This is game is in a very odd place. The game is not finished at all - it is certainly early access.

4.5/5 Graphically - This game is marvelous what you see is a beautifully animated and well designed world, at any moment especially during war you can feel like you are actually watching a movie more than playing a game.

2.5/5 Controls - I'm throwing some shade at the game here, I miss lock on and between this and kingdom come I'm starting to see that developers are moving towards how to make controls as confused as they can. I at times feel I could enjoy the game more if I was looking at the game rather than at four arrows or trying to shift my mouse so as to block in the correct direction. I just feel like the controls are taking away from the game more than they are adding to it.

The only saving grace for the controls is the large scale combat which has a learning curve but not to the extent that it inhibits me from seeing what is actually happening on screen and being taken for a ride on how amazing the game is. The current combat system is really distracting but the war controls are spot on.

5/5 Game Play - There are about 50 hours of game play before you get bored and 150 before you accomplish anything grand and another 100 of that before you get close to beating the game. Is it grindy HELL YES, is it doable... certainly. BannerLord suffers here but I'm giving it a perfect score only because its early access. There is a game here, with loads of content but it feels like there could be more - things are missing it feels like at each level of the game.

By level of the game I mean that the game really transitions into different things as you play. One second you are a clan leader basically being nomadic, then you are strong enough that someone might want you in their kingdom or you can try to make your own. Finally you get to Empire and so on... but some things are just missing - such as looking for a Lord to parley - sometimes these lords simply disappear. So while the game is saying they are in a city you cannot find them in that city and they never leave so you can speak with them.

5/5 The experience - The music, lighting and world building in this game are all what saves everything else. If it wasn't for the combat being utterly distracting and repulsive I'd simply say this was a good game without the experience but with the experience this is a great game.

Overall - 4/5

This is game is in a very odd place. The game is not finished at all - it is certainly early access. 4.5/5 Graphically - This game is marvelous what you see is a beautifully animated and well designed world, at any moment especially during war you can feel like you are actually watching a movie more than playing a game. 2.5/5 Controls - I'm throwing some shade at the game here, I miss lock on and between this and kingdom come I'm starting to see that developers are moving towards how to make controls as confused as they can. I at times feel I could enjoy the game more if I was looking at the game rather than at four arrows or trying to shift my mouse so as to block in the correct direction. I just feel like the controls are taking away from the game more than they are adding to it. The only saving grace for the controls is the large scale combat which has a learning curve but not to the extent that it inhibits me from seeing what is actually happening on screen and being taken for a ride on how amazing the game is. The current combat system is really distracting but the war controls are spot on. 5/5 Game Play - There are about 50 hours of game play before you get bored and 150 before you accomplish anything grand and another 100 of that before you get close to beating the game. Is it grindy HELL YES, is it doable... certainly. BannerLord suffers here but I'm giving it a perfect score only because its early access. There is a game here, with loads of content but it feels like there could be more - things are missing it feels like at each level of the game. By level of the game I mean that the game really transitions into different things as you play. One second you are a clan leader basically being nomadic, then you are strong enough that someone might want you in their kingdom or you can try to make your own. Finally you get to Empire and so on... but some things are just missing - such as looking for a Lord to parley - sometimes these lords simply disappear. So while the game is saying they are in a city you cannot find them in that city and they never leave so you can speak with them. 5/5 The experience - The music, lighting and world building in this game are all what saves everything else. If it wasn't for the combat being utterly distracting and repulsive I'd simply say this was a good game without the experience but with the experience this is a great game. Overall - 4/5