News has been trickling in from TaleWorlds, the developers of acclaimed Sandbox RPG-Strategy game Mount & Blade, on the state of their upcoming title Bannerlord. However, just a few days ago their blog was updated with several new and juicy details regarding the features they’ve got planned for what could be a worthy successor to Warband. Among them includes the run-down of factions, their designs for adding background without compromising the sandbox style, and even gracing the minor free-booting groups – the outlaws and mercenaries – with more care.
We do intend to give more flavor to the factions than existed in Warband. They are now divided into clans, who have their own priorities and rivalries. Lords’ personalities have more variety. One new feature that we hope will add a lot of color is minor factions: outlaws and mercenaries based on historical or legendary bands like the Jomsvikings or the Fianna of Ireland. But the outer kingdoms — the ones whom imperial citizens would call “barbarians” — should still retain that sandbox feel.
Bannerlord is set 200 years before Warband, allowing players to participate in the rise and fall of the old Calradic Empire as part of the Empire or five other factions, each known as the Sturgians, Aserai, Khuzaits, Battanians, and Vlandians. Architecture, weaponry and general culture will reflect on the time period between 600 and 1300AD, nodding its head to the grand Roman Empire while maintaining a distinct image.
There’s the Vlandians, a tribe whose chieftains have become feudal lords and are renowned for their skills as heavy cavalry. There’s the Sturgians, who colonized the forests of the north and specialize in axe- and sword-armed footmen. The Aserai live in the scrubland and desert oases of the south and fight on both horseback and foot. The Khuzaits, a steppe tribe that conquered the trading cities of the east, make heavy use of horse archers. The Battanians meanwhile are skilled in exploiting their native woodlands, and are deadly in ambushes, be it a shower of arrows or a screaming charge out of the trees. The Empire has spent generations honing the arts of combined-arms warfare, with cataphracts, spear formations, and archers all doing their part on the battlefield.
A release date is uncertain but I will be following Bannerlord as the previews roll out, so stay tuned to NicheGamer for the latest.
