The path to your own kingdom in "Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord" is long, but full of adventure

It is currently the fourth most-played game on Steam. The launch has even knocked "Doom Eternal" off its throne, which also reported a record launch. "Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord" is the sequel to "Mount & Blade: Warband" from 2008. "Bannerlord" was announced back in 2012 and is still far from finished eight years later. The game was launched as Early Access on 30 March. The developers want to work on it for at least another year before it leaves the test phase. Nevertheless, the multi-layered medieval strategy action role-playing game is already worth a ride.

A little bit of "Civilisation", a pinch of "Total War" and some "Mordhau"

As a newcomer, you'll probably be like me at first. "Bannerlord" is difficult to describe and also difficult to understand. It mixes several game elements and gives you a lot of freedom as to how you want to play the game. Whether you play as a merchant, mercenary, thief or even a lord is up to you.

On the one hand, the game consists of a "Civilisation"-like map view, in which you travel around with your character, visit towns and mop up bandits. The game then switches to the second central mode: combat. From the third-person view, you can choose to charge into battle on foot or on horseback. At the same time, you control your growing army using a series of commands - including formations such as "shield wall" or "scatter" if the enemy attacks with archers.

At the beginning of the game, you only have a few ragged day labourers under your command. As your influence and money grow, you can hire new and better soldiers and attack larger enemy troops. This in turn makes combat more complex, as you no longer have to charge head-on at your opponents, but have to take a tactical approach.

Tactics are also required for the rest of the game. When you're not in battle, you can explore the huge world map, which consists of several kingdoms. You can join them as a mercenary or try to found your own kingdom. But I'm nowhere near that stage yet. I usually pass my time by accepting quests from merchants and noblemen, which earns me reputation with one faction and deducts points from the other. You should therefore not accept every quest. You have to think carefully about who you're doing right by and who you're hurting.

In most towns, there are not only quests, but also a tavern where you can hire up to four companions. They are at your side in battle and have individual talent trees, inventories, etc. You can also take part in arena battles in which you fight alone or in a team against other warriors. If you win, you earn reputation and a new weapon or equipment.

Countless cogs that interlock

The longer you play Bannerlord, the more things you discover. There is a complex crafting system where you can forge your own weapons. You have to feed your troops and only a healthy diet will give you a positive morale. If you have too much loot or prisoners with you, you will slow down. This makes it harder to attack enemy troops or outrun pursuers. An extensive encyclopaedia explains everything about the different kingdoms, who is allied with whom and where a particular lord or town is located. The skill system allows for many completely different game types. Oh yes, there is also a multiplayer mode.

"Bannerlord" is far from finished. The voice output is still missing, towns and bandit camps all look the same and the quest variation is poor. This and much more is already on the to-do list of Turkish developer studio TaleWorlds. Mods, which had a strong influence on the predecessors, are still being developed. And yet "Bannerlord" already offers plenty of entertainment and runs relatively smoothly. You can see a brief insight in our Let's Play.

This is what we stream:

• Streaming-PC
• Gaming PC
• Audio-Video-Hardware