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Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord studio TaleWorlds Entertainment has released a new video showcasing the chaotic combat of the game's multiplayer "Captain Mode." The new mode will enable "large-scale, epic battles" for up to five players per side, each one controlling a unit of infantry, cavalry, or archers.
The video isn't narrated, but the basics seem clear enough, especially in the second battle. Units can be customized in a variety of different ways—better armor, more speed, modified weapons, and so forth—and then ordered to move, attack, and assume various offensive or defensive formations. As in RTS gameplay, soldiers aren't controlled individually, but instead operate as best they can under the conditions set by the commander.
It might be pushing the definition of "large scale" a little—this obviously isn't going to operate at the scope of, say, Total War: Warhammer 2—but the action seems pleasingly brutal, and keeping the battles on the smaller side of big will hopefully translate into a more hands-on feeling of command. Relying on the competence of your fellow commanders in a 5v5 showdown should lead to some interesting conversations, too.
Despite being in development for the past five years, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord still doesn't have a release date.