Viking Conquest is hands down peak M&B experience (at least when it comes to official releases). Better than Bannerlord, certainly better than Warband, in my opinion better than any other dlc. It's diverse, complex, interesting and demanding. Great battles, great role-play, great atmosphere, tons of new features, big and small. It offers a decent story mode, along with a classic sandbox experience. If you like the idea of Vikings, Celts, Anglo-Saxons and Frisians clashing for land and riches on the gloomy fields of post-roman Britain, then just play it. It's like having the Vikings series mixed with R. E. Howard's less known tales like "Grey God Passes" or Cormac Mac Art stories into one experience.
As a western rpg purist kinda allergic to typical "japanese" stuff in games I couldn't handle the aesthetics of Dragon's Dogma. If you're ok with manga/anime, silly hats and cute skirts - give it a go, because this game has some pretty cool mechanics, nice world, fine character progression and a very good combat, although don't be fooled by comparisons to Skyrim and statement's that it's a western rpg. It's not, it's a jrpg in disguise.
Very pretty, original and challenging game with decent/good ai and a lot of possibilities to tackle the levels. Definitely check it out!
This game is revolutionary in many ways. What a bold move to produce such a title in modern times! It really looks and plays fresh. Concept is phenomenal, and it's execution, being far from ideal, still provides a truly rewarding and engaging experience. At least when you play for the first time. It's like an Animal Planet/BBC Earth documentary, but interactive and not that chilled out, because you have to be cautious and constantly on the watch for omnipresent threats. I absolutely love this game, BUT it is only because I decided to play against the rules. I did a lot of manual save file backups to avoid the torment of repeatedly losing and starting from scratch, because of some stupid mistake, strange design decisions or a bug. Game does not communicate it's rules clearly enough, sometimes you do something that should work, basing on your experience, but for some reason it doesn't. It also cheats, breaking it's own rules, for instance spawning enemies from thin air in an area they shouldn't be able to reach. Because of that, if I played it as it was designed to be played, so no manual save/load, I would most likely rage quit forever after second or third fatal accident I couldn't foresee and prepare for. I am not that much into replaying dozens of hours of any game, and this one in particular, as it can become very repetetive if you already know it's secrets. Do yourself a favor and try my approach as well, it allows to really enjoy this gem, otherwise - it's only for very determined breed of gamers.
If you spent hours playing Commandos, Desperados or Robin Hood in the old days, just buy this game. If you did't, but you like tactics and stealth, buy it. Perfect, challenging, satysfying and gorgeous piece of gaming experience.
