Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord - War Sails Review Summary

Engaging Naval Combat Mechanics: Players consistently praise the naval combat for being intense, enjoyable, and immersive. The mechanics are well-done and add a fresh tactical layer to the game.

Positive Reception of Nord Faction: The new Nord faction is well-received for being enjoyable, aesthetically pleasing, and well-developed. Players rate it highly and appreciate its addition to the game.

Smooth Game Performance: The game runs smoothly with no crashes encountered. Players report that it runs great and is not buggy.

Visual Appeal of Ships: Ships are noted for their good looks and beauty. Players find them interesting and fun to use for navigating the game world.

Expanded Game Universe: The expansion of the game universe with new Nordic faction, coastal regions, and trade options is appreciated. Players enjoy sea trading, raiding, and the ability to traverse seas.

Naval combat is rare and underwhelming: Players report that naval battles are infrequent and lack depth, making them boring and repetitive. The implementation of naval combat is poorly executed, leading to a lack of meaningful strategy and enjoyment.

Game is filled with bugs: The game suffers from frequent bugs and crashes, which significantly impact the gameplay experience. These issues range from minor texture bugs to game-breaking crashes.

DLC is poorly made and overpriced: The DLC is criticized for being incomplete, buggy, and lacking in content. Players feel that the high price does not match the quality or quantity of the content provided.

Poor implementation of various mechanics: Several game mechanics, including naval combat, stealth, and AI behavior, are poorly implemented. This leads to a frustrating and unenjoyable experience for players.

Balancing issues with factions: There are significant balancing issues, particularly with the Nord faction, which is considered weak and underdeveloped. This leads to an unbalanced and unfair gameplay experience.

Ship and Naval Mechanics: Players frequently discuss various aspects of ship mechanics, including ship control, management, modifications, and naval warfare. This includes specific mechanics like ship boarding and ramming strategies.

Faction Balancing and Integration: Players discuss the balancing issues and integration of new factions, particularly the Nordic faction. This includes faction-specific bonuses and unit balance.

Naval Pillaging and Trading: Players discuss activities like robbing sea caravans, attacking ship caravans, and sea trading. This includes both positive feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Siege Warfare: Feedback highlights the importance of city and castle sieges, including blockades and harbor attacks. Players appreciate the variety and depth of siege mechanics.

Storyline and Quest Design: Feedback includes discussions on the storyline design, quest integration, and tutorial missions. Players appreciate a well-developed narrative and quest structure.

Performance and Stability Issues: The game suffers from various performance problems, including lag, stuttering, and unstable performance. Many players report FPS drops and severe performance issues, particularly during intense scenes like sea battles.

Bugs and Glitches: The game is riddled with bugs and glitches, ranging from minor inconveniences to game-breaking issues. These include texture crashes, floating characters, and various other visual and mechanical problems.

Frequent Crashes and Freezes: Players experience frequent crashes, freezes, and blue screen errors. These issues are widespread and significantly impact the gameplay experience, with some crashes occurring every 20 minutes or during long battles.

Mod and DLC Issues: There are significant issues with mod compatibility and DLC recognition. Players report instability and bugs introduced by DLCs, as well as problems with sound modification mods.

Graphical and Audio Problems: Players report various graphical and audio issues, including extreme lighting effects and low audio levels for voice acting. These issues can affect gameplay and immersion.

Recommend DLC with caveats: Many players recommend purchasing the DLC, especially if you are a fan of the base game or enjoy strategy and management elements. However, several suggest waiting for a sale due to its average quality or buying it only if you have extra cash.

Wait for sale or updates: A significant number of reviews advise waiting for a sale or further updates before purchasing the DLC. This is due to current issues and the expectation that the game will improve over time.

Suggestions for gameplay improvements: Players have provided various suggestions for improving the gameplay, such as adding a messenger tool, improving character deterioration, fixing performance issues, and addressing faction balance.

Worth for specific players: The DLC is considered worth buying for players who enjoy the base game, ships, and strategy elements. It is also recommended for those who will interact with the new content and enjoy gameplay variety.

Gameplay tips and strategies: Players have shared various tips and strategies for gameplay, such as starting with a longship and crew, targeting smaller pirate groups, and choosing Nord for increased loot.

Community fair range: $22.00 - $25.00.

Game completion: 16.0h.

Story completion: 2.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

The game initially offers fun and engaging naval combat and ship mechanics, but the enjoyment tends to decrease over time due to repetitiveness and bugs.

Reported time to anchor: 1h.

Friction: Repetitive gameplay; Bugs and crashes; Tedious mechanics.

Naval Combat Enthusiast: Focuses on naval battles and pirate hunting. Motivation: Enjoyment of naval combat and Viking themes. Stance: sale.

Content Appreciator: Enjoys exploring new factions and map expansions. Motivation: Appreciation for new content and improvements. Stance: sale.

Critical Reviewer: Critical and discerning, avoids playing until major issues are fixed. Motivation: Desire for a polished and improved gaming experience. Stance: no buy.

Performance varies significantly across hardware cohorts, with lower VRAM configurations struggling more with stability and higher VRAM setups also experiencing notable issues.

Windows <8GB VRAM: mixed. Reports range from playable performance to frequent crashes and instability.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. Frequent crashes and performance issues dominate this cohort.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: negative. Notable performance issues and crashes reported.

Steam Deck: The game experiences significant issues related to frequent crashes, performance drops, and compatibility problems, particularly on Linux. Additionally, there are complaints about gameplay mechanics and DLC/mod issues, which collectively degrade the user experience.

Linux and Proton: The game exhibits significant issues on Linux, including game-breaking bugs, crashes, and performance problems, particularly in naval battles. However, there are also reports of positive experiences, indicating that the game can work well for some Linux users.

Monetization: The user reviews for the DLC present a mixed bag of opinions. While some users appreciate the new content and improvements brought by the DLC, many others feel that it does not offer enough value for its price. Common criticisms include the lack of substantial new content, technical issues, and the feeling that the DLC is incomplete or half-finished. Additionally, there are concerns about the stability of the DLC with existing mods and the use of AI-generated content. Overall, the sentiment leans towards dissatisfaction with the DLC's current state and pricing.

Mod reliance: The game Bannerlord is heavily reliant on community mods for both playability and content enhancement. Multiple users have reported that the game is unplayable without mods, indicating significant issues that the developers have not addressed. There is a consensus that the developers are relying on modders to fix underlying problems and enhance the game, rather than resolving these issues internally. Specific bugs and crashes are also reported, which further emphasize the necessity of mods for a stable and enjoyable gaming experience.

External guides: The primary issues highlighted by users revolve around the inaccuracies and outdated information in the game's encyclopedia, particularly concerning NPC locations. Additionally, there are significant technical issues and bugs that detract from the user experience. These problems collectively indicate a need for improved testing and updates to ensure accurate and reliable in-game information.

DLC and Mod Support: Players are requesting additional downloadable content and better support for mods. This includes a need for better infrastructure to make modding easier.

Control Configuration Issue: There is a specific issue with the control configuration where setting and retrieving sails is declared with Z but should actually be Y.

Personal Emotional Attachment: Some players have shared their personal emotional attachment to the game, including experiences related to internships.

External Review Link: A link to an external detailed review has been provided by a user.