When it comes to how I chose video games, realism is probably what I put above all. One day, probably when I was in high school, I found myself searching for a realistic medieval RPG. If nowadays such games are rare, more so 15ish years ago. After all this was well into the pre-KCD era.
I’m clueless of how I found Mount & Blade, a game released in 2007. Back then, the graphics were already dated, but hey, if I wanted to play games that look good I would probably be playing something hollow like a yearly release of COD or something like that. I wanted to play something different, something that truly breaks the mold of what people are supposed to like playing.
Mount and Blade did not disappoint.
The prospect of a game so ambitious, where you could manage your kingdom, your fiefs, your army and yourself was an incredibly spectacular proposition for someone like me who was merely looking for a medieval RPG and instead found a hybrid of RPG, RTS, and fief management; a gem. The scope of the game was surreal, naturally it’s delivery and presentation was not flawless, but who cared, the game was really fun. Gameplay, and not graphics is what drives me.
I quickly spent a while trying to get ahead of the learning curve and figure out how to boost my cav numbers while I mastered lance couching. What a joy was it to hunt down those sea raiders to get the better gear, particularly their hauberks.
Then the mods came, the mods were great, and all of this was still on the original M&B release. I lost my mind when I started playing that USA-Mexico wild west mod that featured all the major factions of the era circa 1860s (the name of the mold might had been 1866). The joy that shooting a Henry while leading a horse charge with your Comanche warriors brought me.
I didn’t had to wait long for the sequel, Warband. Which was even greater. I legit played that game for 10 years and I have very fond memories of my time. Warband had some minor improvements to the single player experience, the big change was it added multiplayer.
It took me years to get started with online playing, I was always mostly a solo player. There is no better joy than charging the Rhodoks with your army of all Swadian knights. I never bothered too much with playing other factions or starting my own kingdom, for me it was all about massing Swadian knights.
Eventually I switched to playing some of the many mods set up in medieval Europe. Realism and historicity, that was my thing.
Eventually I got into playing that roman MP mod. The pure joy of setting a shield wall while the Celts charged you only to be greeted by a rain of pila. From there I started finding a balance between MP and SP, a rare occurrence as I mostly play SP games.
The amount of hours I invested into M&B were substantial, prepandemic Warband was by far my most played game on steam. I did buy all the official DLCs but I never really got into any of them. I did play with fire and sword for quite a bit. Fun setting, but I never really played all that much, I guess I should go back and play with an army of all winged hussars. Lastly I did get those two pirate flavored games that licensed the M&B engine. I would had played them more, but they weren’t particularly good games.
I’d summarize my experience with the M&B franchise as one for which I am grateful. I managed to find a very niche game that somehow was everything I’ve ever wanted in a game. I spent endless hours playing the many mods for well over 10 years. Only the beta release or Bannerlord made me finally stop playing Warband.
As soon as I saw BL going for presale I bought it, I hadn’t been keeping up that closely with the dev diaries. I just knew I would always keep buying everything on the M&B universe. I played quite a bit when the beta was released, was it better than Warband? Well, no, it wasn’t; for me Warband was a gem that I found at the right time. I still enjoy Bannerlord, and I’m quite sure I’ll go back to playing it next month with the full release, and for many more years to come.