Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord executions have been detailed in the latest blog post from developer Taleworlds. Previous games in the franchise would only allow you to capture enemy lords after a battle, a situation that was temporary at best in even the highest of prison towers. Now you can arrange a more... permanent solution for dealing with your enemies with the introduction of the executions mechanic.
Like many of the mechanics detailed in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord so far, executions are relatively straightforward and easy to understand but have far-reaching implications for players who decide to use them.
Captured lords can be executed simply with the push of a button and a subsequent confirmation. Executing a dishonorable lord will upset some of the other lords a little, but not very much. After all, a dishonorable lord is kind of a dick. However, executing an honorable lord will upset the community of nobles and you'll lose some of your own honorable reputation. Stray into dishonorable territory and you'll be at risk for being executed.
Executing lords isn't just a convenient method of disposing of your enemies — it's also a fast track to destroying relations between families. While the lord may be dead, his relatives are not and they will be very upset with you.
There is one notable absence in the Bannerlord executions dev blog post: what happens if you just execute every single lord left and right? One hopes that there will be some kind of system in place to compensate for a classic Genghis Khan stratagem. Then again, causing a massive power vacuum by killing all of the nobility is also a pretty realistic decision for a lord who is aiming to take over an entire kingdom.
The Bannerlord executions mechanic is sure to add another dynamic to a game that's already looking to be pretty complex. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord will hopefully release sometime before Elon Musk colonizes Mars. In the meantime, you can weep with the rest of us and add it to your wishlist on Steam.
What do you think of the Bannerlord executions mechanic? Will you execute captured enemies or are you content to simply keep them imprisoned or ransom them away for profit? Let us know in the comments below!
