After 489 hours of gameplay and all the recent hype for this game's successor, I feel compelled to write a review for it. Typically my reviews are long and arduous, but I'm going to really condense this one because I simply feel like there's not much you need to hear about this game.

M&B is packing on the years now, but it has aged like a fine wine from Southern France. This game is everything you want an open-world RPG to be, create your character's backstory, put some points into some attributes and then you ready to enter the chaotic world of Calradia, where your character can be just about anything from the commander of massive army to a wealthy travelling merchant, you can even be a ruthless bandit who plunders villages in the countryside if you want to.

M&B is a game that focuses on episodic combat where the player fights alongside their party, typically this leads to some highly entertaining scenarios where you end up beating the odds (my personal favorite, a player-controlled army of 200 soldiers defending a city under siege by an enemy war party of approx. 1000 soldiers. By the end of the battle, my characters entire body was coated in the blood of enemy and ally and alike, truely one of my favorite moments with this game).

If you ever get tired of vanilla gameplay, there's mods, I highly suggest getting Gekokujo, a mod that changes the game's entire setting to feudal Japan where you can slice and dice (and even shoot) your way to the top, it changes just about everything and adds a whole new level of gameplay.

I also recommend the Napoleonic Wars DLC, you can really tell that the dev team really poured their heart and soul into it. Unfortunately, NW is multiplayer only, but there's something incredible about playing as a footsoldier in a massive line battle as smoke obscures your sight and musket shots roll like thunder all around you or when you lead a calvary charge and your fellow comrades let out a rallying war cry as they prepare to cut down an enemy regiment with their sabers. Most of my playtime was spent in NW, I used to play it just about every day.

M&B Wardband is without a doubt, one of the best games I have ever had the privilege of playing. It's criminal how cheap this game and its DLC are, if this thing goes on sale, do not hesitate to buy it immediately.

After 489 hours of gameplay and all the recent hype for this game's successor, I feel compelled to write a review for it. Typically my reviews are long and arduous, but I'm going to really condense this one because I simply feel like there's not much you need to hear about this game. M&B is packing on the years now, but it has aged like a fine wine from Southern France. This game is everything you want an open-world RPG to be, create your character's backstory, put some points into some attributes and then you ready to enter the chaotic world of Calradia, where your character can be just about anything from the commander of massive army to a wealthy travelling merchant, you can even be a ruthless bandit who plunders villages in the countryside if you want to. M&B is a game that focuses on episodic combat where the player fights alongside their party, typically this leads to some highly entertaining scenarios where you end up beating the odds (my personal favorite, a player-controlled army of 200 soldiers defending a city under siege by an enemy war party of approx. 1000 soldiers. By the end of the battle, my characters entire body was coated in the blood of enemy and ally and alike, truely one of my favorite moments with this game). If you ever get tired of vanilla gameplay, there's mods, I highly suggest getting Gekokujo, a mod that changes the game's entire setting to feudal Japan where you can slice and dice (and even shoot) your way to the top, it changes just about everything and adds a whole new level of gameplay. I also recommend the Napoleonic Wars DLC, you can really tell that the dev team really poured their heart and soul into it. Unfortunately, NW is multiplayer only, but there's something incredible about playing as a footsoldier in a massive line battle as smoke obscures your sight and musket shots roll like thunder all around you or when you lead a calvary charge and your fellow comrades let out a rallying war cry as they prepare to cut down an enemy regiment with their sabers. Most of my playtime was spent in NW, I used to play it just about every day. M&B Wardband is without a doubt, one of the best games I have ever had the privilege of playing. It's criminal how cheap this game and its DLC are, if this thing goes on sale, do not hesitate to buy it immediately.