Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord arrives on March 31 (in early access) after a decade-long wait

Mount & Blade II Bannerlord
(Image credit: TaleWorlds / Valve)

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord will be out in early access form on Steam and the Epic Games Store come March 31.

TaleWorlds has just announced the release date of the highly anticipated sequel to Mount & Blade: Warband, which was launched back in 2010 (it was a standalone expansion that followed the original Mount & Blade game which emerged in 2008). Bannerlord is one of our most anticipated PC games of 2020, by the way.

Getting a piece of the early access action will set you back $49.99/€49.99/£39.99 (around AU$77) and as mentioned you’ll be able to purchase Bannerlord through Steam or the Epic Games Store, or directly via the TaleWorlds website.

So what can you expect after waiting a decade for the latest instalment of the medieval combat-driven RPG? Much better graphics, for starters, with a more fleshed-out fighting system, and the introduction of siege warfare, as well as the addition of diplomacy and barter.

In fact, Bannerlord will offer a full simulated economy, where the prices of goods vary according to supply and demand, as well as a weapon crafting system.

Mount & Blade II Bannerlord

(Image credit: TaleWorlds / Valve)

Promises, promises…

It’s easy to make such promises, of course, and another thing to make sure that all these different cogs whirr seamlessly together to make a convincing medieval world – but at least you’ll soon be able to take the plunge and discover the reality of how Bannerlord is shaping up.

And of course help to hone the game, because as the developer notes: “TaleWorlds feels that the time has come to bring players on-board through an Early Access release to work alongside the studio in bringing Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord to completion.

“TaleWorlds are more than familiar with this type of release after helping to pioneer Early Access as a release method with their original title, Mount & Blade, and are confident that this approach is of great value to the quality of the final product.”

We’ll hear more info on how the early access will work closer to the launch date, the developer promises.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).