The latest update on Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord shares some information about a core feature of RPGs: consequences for your actions. As seasoned players are aware, in the world of Mount & Blade players can engage in several hostile and criminal activities, which, just as in real life, have consequences in the game world. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord will feature more complexity in that sense than simply the consequences of engaging an enemy in a pitched battle or laying siege to a castle.
Players can raid villages in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, and raiding is built on the mechanic from previous titles in the series, but with various additions and improvements to the system. You can raid both neutral and enemy villages to steal their resources. Once a village has been fully raided, it will take some time for it to recover and become fully operational. You can also recruit villagers for your armies by force, coercing them into becoming part of your forces. The villagers might resist, and if you persist on coercing them, there might be penalties for your actions.
You can also take their supplies without raiding their villages, and if villagers believe they have zero chance of taking you on, they won't put up a fight. The resources acquired this way are significantly smaller compared to raiding, but, at the same time, villagers won't bear as much of a grudge against you. The same applies to caravans and villager parties moving on the campaign map, which can also be attacked or coerced into joining your forces, or handing over their gold and items. They can also be intimidated into surrendering, which grants you access to their inventories.
The consequences for your actions also take into account whether you are at war with the kingdom of the target or not. Hostile actions against villages belonging to a kingdom you're not at war with will be considered criminal acts and increase your criminal rating in the region. If your criminal rating exceeds a certain threshold, the kingdom will then declare war against your kingdom. Otherwise, you may still be able to repair relations by paying compensation.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord looks like it's shaping up to be a proper medieval warlord simulator, with all the reactive apparatus we expect from a game of this magnitude.
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What do you think of the consequences in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord? Does this kind of reactive gameplay help you immerse yourself in the game more? Let us know in the comments below!
