The rulers of the land are mocking me. They don’t see my potential; they don’t understand what I’m trying to do. I’ll show them, I’ll create the biggest army the world has ever seen. I’ll recruit my men from different places and teach them how to fight a war. I know I will fail, over and over again. I won’t give up; I’ll continue my fight until I’m the strongest ruler of them all. I won’t fall back; I’ll attack my enemies without hesitation.
To get things out of the way first, Mount & Blade: Warband isn’t a new game at all. It was released for PC back in 2002 and was created to run on as many systems as possible. This means the game never looked that impressive or pretty. Don’t be surprised the moment you start this game on your Xbox One or PlayStation 4. Yes, it looks like the game got stuck in the past and it looks like a polished Xbox or PlayStation 2 game but don’t let those graphics hold you back. Underneath all those ugly textures is a game that captivated thousands of players for years. Mount & Blade is an incredibly popular PC game and we’re glad it finally found its way to consoles after all those years. This isn’t just your traditional medieval game, this is a game about becoming the true leader of a place called Calradia.
Create your hero
At the start of the game, you’ll need to create a character, something you’ve done a couple of times before in other games. Yet, creating your character in Mount & Blade is very important since it will set the tone of your adventure. For example, you can create a character that has nothing and isn’t connected to any of the houses. Needless to say, this character will struggle to prove itself in the campaign since no leader will take you seriously. If you want a smoother start, we suggest to start with a character that has some kind of connection to one of the smaller houses. This way, leaders will recognize you and assign you with several tasks.
Don’t get me wrong, starting from the bottom is possible but it will take a lot of effort to rise to the top. It’s something a lot of gamers will want to do since it’s the ultimate feeling of satisfaction, rising up from zero to hero. But, a lot of gamers will give up on it rather fast since the game doesn’t give away any of the victories, in order to become good, you’ll need to fail and learn from your mistakes. Of course, ruling over Calradia isn’t a task you should do alone, that’s where your army comes in handy.
Recruit those soldiers
A war isn’t fought on your own so you’ll need some people behind your banner. You can recruit those in villages or taverns. Villages are great to recruit nameless basic characters that will work just fine as your standard army without any special skills. If you want to have more skilled characters, you’ll have to visit taverns. In here you’ll be able to recruit named characters and you can even assign their role. Will they carry sword and shield, bow or ride a horse? These characters play a crucial role in your survival but don’t get attached to them in the beginning, since you’ll lose almost every fight.
Since it’s your goal to become the best warlord of them all, you need to start somewhere. A smart choice is to take down small groups of thieves in the early stages. Don’t be mistaken however, since experience plays a crucial role. If you’re fighting experienced thieves, you’ll lose the battle, even if you outnumber them. If you’re defeated, you’ll return to prison and escape with nothing. The start of the game isn’t easy and we’re sure a lot of gamers will call it a day once they start losing over and over again. That would be a shame however since the best part of the game starts later on.
Command your army to victory!
In order to get to that point, you’ll need to recruit members that can really add something to your army, don’t just select those soldier randomly, think what kind of warrior you need and try to recruit them. If you’re short on money you can run errands for one of the lords but keep in mind that the other lords won’t like that, so again, decide who you want to help. If you manage your income correctly and recruit useful soldiers, you’ll be able to defeat the thieves and take over their products to gain even more money and troops. Step by step, you’ll create an army that’s big enough to take down other houses and that’s were the fun begins.
To battle!
Once you assembled your army, it’s time to face the lords. Battling is epic and happens on a huge scale. Before you know it, you’ll see your troops running everywhere, chasing down the enemies. Once the battle starts, things can get chaotic so it’s smart to decide your strategy before the actual combat kicks off. You command your troops by yelling commands and telling which wave should attack first and what type of soldiers should be used as back-up or final push. Battles are tactical and need a lot of supervision in order to make them work.
During combat you can play in first person or third person, depending on your personal taste. The way you fight also depends on what you like most. You can be any time of soldier, ranging from a dual wielder to a horseback soldier. Anything is possible and your only concern should be to stay alive to see the ending of the battle. It’s a bit hard deciding what kind of character you’ll use but there are battlegrounds in villages where you can practice your skills on NPCs. We truly recommend you all to spend some time getting to know the basics.
If you’re up for a bigger challenge, you can go online where you can play several modes with up to 32 players. The modes are rather basic and you won’t gain that much money to buy crazy weapons but aside from that, the multiplayer is actually pretty fun. Everything you do in multiplayer won’t affect your solo adventure since you’ll need to create an entirely new character for the multiplayer battles.
Conclusion:
Mount & Blade: Warband is far from a pretty game but looks can be deceiving for sure. Underneath those old graphics is a great game that will result in a lot of fun. Getting started isn’t that easy but once you understand the mechanisms and you’re able to create your very own army, this game might become your new personal favorite. Don’t judge a book by its cover and give this game a chance, you won’t regret it.
