100% Geek

Mount & Blade - A time of war, a game of legend!

This weekend Taleworlds have finally released v1.003 of Mount & Blade, an excellent game based primarily around mounted combat.

The game has been developed in shareware form for many years, it has a large following of fans and numerous graphical and gameplay mods, and earlier this year it was picked up by publishers Paradox Interactive, through whom it is now available to buy online and in shops.

Anyone who paid for a shareware version is entitiled to this full release at no extra cost, and as one of those I decided to write this short review.

Set in the mediaeval world of Calradia, Mount & Blade is an open-ended role-playing game which gives you a lot of freedom - there is no set storyline, and you can choose to do pretty much as you please.

There are many differences from traditional RPGs:

Whilst there are screenshots and videos available, neither of these give a true feeling of how the game plays - the best thing to do is try it for yourself.

In demo mode, you can play upto a level 6 character, at which point you either buy a serial number, or can start another character. Once you pay for the game you can continue playing with any characters you started in demo mode, or start a new character.

The official annoucement, which includes the download links, is on the M&B forums.

Mount & Blade really is a fun game, and even if you don't normally play RPGs, I strongly recommend giving it a try.