Mount & Blade

Mount & Blade is a single-player, action-oriented role-playing game, which takes place in a medieval land named Calradia. The game features a sandbox gameplay style, and though the player can complete quests, there is no overarching storyline present. At the start of the game, the player is offered a set of options to customize the character. The player answers a series of multiple-choice questions about the character's past and sex, which generate the character's initial attributes. The player has the option to sculpt their character's facial features. Traveling to other locations, or interacting with other parties is done by pointing and clicking the desired destination. Upon encountering enemy parties, the player can try to avoid a conflict or can engage in a battle with them. Combat There are four main areas where battles take place: on the open map when two or more hostile parties meet, in tournaments organized in town arenas, in siege combat where the player is either defending or attacking a fortification, or in settlements after triggering an event. Events include villages being infested by bandits, the player getting caught in a hostile settlement, the player plundering a village, or villagers rebelling against the player for collecting taxes. The number of soldiers each party can hold is limited by the "leadership" skill and the renown of the leader. Participants in a battle can be either mounted or on foot. The player has to indicate the direction in which he or she wants to swing by moving the mouse accordingly, unless they have changed the options so that the game automatically chooses it for them. Aiming with a ranged weapon is also done by using the mouse. The amount of damage is dependent on multiple factors including weapon's quality, weapon proficiency, and the speed of the player relative to the target: for example, a javelin thrown while running or riding a horse will be potentially more damaging than a javelin thrown while standing still. Weapons also have certain range of damage where they are most and least effective, giving each weapon type different playing styles. A spear will do minimal damage when used close to the player, while a hammer will cause maximum damage up close. ==Development and release==

The game originated as an independent project of Armağan Yavuz, founder of TaleWorlds Entertainment, and his wife, İpek Yavuz. The two began making the game in their garage, with Armağan working on code and İpek on graphics. According to Armağan, the game's inspirations include ''Sid Meier's Pirates!, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, Frontier: Elite II, and older Koei Tecmo strategy video games such as Genghis Khan'', as well as historical fiction novels, particularly those by Bernard Cornwell. Prior to its retail release, alpha versions of the game were published on the developer's website beginning in 2004, and feedback was given to the developers. In January 2008, Paradox Entertainment announced they would publish the game and scheduled to release within the second quarter of that year. The game was released on Microsoft Windows via Steam on September 16, 2008. ==Reception==

Mount & Blade received a score of 72 out of 100 based on 28 critic reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Mount & Blade has received negative criticism for its repetitive dialogues and locations, as well as its graphics quality. The fan community has received positive attention from both developers and critics. During an interview, TaleWorlds Entertainment stated to be "most proud" of its community, considering that "Mount & Blade has arguably some of the best mods developed for a computer game". Reviewers such as GamePro and Game Industry News also admired the number of mods made available for the beta versions even before the game's official retail release. ==Follow-up and sequels==

TaleWorlds Entertainment produced a standalone expansion for the game, titled Mount & Blade: Warband, which includes multiplayer support with up to 250 players as well as improved diplomacy, graphics, and artificial intelligence. Warband also has an updated map and a sixth faction. The expansion was set to be released in Q3 2009, but was delayed until March 2010. Closed beta testing began in August 2009, and became open in February 2010, before the expansion's release on March 30, 2010. Paradox Interactive returned the Mount & Blade license to TaleWorlds Entertainment on January 31, 2014. Paradox released a spin-off titled Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword, based on the historical novel With Fire and Sword (Polish: Ogniem i Mieczem) by Henryk Sienkiewicz, developed by Snowberry Connection, Sich Studio, and TaleWorlds Entertainment. The game is set in Eastern Europe, and includes the playable factions Poland–Lithuania, Cossack Hetmanate, Russia, Sweden and the Crimean Khanate. The game was released on May 4, 2011. On December 11, 2014, TaleWorlds published a DLC for Mount & Blade: Warband titled Viking Conquest. The DLC is based on the popular community-made mod Brytenwalda, which gained TaleWorlds' attention and was developed as an official expansion of Warband. A sequel, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, entered alpha on March 30, 2020, reaching over 170,000 concurrent players on Steam at its peak. The sequel features better graphics, character creation, battles, dialogue, relationship mechanics, and multiplayer, as well as further exploration into other gameplay paths. The success of the franchise has spawned many derivatives, including games made with the same engine as Mount & Blade. Such derivatives for example are Blood & Gold: Caribbean, Freeman: Guerilla Warfare, and Sands of Salzaar. ==References==