New Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord gameplay surfaces in "Siege Defense" video

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We got our first look at Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord sieges at the PC Gaming Show in June, and it looked like the sort of fun that only hordes of angry, illterate men attacking a well-defended outpost with all manner of medieval weapons and machines can deliver. Now it's time to take a look at the action from the other side of the wall.

TaleWorlds Entertainment doesn't waste a lot of time talking in the new Siege Defense trailer it revealed today at Gamescom, but it's not as though it needs extensive narration. It's a brief, brutal brawl at the wall, and while the attack doesn't look all that terribly well-planned to me—the attackers shouldn't have gone up the ladders until the battering ram and siege tower were in place—I'm glad to see that defenders in the game have a reasonable chance of holding out against sieges. (I'm also probably more amused than I should be that you can shoot guys in the back while they're fleeing for their lives.)

There's still no word of a release date, but you can find out more about Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord at taleworlds.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.