RipTen Review: Mount and Blade: With Fire & Sword (PC)

I never played the first Mount and Blade title enough to appreciate it like the rest of its cult following, so when made aware of the fact that With Fire & Sword was under development I readied my clicking finger in eager anticipation of some horseback riding and combat.

The sequel, developed by TaleWorlds, introduces a number of new features to not only make the gameplay more enjoyable, but to also make it vastly more appealing to new fans whilst still retaining enough of the old for series veterans to find it engaging.

The action in With Fire & Sword (WF&S from now on) has shifted from the medieval front to Eastern Europe during the height of the 17th century. The change of scenery brings with it new and varied game changes including a well structured and written campaign based off of historic events.

You play the role of a mercenary on the look out for fame, fortune and the occasional bloody battle. Although the gameplay setting and scenario has changed, the same poor graphics engine remains with the same text based interface, however this is a major catch-22.

Whilst the poor graphics might not be appealing to people who look for flashy Super Shading 2.0 and UltraIntensePolygonUpscaling, the simple graphical look and interface in WF&S makes organising your army and finances an extremely simple task, which in turn allows you to spend more time actually playing the game.

Accepting jobs specific to each of the five factions is as simple as entering a town on the main map, and managing your taxes and diplomatic problems also carries the same approach. I genuninely enjoyed my time playing the game solely because a lot of the unnecessary ‘bloated’ gameplay that was removed has both purified and refined the experience.

Financing your operations is now extremely easy thanks to the simplicity of setting up highly valuable caravan routes. You can take those profits and stick them into banks to earn massive interest. I’d like to see the in-game economy fleshed out to some extent in the next game as I think it’s a promising facet of the series that could do with some further refinement.

The new 17th century setting that I mentioned earlier also brings with it the introduction of firearms. Amongst the carnage of steel clashing against flesh, you can now mount up and chase your enemies down with pistols, muskets and grenades. The addition of these long ranges tools of death really changes how you approach combat and charging into battle. No longer can you carelessly embark upon a death charge on your horse because a quick shot from a rifle will have you saying ‘GG’.

Although the addition of the new weapons is realistic, it’s slightly overbearing and removes an element of the fun that came with cavalry rushes in both Warband and the original game. That’s combat though: learn and adapt.

If you’re more into the multiplayer side of the game, well you’ve not been forgotten about as the new ‘Captain’ mode sees you placed in charge of an AI squad of bots. Thanks to the addition of firearms and seemingly improved AI, Captain has quite a large amount of depth and will hold your attention until a lot of the higher quality mods inevitably come out.

For those who enjoyed the prior Mount and Blade titles, you will love With Fire & Sword. The refined gameplay and attention to historic detail makes this a game I happily keep going back to for one more battle.

The Rundown:

+ New and improved historic campaign is great
+ Gameplay changes are for the better
- Desperately in need of a new graphical engine
- Swordplay feels awkward with guns around

Mount and Blade: With Fire & Sword was developed by TaleWorlds and published by Paradox Interactive for the PC. The game was released on May 3rd, 2011, for $14.99 USD. Our copy was provider for review by the publisher. Single player was played for 10+ hours and a number of rounds were played in multiplayer.