See an explosive castle siege in action in this exclusive Conqueror's Blade trailer

Castle siege-heavy medieval MMO is just coming off the back of a server stress test, and in the exclusive trailer above, you can see its large-scale competitive castle sieges in action.

PC Gamer's Phil Savage took part in the siege mode a few weeks back, and described it as a bit Dynasty Warriors and a bit Mount and Blade, and rough around the edges at this stage. I sampled a siege in action at Gamescom, too, and the busy numbers of NPCs fighting and shifting battle lines also reminded me of Dynasty Warriors. Battles can apparently host up to 30 players, with 1000 units fighting at any one time. You choose from different commanders who possess various weapon types.

While these huge battles are at the heart of the game, developer Booming Games also mentions a persistent open world element to Conqueror's Blade, where you'll fight over different regions for resources. You can team up with other players to take over areas of the map, while improving and upgrading your army, and protecting your earnings from other players.

It sounds a little complicated, but the spectacle is certainly impressive. Conqueror's Blade is planned to be free-to-play—so the biggest question is how that'll affect the game's progression systems, for better or worse. Right now, a founder's pack is available on Steam for $15/£11.39 that grants beta access, but there's also an eye-watering £79 variant. If you want to get on a waiting list for the beta without spending money, though, you can do that on the game's website.

Former PC Gamer EIC Samuel has been writing about games since he was 18. He's a generalist, because life is surely about playing as many games as possible before you're put in the cold ground.