Recs.
Updated
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Being able to make your own personal backstory
Before the game even starts you get to choose every little bit of your character's backstory, are you a noble who was forced out of their home and thus started your journey? Or... are you a street urchin who wanted to see the world?
You get to craft every meticulous detail, including who your father and family were, who you were as a child, etc. It's very interesting and can get you invested in your character.
Pro Tons of stuff to do
This game is a medieval enthusiast's dream, you can build up a huge army and fight for yourself, become king, be a vassal for a king, choose to be a wandering tournament fighter, a wandering fighter who takes down bandits, a bandit pillaging villages as they see fit, you can get married, and even get involved more deeply into the politics of the world. You can even join a group of rebels to try and overthrow a king, they will, in turn, then be the king of their respective realm. You can go to taverns, and feasts, as well as set up your own feasts after getting married. You can build your own mills, velvet factories, etc, and be a wandering merchant. You can even be a slaver if you wanted to, whenever you defeat bandits or others, you can capture them and sell them to random brokers, which gives you money. The possibilities are endless.
Pro Incredible realism
While you go about your life in the game, you'll see little tabs on the side and be updated about the state of the world, even about stuff you aren't involved in, you'll see who is fighting who, who is at war, who won and lost a battle, who won a tournament. You can be attacked by anyone at any moment while traveling throughout the world, having a small, or big army can determine whether or not the enemy sees you as a threat. It feels like a very believable world.
Pro Impressive & realistic Combat system
The game has one of the most realistic medieval combat systems ever, and it flows very well. There are different ways to control swordplay as well as archery, blocks are done using the mouse and moving it in the direction of the enemy's weapon and clicking the right mouse button.
Archery is very realistic is well and there is always a sense of accomplishment when you kill or even hit a target.
Pro Multiplayer
Multiplayer is a part of M&B with Warband and allows for battles as large as 200+ players with tons of different class choices for each player, making for a varied online battle each time. There are also different modes and maps. Warband has a very innovative feature in it's multiplayer that lets you create your own character and have just as much freedom over their customization as you do in single-player!
Cons
Con Repetitive quests
Most of the quests you'll be taking will be repeated over and over, like "take out this bandit hide-out", "scout out these villages", or even super boring ones like "Follow me, the marshal, until our campaign has ended". It does get repetitive and boring when these quests are done over and over.
Con No real story
The game does not have any real story, there is some semblance of a story early in the beginning of the game, with you choosing to possibly help out a merchant, but after that, there is no real story, you basically make your own destiny, but there is no set story that the game gives you, and therefore, there is no real narrative.
Con Brutal and unforgiving
You get captured, and that is it, your entire army is gone completely, you will lose all your gold, and a lot of the companions you had, you may even lose some of your inventory or equipment, this is especially bad when you play under the "Realistic" save settings, as the game automatically saves after every event, which means you've lost everything and there is nothing you can do about it.