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.

This is an old game, but it's also a very, very good one.

You can build up your own army and command them into battle, Total War-style, only with you leading directly and taking place in the battle. There are tons of different commands for you to give out to your army.

Hundreds of mods available and still being made/updated as of 2018. Some are full overhauls changing the map, difficulty, factions and adding characters, quests and dialogues. Others just change or add a few things. Some mods even work on multiplayer.

There are hundreds of mods for Warband for singleplayer AND multiplayer, including full conversions, more choices, better diplomacy, new modes, weapon mods, and more.

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.

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.

There are some missteps in the character customization, but for the most part it's pretty extensive, you can customize your character's entire face structure.

Multiplayer is a new 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.

Yes, this game has, hands down, the best mounted combat of all time, riding across the battlefield on your mighty steed and felling an enemy is one of the best feelings. All weapons work on horseback, barring very heavy crossbows, and they are all fun. There's your traditional jousting with a lance in tournaments, but you can also use a greatsword, a sword and shield, a bardiche. With mounted combat like this, other games with mounted combat will seem completely obsolete.

The armour and weapons are based on real-life weapons and armour.

Yes, you heard me right, now, while the quests may be repetitive, there are TONS of them, and this game does not run out of quests... EVER. You could be playing this game for over 100 real life years and still have quests. They are all set quests, but there will always be lords that need help, guild masters that will give you tasks, farmers that need their village saved. The quests do not run out, and you'll be happy knowing that you'll still have as much quests to do as when you started.

Buying and selling items in the single player game can be deeply rewarding but will take a lot of time to learn the ins and outs in order to maximize profit.

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.