Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord cover art

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

Sandbox medieval sim spanning personal swordplay up to running a kingdom's economy.

On Steam ↗
Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION5 /10READS2 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    5/10

    Directional melee blocking and mounted combat

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    2/10

    Multiplayer duels add some human prediction

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    3/10

    Procedural campaign politics and battles

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    8/10

    Economy, army composition, and kingdom management dominate

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

Compare with

Similar games

see all →

Ranked by shared genre first, then by how closely the cheat-test profile matches - a cross-genre tag means a pick matched on skill profile alone.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain cover art

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Practiced Mastery · stealth sandbox

E
R
V
O
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Deus Ex: Human Revolution cover art

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Pure Optimization · immersive sim RPG

E
R
V
O
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
World of Warcraft cover art

World of Warcraft

Pure Optimization · MMORPG

E
R
V
O
World of Warcraft
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory cover art

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Pure Optimization · stealth action

E
R
V
O
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Starfield cover art

Starfield

Practiced Mastery · space RPG

E
R
V
O
Starfield
Fallout 76 cover art

Fallout 76

Pure Optimization · online action RPG

E
R
V
O
Fallout 76

Game details

Released
2020
Developer
Taleworlds
Platforms
Series X|S, PS4, PC, PS5, XONE
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer
IGDB critics
80/100
IGDB users
79/100
Role-playing (RPG)SimulatorStrategyTacticalAdventureActionHistoricalOpen world