It's Finally Real! - Mount & Blade II

Good news! Better news! BEST NEWS. TaleWorlds is finally pregnant with another Mount-&-Blade-shaped baby, and your hopes and dreams are the father. This is no With Fire and Sword-style spin-off, either. Or at least, that's what the number two (and in Roman numerals, no less - making it the two-est two of them all) suggests. Unfortunately, I say "suggests" because there's really not much else to say. All we have right now is a full title - Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord - a brief description, and a trailer that seems determined to abandon its family lineage and become a Powerpoint Presentation.

I do not enjoy having words thrown at my face. Why do people keep throwing words at my face? Oh well. TaleWorlds' brief introduction, at least, fills in a few blanks.

"TaleWorlds Entertainment is proud to announce the next installment in the acclaimed Mount & Blade game series, entitled: Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. This sandbox action-RPG strategy hybrid will take players on a journey into a fictional world of up-close and personal medieval combat on a huge scale, bigger, bloodier and more intense than ever before. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord will build upon the popular Mount & Blade franchise bringing in many exciting and highly requested new features."

So, on paper, it sounds like a pretty standard sequel. But then again, tiny grains of change count for quite a lot in a sandbox as large and volatile as Mount & Blade's, so we'll see. At this point, though, we don't even know the basics. I mean, is TaleWorld's upgrading from its musty old game engine? That seems like a no-brainer, but there's no telling at this point. I have, of course, laid siege to TaleWorlds' inbox as part of my bloody conquest for details, so now we can only wait. More soon, hopefully.