Mount & Blade: Warband

In Brief

There are 30 Steam keys up for grabs for this excellent first person medieval fighting game. In Mount & Blade: Warband you can create your own medieval world, win over the lords of the realm and be crowned king of Calradia.

Introduction:

The land of Calradia has been torn asunder by constant warfare between its warring lords, your mission is to build your own army, unite the lords and become the next king of the land.

Mount & Blade: Warband is a multiplayer/single player stand alone expansion pack for the original single player only Mount & Blade that introduced medieval battlefields mounted combat and an excellent medieval fighting system.

Whiterabbit-uk 2019

Installation:

The installation is via the Steam client. If you are not familiar with activating a Steam game, go to the top menu and select Games. From the drop-down menu select 'Activate a Product on Steam'. The game will then be available to install on any computer you install the Steam client on and sign in using your Steam account. If you're new to Steam, you can download the Steam client HERE and create a Steam account HERE. Once the key has been added to your account it will be permanently tied to that account and cannot be changed.

If you've previously won a Steam key for any limited giveaway and still not received your key, please contact the giveaway team via the contact form HERE. Please include details of the name and the email you used when you entered the competition, plus a screenshot of your name in the winners list would be useful to confirm your win, thank you.

Assuming you win a Steam key for Mount & Blade: Warband once you've found it (should be sent to the email you used to enter the giveaway - it must be the email you first used to sign into the game giveaway site. If you’ve used a throwaway email there may be problems getting a key, because the key may be sent to that email. If you have any problems, use the contact form. You must activate the game via your Steam client. Once activated it will be permanently tied to your Steam profile and you'll be able to install the game at anytime, anywhere on any computer, so long as you can validate who you are (usually via emails etc.). If you don't have a Steam account, you will first have to download and install the Steam client HERE

Then create a Steam profile/account. Once that has been completed you can input the Steam code that you've received (after completing the form filling) via the game button along the top of the Steam client, (located between friends and Help). From the drop-down menu select 'Activate a product on Steam'. This opens a product activation window. Just follow the prompts to complete activation. Once the Steam code has been accepted, the game will be associated with your Steam account and can be installed any time you wish

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Mount & Blade: Warband to work, please visit the problems section over in the Game Discussion forums, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE or check the Steam forums or contact Steam support.

The Game:

Review 1:

Mount & Blade: Warband is an enigma, it’s a game I look at and think “Wow, I really shouldn’t like this as much as I do”. Developed by Taleworlds , it’s a game that tries to emulate a hostile land with warring factions. It’s a game that chucks you in at the deep end and kind of just tells you to get on with it. It’s a game that I completely suck at, and I have no problem with this whatsoever.

Mount & Blade has been around for a few years now; having garnered itself a bit of a cult following on PC the remake of the original title, suitably named Warband, the release expands on what the original Mount & Blade had to offer. Warband offers updated graphics, the ability to start your own faction along with with an entirely new one to play with, and most importantly, multiplayer.

Mount & Blade is about combat: that’s the majority of what’s on offer here. Combat in Warband is pretty unlike anything else I’ve ever played, it’s an incredibly simple yet somehow deep system that takes full advantage of directional swings. Using the right analog stick, you move the camera in the direction you want to swing your sword. It is initially a little bit awkward but once you get the hang of it, it’s a system that starts to feel incredibly intuitive. Unfortunately the actual movement of characters ends up letting the fantastic combat system down. I never really found myself missing the use of a sprint button until I had played Warband, as movement across battlefield can be sluggish unless you’re on a horse. Fortunately, this is easily forgotten during the midst of battle; especially when you’re surrounded by 7-8 raiders trying (and usually succeeding) to stab you in the kidney.

I say they usually succeed, but truth is, they pretty much always succeed. Mount & Blade: Warband is an incredibly difficult game. I’ve played the game for around 15-20 hours, I’ve not made a whole lot of progress, but I’m honestly fine with that. There isn’t a whole lot of progress to be made though, much like any other RPG sandbox, the world is what you make of it. The obvious route for many people is the ability to build an army or faction, and see just how well you can dominate the world. I found myself diving right into the arena fights, winning tournaments and making a name for myself. I think this is where the true magic of Warband’s fairly shallow narrative comes into play, because those that manage to actually role play this game are going to get a lot more out of it. There’s so many potential options for role-play on offer here, you can be a trader, a fighter, a mercenary, a lover and my personal favourite, an archer.

Bows are just one of the many weapons available in the game, but there are also crossbows, two handed swords, lances, maces and pretty much every medieval weapon you can think of. The beauty of Warband’s combat system means that every single weapon feels different, meaning it’s incredibly easy to find yourself specializing in just one or two. I found myself switching between a bow and a two handed sword, making me nimble at a distance but a force to be reckoned with up close. Horseback combat is even pretty good as well, the horse obviously gives players a speed advantage, but it also makes them a much bigger target.

Presentation is probably Warband's biggest problem, the game does look like a slightly prettier version of Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I can see a lot of people instantly dismissing the game for not looking on par with something like The Witcher or Dragon Age; I don’t personally find it an issue, in this day and age of glitzy triple A titles, it’s nice to see developers spend more time on balancing the experience, than buffing the edges to make them shiny.

While the single player may lack a solid narrative or sense of direction, the multiplayer is an absolute blast. Once you’ve gained the confidence needed from playing single player, multiplayer is where you’re going to spend the chunk of your time. Warband offers players the standard selection of modes, from death match to capture the flag; what makes them interesting is just how frenetic the experience is. There’s a class select system at the start of each round that gives you the option to change your load out, although it is possible to switch between deaths as well. Players that perform well are given gold which can be spent on more powerful weapons mid game. From start to finish, each round genuinely feels like a war has taken place. You might be dominating one minute, taking down foes as they come at you, but get complacent and you end up taking a pike to the back of your neck. As frustrating as death is, it never becomes annoying, in multiplayer it often comes down to a mistake you made as a player. This in turn etches you into returning to the battlefield, claiming revenge on your adversary.

Excellent multiplayer aside, the single player does fall very flat. There’s nothing ever really happening, it doesn’t ever feel like there’s a big picture. As awesome as role-playing is, it can only last for so long. AI characters in the world are mostly pretty dull, serving no purpose other than an information point. Missions usually just involve moving from point A to point B, and usually a person dies. The real chunk of the single player will come from how much you want to put into it, and how much you enjoy the concept of building your own army. Having said that, the AI companions are usually pretty terrible, they often go down pretty quickly, although they can be leveled up! You’ll often find yourself asking them to hang back using the command functions, while you go in swinging - thinning the enemy's numbers.

There’s no doubt that Mount & Blade: Warband is one of the most unique experiences available, and I can honestly say it’s one of a kind. It’s like a really terrible looking car, that in fact has a V8 engine beneath the bonnet; it might look rubbish, but it’ll kick your arse all over the shop. Solid combat and addictive multiplayer make it incredibly easy to overlook some of the titles other shortcomings making for one of best medieval combat experiences on PS4….. It’ll might even be better than For Honour...

Reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Thomas Hughes 26th Sept 2016, reposted by Whiterabbit-uk 11th Feb 2019

Review 2:

Graphics aren’t everything - but they’re something. The sandbox-style RPG Mount & Blade: Warband is perhaps best compared to a work like the Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot long strip of cloth in northern France detailing one of the landmark events of the European Middle Ages. Background details barely show up at all, the people look two generations removed from Gumby, and the weavers couldn't even keep the lines on the border straight. Yet it's stunning to behold. Some parts look like kindergartners made it, but it has soul and heart, and its images remain better embedded in my memory than some of the busy masterworks of the renaissance.

Mount & Blade: Warband, which is likewise focused on a medieval setting, feels a little like that. It already looked a decade old when it first came out on PC in 2010 (and received a review score of 8.1), and some minor updates to its Xbox One and PlayStation 4 release do little to make it look remotely modern. Slight variations on the same eight or so ugly faces populate its six kingdoms. Knights and peasants alike jank about like robots. Details like grass often vanish when you’re just a few yards away, and if using a game pad the tricky controls sometimes become annoying. And yet for all that, this remains a role-playing game that does a better job of conveying the rags-to-riches journey than a game like Skyrim.

Look past its shabby exterior and you'll find depth, replayability, and ambition that few competitors can match. It doesn't show you the ropes much, aside from a tutorial for its unique combat system (which lets you control your attacks with most weapons from multiple directions), and the way it drops you into its world with scant explanation can be off-putting in this age of carefully orchestrated, world-saving plots told from the perspective of gruff, named protagonists.

Never once does it hint from the outset that you can win your own taxable land through a strategic marriage, nor does it tell you you'll probably have to fight for that potential spouse's favor in a duel. The character-creation screen hints at least suggest you can make your living as a merchant shuttling goods from the deserts of the south to the snows of the north along with fighting, but it says little about the opportunities to herd cattle rather than winning glory of the battlefield.

One of the best parts about Mount & Blade: Warband is that it's not just about you. Few other combat-driven RPGs do such a great job of creating the semblance of a living world. All the while you're out clearing bandits for lords or delivering letters for kings, the diplomatic relations of the surrounding kingdoms are shifting and evolving, possibly making once-comfortable jaunts a risky prospect but a few in-game days later. In contrast to the relatively static land of the Elder Scrolls, this isn't a place where the inhabitants wait around for you to do something before pursuing their own self-interests.

Nor is it a place where a single dude can forge a place for himself in the world with pluck and plot armor alone. You’re not a superhero in this world, so captivity and failure happen often in the early hours, sometimes pulling you from near-greatness to crushing poverty within minutes. The frequent auto-saves for the single save file per character heavily punish mistakes or just bad luck, such as getting overwhelmed by too many enemies in chance encounters as you gallop across the world map. As with many things in life, to survive in this cruel world you're going to need some help. More specifically, you're going to need a war band.

A memorable band of brothers they're not. Warbands are usually little more than trainable troupes of mercenaries and peasants you pick up in towns, and they have little by way of personality. However, keeping them happy with steady pay is almost as tough of a struggle as actually fighting.

Few moments in games lately have thrilled me as when I charged up a ramped siege tower on my horse and impaled the two archers waiting on the ramparts with my spear. Then, whipping out my sword, I rushed down the wall cut down the four players in my way. If Warband had an Over-watch-style Play of the Game highlight, that would have been it. When all of Warband's combat elements come together – multiple weapons, great mounted combat, and sieges – and the controls get out of the way, it works so well that I almost entirely forget that it's as ugly as a bacteria sample from the Blarney Stone.

Mount & Blade: Warband may not have a carefully guided plot or even reasonably attractive graphics, but it recreates the sensation of living in a medieval world like few other games by allowing freedom to decide your own approach to carving out your destiny in a dynamic world of rapidly changing alliances. There's a lot of fun here, especially in the eight multiplayer modes for up to 64 players.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Leif Johnson 22nd Sept 2016, re-posted by Whiterabbit-uk 11th Feb 2019

Conclusion:

If you fancy playing a first/third person medieval fighting game, with the ability to ride horses, charge into battle, hold siege to castles, marry a noblewoman and have no access to guns then Mount and Blade: Warband is definitely a game I'm sure you'll enjoy. With literally thousands of overwhelmingly positive comments about the game and most reviews I've read paint the game in a very positive light despite its shortcomings, plus the ability to modify the game using hundreds of free mods this is a game well worth adding to your library. You'll find loads of mods (that add loads of extras to the game from different locations, different character models, weapons, castles and so much more) . There are a lot of controls to remember. i personally have a crib card on my second monitor to remind me of the controls. There are several tutorial;s that you can complete to get used to the various weapons and horse riding. Well worth playing if you've not played the game before, or as a reminder if its been a while (like me). Despite its aged graphics I'd give this a 9 out of 10 for fantastic game play and the ability to modify the game.

Other Reviews and Videos of Mount & Blade: Warband:

You can see other comments of Mount & Blade: Warband HERE (over 57 thousand comments from the Steam community) and an 8.8/78 score from Meta-critic HERE

You can see several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE (new player guide), HERE, HERE (15 tips and tricks), HERE (7 tips and tricks), HERE ( A Clash of Kings mod for Warband) & HERE (3 must play mods for Warband). (The last two videos show the modified game using various mods that are freely available HERE).

The game and it's two siblings Mount & Blade and Mount & Blade: Fire & Water plus two dlc packs for Warband are on sale via Steam until Monday evening HERE.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Mount & Blade: Warband to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE If there are no solutions that help, you'll need to contact Steam help.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Eneba for giving away 30 Steam keys for Mount & Blade: Warband and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Mount & Blade: Warband doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).