14 DAY TRIAL // Mount & Blade is one of those indie projects that has made it big. It was picked up by publisher Paradox Interactive and sales of the title have been good enough to warrant the development of an expansion, which is set to arrive on the PC sometime this year.
Paradox has announced the expansion for some time, but only at the Game Developers Conference did the company reveal the first details related to the gameplay.
The expansion, called Warband, is set to focus on adding meat to the multiplayer bones of the videogame. 32 players will be able to join in a single battle, in a team death match mode, on one map at the same time. A new system will be implemented regarding Faction Rulers, meaning that any player can now get followers, even as a rebel, and that they can become leaders of the faction they belong to and get other Lords as their vassals.
The game is also set to get a graphical update, through the implementations of technologies like High Dynamic Range, which will make running through the steppe more beautiful than ever. The user interface and the overall information given to players will also be improved, in order to make the game easier to play. Of course, there will be more weapons, armours and combat animations, in addition to extended diplomatic options and a new system taking care of archery combat on horse back.
Armagan Yavuz, who is a producer on Mount & Blade: Warband, stated that “As a development team, we are used to short development circles, fast feedback from our users and the ability to have our gamers in the development loop. That is why we decided to create this expansion. We have received a large amount of requests from players for multiplayer and when we had published the game we saw an opportunity to explore this as well as additional improvements that our gamers requested. I feel that the multiplayer mode adds tremendously to the game experience.”