Recent reviews by Magic Buddha

Took me a while to get the hang of it and get into it but very fun game with good replayability. A lot of people complain about how the game was streamlined, frankly I think that was necessary. Vic 2 was fun a I liked it but at times it was more frustrating than anything with thousands of rebels just seieging down every province on the map.

One complaint I do agree with is the war system. The fronts are weird and wonky, AI seems to have weird choices during wars. Additionally, the culture system SUCKS. There is to little control over population movements, mass population relocation was not uncommon during this time period and there is no mechanic that reflects that. The immigration systems are too limited and generalized. The fact there is no discernable benefit to cultural conversion makes no sense for this time period. The inability to set primary cultures in your government doesnt make much sense either. Re working culture would make more sense, public education should have a far larger impact on cultural conversion.

Slavery doesnt make sense, importing african slaves to places like langfang is weird. Slavery should be more historically accurate. If langfang had slaves its far more likely they would be native borneans.

Most of my hours on medieval 2 are on the disk version but this is probably the best total war game in terms of enjoyment out there. Still holds its own even in 2023... or maybe I'm just old.

I low key really like this game but the time it takes for townsfolk to walk and bring back food is so slow that it is completely RP breaking. Is truly a good game but it could have been great with just a few tweaks.

Very fun game with smooth fighting and nice graphics

My biggest issue with the game is the lack of content. For a 40 dollar price tag there is only a few game modes. I do like the new "begginer" game mode which is really just the same as regular but with minions.

Ultimately this game really needs mod support. To be able to fight with historical soldiers like Byzantine or Crusader infantry or even fantasy like orcs and dwarfs would be the next logical step for this game.

Chivalry started as a mod and its greatness could be obtained through the very same thing that got them started.

Ignore the haters. The people saying this game is not complex enough are simply tooting their own horn to make themselves feel smarter.
If you are coming from any other strategy game franchise outside of paradox to this game there will be a significant learning curve. This game is complex it's far more complicated than a game like CIV.
Personally I have been playing Paradox games since Vic 2. I loved EU4 and Hoi4 but in terms of fun this is the most fun paradox game released. It has a learning curve but is entertaining and not frustrating to learn (unlike Vic2). Its graphics are very pleasing and the mods only make it better.
Honestly, I feel like it might be a meme to hate on CK3 or something. Eu4 is a game that is frankly just as easy to grasp and has a similar level of complexity. The huge plus side with this game vs Hoi4 is the fact u can carve your own path. Hoi4 if you play outside the historical set us the game is kind of just an RP breaking nonsensical mess and you can only do historical playthroughs so many times before the game gets repetitive (due to the time periods limited number of major players). with CK3 you can take the smallest most pissant 1 county minor and make yourself into a mega empire. The character emphasis is unparalleled for RP and replayability. EU4s biggest problem in my book was it would become repetitive and semi-boring at around 600 hours. Map painting is less fun when you are doing it for the sake of painting as opposed for doing it to preserve the legacy of a character that you have grown an attachment to.

The final and possibly most important aspect is the fact this game is not tedious to learn, unlike previous paradox titles, as a result I have been able to get a bunch of my friends to play CK! something that couldn't have been done with Vic 2 or Eu4 by virtue of those games being so difficult to learn.

A great sequel to a great game. It is clearly incomplete but it is early access after all.
Pros
-graphics are a huge improvement from warband
-combat is smooth and satisfying
-early game is fun and difficult
-family system is awesome to have
-encyclopedia is as useful as it was in warband
-empire policies are sick
-army creation is very intuitive and useful

Cons
-late stage kingdom owning stage is less fun, after initial expansion, and just more tedious
-other kingdoms ages away from you will declare war on you for no reason other than being stronger.
-AI is too aggressive in Kingdom stage
-kingdom quest becomes stupid and boring after multiple play throughs. Should be considered a tutorial quest that you can opt out of
-clan joining kingdom system is plain bad. Weaker and disgruntled clans should come to you offering their sword.
-Tribute system being based off the balance of power is odd. It should be based off a combination of balance of power, number of wars each side is in, and most importantly successful sieges/casualties. Ex Why should my kingdom have to pay tribute to Sturgia when they hold no fiefs.
-poor optimization but has improved with every update

Ultimately great game that has the potential of being a generational game just like warband

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Edit: it's been some time since initial release. It pains me to do this but i just can't recommend this game. It has been 2 years since release and total conversion mods are still not readily available due to the sluggish roll out of mod tools. This is just unacceptable. I've been a M&B fan for 10 years but find myself preferring Warband to this game.
The campaign after 1 or 2 play troughs is just boring and has changed little since release. Sure they have added new features like dynamic battle maps but nothing that really makes you say wow. As it stands Bannerlord will never be what Warband was.
This is devastating for me to say as I am just such a big fan of this franchise, I hope the devs realize the importance of having mods for player retention.
Additionally CHANGE THE CHILD NATIONALITY BUG. How this stupid bug is still in the game is beyond me, it's so obvious that the nationality of your child should follow the player character or at least give the player an option.
Regardless, I am disappointed with the game 2 years in and don't recommend it for the price tag it is.

Didn't like the ahistorical women and stuff in multiplayer. Seeing a black woman playing on Nazi Germany is VERY Immesion braking. Aside from this the game is not all that bad. Major improvement from the recent previous installments of cod. Also in terms of performance, it ran fine for me.

Does the game have its glitches yes. When it comes down to it though, this game is still a very fun game to play with a couple of the boys,

I have watched critique video after critique video on this game and despite it having its flaws, it's still a fun game. To me that is good enough for a positive review and should be to most people. I can virtually gaurentee that you will have a good perhaps even great experience playing this game.

It's a good combo of mount and blade and an MMO. Despite it being free the progression is fast enough with out it being boring. Some weird optimization at times but overall it's very good.