Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord gets some good early access news

Last month, the folks at TaleWorlds surprised everyone by announcing Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord. Mount and Blade II is a game that fans have been waiting nearly a decade for, and when TaleWorlds announced it, the company confirmed that the game would enter early access on March 31st, 2020. As with most things, though, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has prompted TaleWorlds to change its plans.

That isn't a bad thing, though. In a blog post today, TaleWorlds confirmed that Bannerlord will be launching into early access a day early. Specifically, Bannerlord will become available on March 30th at 10AM UTC (6AM EST). It isn't a huge bump when everything is said and done, but it's vastly better than a delay, especially when there are a lot of Mount and Blade fans eager to dive in.

TaleWorlds also announced that for its first two weeks of availability, Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord will be 10% off for everyone. If you own one of the previous Mount and Blade games, you'll get an additional 10% off for a grand total of 20% off your purchase. Not bad for a brand new game.

In that blog post today, TaleWorlds also reiterated what players can expect from the early access version of Bannerlord. The campaign will be playable in early access, giving players the chance to create a character and explore "a vast, re-envisioned continent of Calradia." Multiplayer will also be playable, with TaleWorlds telling players that they can expect something similar to the multiplayer beta that was recently hosted. Four game modes – Skirmish, Captain, Team Deathmatch, and Siege – will be available in multiplayer to start.

Since this is an early access release, TaleWorlds also warns players that they will encounter bugs, glitches, balance issues, and missing or incomplete features. If you're okay with that, you can pick up Mount and Blade II when it launches on Steam on March 30th.