logging into the multiplayer lobby has been fixed. There may be further issues in this regard. We are investigating the matter.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when entering a custom battle.
• Various localisation fixes. Some texts are only in English due to lacking localisation tags. Now they can be updated by translators and will be added to the game soon.
• Some variable texts were not shown correctly. Some of them are fixed, more will be fixed in upcoming patches.
• Some Turkish translation corrections and typo fixes.
• Fixed an AI-related issue that crashed the game.
• Fixed an AI calculation error on aiming ranged weapons against mounted enemies.
• Fixed launcher not being visible for some users.
• Fixed errors and crashes after changing language in multiplayer.

Even with games like DOOM Eternal and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne releasing on Steam this year, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord has ultimately prevailed. TaleWorlds Entertainment on Twitter noted that the game was the biggest launch of 2020 on Steam when it hit 145,000 concurrent players. That number would grow further, hitting 172,030 concurrent players and becoming the third most played game on the platform.

The peak concurrent player count currently stands at 178,562 which makes the game a fairly big success. Keep in mind that Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is currently available in Steam Early Access and not fully launched. The developer revealed that it plans to stay in early access for a year though there’s no hard deadline as such since it wants the game to be fun and playable.

Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord does currently have a lot to do though. Despite placeholder assets and events, it features a full-fledged Campaign mode, Custom Battle for those interested in sandbox play and multiplayer. It will continue to be updated in the coming months with new content so stay tuned for more details.

#Bannerlord has over 145,000 concurrent players right now. It took 100 minutes to reach 100,000. +1250 reviews on Steam, 88% of them positive, in just 3 hours.

All these numbers make already @Mount_and_Blade II: Bannerlord the biggest launch in Steam in 2020.

THANK YOU

— Mount & Blade (@Mount_and_Blade) March 30, 2020

Third game most played in the world.

Just… thank you, warriors of Calradia. pic.twitter.com/dlYTj1wXPN

— Mount & Blade (@Mount_and_Blade) March 30, 2020

It’s been over seven years since the game’s official announcement but TaleWorlds’ Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is now available on PC. It recently launched on Steam Early Access for $45. Check out the early access trailer and bask in the fact that harvesting season is finally here.

Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord launches with Custom Battle, which is the sandbox mode that Mount and Blade: Warband players know and love, and Campaign. The latter is a more structured mode which provides a storyline with more direction but it’s possible to ignore the missions entirely. Then there’s multiplayer with Skirmish, Captain, Siege and Team Deathmatch.

The development team will support the game with new modes and content throughout its early access period. Currently, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord will be in early access for “around a year” though the focus is on making the game enjoyable rather than following a strict deadline. Stay tuned for more details and updates on the title in the meantime.

TaleWorlds’ long-in-development Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is finally seeing a release. Granted, it’s a Steam Early Access release but still a big step forward. Though slated to release tomorrow, the development team has announced that it will be launching early. That means anyone who pre-purchased the game will be able to play it today.

Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord will launch at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET/10 AM UK time. It will be discounted by 10 percent for the first two weeks and those who own any of the previous games will receive an additional 10 percent off. The developer also outlined the content that can be expected including Custom Battle, Campaign and four different multiplayer modes.

However, it noted that this is still early access so bugs, glitches, missing or disabled features, etc are to be expected along with placeholder content for quests, voice lines and animations. Many things will be ironed out and/or added over time as early access continues. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks and months.

TaleWorlds’ long-awaited, long-in-development Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord has a release date for early access. It will arrive on March 31st for Steam Early Access on PC but will also be available on the deeveloper’s site and the Epic Games Store. The asking price is $49.99/£39.99.

While the overall content of the game hasn’t been outlined, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is a significant step up from its predecessors. It features much larger battles, expanded Siege mechanics and improved visuals. That’s on top of the ability to roam the medieval landscape, conquering all who oppose you, either as a king or a mercenary.

Storywise, Bannerlord takes place two centuries before the first game. The Calradian Empire is on the way out and various factions have risen up to take over. Players will interact with these factions while forging their own path through the world but there will also be multiplayer for some 5v5 PvP action. Stay tuned for more details on the title in the coming weeks.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord will be released in Early Access on 31st March 2020. The game will be available for purchase through Steam, Epic Games Store, and TaleWorlds website, for $49.99/€49.99/£39.99. pic.twitter.com/vIGe2Is4tg

— Mount & Blade (@Mount_and_Blade) February 19, 2020

I’ve been hearing that it will be releasing soon for years and years now, mostly from friends who have been eagerly anticipating it all that while, but Mount and Blade 2 is still not out yet. Moreover, we don’t know when it will be out, either, because developers TaleWorlds Entertainment will not commit to a release date even now.

But for Mount and Blade fans, it has not been a disappointing Gamescom, because TaleWorlds shared something else instead- a brand new video for the game that shows off its multiplayer ‘Captain’ mode. The Captain Mode puts players in command of their own squadron of troops, to go head-on in multiplayer battles of up to 5 vs 5. It sounds exactly like the kind of thing that Mount and Blade players would enjoy.

You can check out the video for yourself below. Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord is due out exclusively on the PC at some point in time- when that might be, we do not yet know.