Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord was released last week after years of development and was met with great praise from fans. Since then, Bannerlord has received patches and hotfixes on a daily basis, smoothing out broken systems and tons of crashes. Including the launch day patch, developer TaleWorlds has released seven updates in seven days, and even though Bannerlord was released in Early Access, it has caught fire among fans of the series and currently has a Steam user rating of 85% "Very Positive" rating. This excitement has made "Mount & Blade 2" the biggest release on Steam this year, surpassing big-budget AAA titles like "Doom Eternal."

The development cycle of "Mount & Blade 2" spans eight years, including a full reboot in 2014, and has become something of a meme among players who make fun of the long wait for "TaleWorlds" to release its Early Access version. Such players may appear to have been vindicated by this release. Despite the patch, major bugs and performance issues continue to plague the game. Many players report that a single faction quickly took over the entire world, making the game virtually unplayable. There are also reports of consistent crashes and memory leaks. Pathfinding problems also plague sieges, with units piling up outside and inside gates, waiting to be slaughtered. Some sieges are turned into slideshows by another pathfinding bug. I experienced both siege bugs firsthand; TaleWorlds said the game was unfinished and poorly featured, but they didn't lie - they even publicly tempered expectations in a pre-launch blog post stating exactly what was and was not in the game.

Enthusiasts, however, are generally cool with the state of the game. They also praise TaleWorlds' dedication to keeping the game steadily updated. The last decade has been a period of increased harassment of game developers for pointing out flaws in their games; Bannerlord is a niche game, a role-playing sandbox that immerses players in a fantasy analogue of late antiquity. Fans don't worry about bugs and crashes, they just play for fun, focusing on where it's interesting and accidentally enhances the experience. This is the attitude expected from an audience that loved the first "Mount & Blade" game despite its bugs and oddities. The game's subreddit is full of such examples:

No matter how long it takes to complete, we will be hearing a lot more about "Mount & Blade 2" in the coming years, since so many people are playing it with such enthusiasm. For more from PC Gamer on "Mount & Blade 2: Banner Road," check out this big tag page filled with guides, news, and dead-eyed NPCs. If you're not familiar with medieval warfare & politics games, here's an overview of the game and some tips for getting started Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord was released earlier this week. Developed by Turkish studio TaleWorlds, it is in Early Access on Steam.