The only early access game I have ever allowed to tease me with its promises of greatness and unfulfilled potential for the not-insignificant price of 50 dollars. :(

Alternatively, as described to a friend:
"As long as they don't bastardize any of my <placeholder spouses>, I will tolerate this game."

----------------------------------------------------------

Update: I give up. The development team clearly lacks direction in nearly every conceivable aspect and/or severely deviates from what originally felt like a more coherent vision. The current team's biggest Achilles' heel is its own incompetence; when they attempt to add new features or fine tune a previously existing feature--usually something that clearly had more complex coding but maybe needed tweaking--it tends to backfire severely and cheapens the entire experience. And that applies to everything, from gameplay to artistic direction (which, as a visual artist, especially irritates me). There are far more competent programers and designers in the modding community, but Taleworlds appears to constantly be shafting their betters. Obviously the potential in the game is there, but potential alone will not carry a game like this...


Some quick takes:

1. Is it remotely close to completion? No.
   
2. Is it worth your 50 bucks in its current state and probably its continued state for at least another 3 years or so? No.
   
3. Would I recommend it to casual players that have no experience with the Mount&Blade series in general? No. There is not enough depth in the core gameplay as-is or polish to justify a price that is more in line with a finished product.
   
4. Warband is absolutely the better game in terms of depth and scope, but I definitely feel anyone out there who might want that gameplay in a shiny, nicer-looking package. Spoilers: that's not what you'll get, not for a long while.

There are lots of pretty dope things I like about BL which are mostly minor, easily overlooked things outside of the core gameplay, including...

• pretty interesting lore/backstory that you can explore as part of the main quest, with differing perspectives from different lords within the same faction and even how relationships with rulers are reflected in nobles' voting decisions, how there are actually deceased characters present with some having been murdered by rival nations
  
• if you're a huge tool like me, investigating the stated relationships between the OG lords/ladies in the game code is actually fun--especially how certain characters were intended to be--as is seeing where new people have been added with patches, how existing lords have been changed (Vlandian Varmund is hilariously described as "stunningly ugly", which is awesome)
  
• the legit direct future ancestors of the Khergits and Sarranids are here, towns from WB are still identifiable by name which blew my tiny mind when I recognized them (never saw any pre-release stuff so I presume I got to enjoy the full :O experience lol) and is such a sick connection to WB
  
• the little things that differentiate each nation, like how each faction's taverns actually have local dishes that reflect the faction's culture, nation-specific gear, the overall scene design between nations, etc.
  
• the mocapped animations; I know, I'm easily impressed but man when dudes grab their throat when I shoot them in the neck or grab their backside when I shoot them in the butt, that's pretty sick--not to mention the interactions between NPCs, like seeing a soldier seemingly dozing off during a lecture by another soldier and getting jolted awake, or NPCs clapping and doing that whole "EYYY LOOK AT THIS GUY PLAYIN DIS INSTRUMENT, WOULDJA LOOKIT THAT!" animation around tavern musicians
  
• the aging mechanic is probably one of the things that impressed me the most, especially in my 17-year playthrough where I watched people who started out as teens age into adults and watched the adults become elderly over time; it's just a very cool way of seeing time progress beyond watching territories come and go as you play

The details where they exist in this game are impressive, there was clearly a lot of effort invested into building this world which is greatly appreciated and helps immerse you in the game. Unfortunately, that's where the praise stops as BL is the kind of game where its left hand has no f$%ing idea what its right hand is doing and it will become apparent to you the longer you hang on. There just feels like a huge lack of quality control and project management here and Taleworlds has apparently never heard of the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

That said, here's an incomplete list of things that have become super off-putting to me at this point, with the glaringly obvious things like perks, AI problems, blah blah blah and whatnot being left out:

• high school students can fix more typos for an essay in a day than Taleworlds can fix in their dialogue/dialogue triggers over the span of a year
  
• unintentionally funny writing: I laughed like a donkey when my NPC brother hit me with "DAMN, SISTER! I LOVE YOU, SISTER!" after being rescued
  
• (from June 2020) the devs adding 100s of new marriageable women so there's like a 3:1 ratio of women you can marry vs. men AND you can legit tell who these new NPCs are because the vast majority of them have freak-a$$ mutant faces/same-face syndrome compared to existing ladies who feel like they had effort put into their appearances (seriously some of the new women have weird green/yellow overlays on the skin and blue lips like they're simultaneously experiencing jaundice and drowning which is medieval AF I guess)
  
• all of the above apparently NOT being placeholders but an actual artistic decision which is now being applied to existing characters that not only looked better but actually felt like they told a story with their appearances i.e., Sturgian lord Olek used to look like a weary, fierce warlord but now looks like what I can only describe as a bloated, squinty potato; Olek's sister Siga formerly being an older, badass-looking "humorless, honor-obsessed" shieldmaiden suddenly getting the Sephora treatment complete with hair extensions; Penton Neretzes going from an older, dignified-looking Imperial blowhard to... I don't even know what the hell is wrong with him, and god knows what other bastardizations I'm not including
  
• nations/cultures formerly having specific traits for their appearances, like the Battanians being stout, tough redheads, the Vlandians being a mix of brunettes and varieties of blonde with the occasional redhead (which I actually thought was cool, like a noble having Battanian blood somewhere which wouldn't be too crazy given Vlandia and Battania share a border), the Sturgians being tall, beefy, very fair skinned and fairhaired, the Imperials kind of being a grab bag of traits which ties in with them conquering other people a la the Roman empire, etc. no longer being a thing is actually a bummer
  
• a pet peeve that only I probably am driven insane by: where nobles formerly had a relatively unique set of clothing that distinguished them as nobles (i.e. Vlandians had the 2 variants of their crowned helms, a helmet with plated sideguards, their civilian scholar robes, etc.) they now have equipment that makes a lot of them look more like an average soldier (Vlandian lords getting kettlehats and imperial shoulder guards... eh)

I genuinely hate some of these changes so much I've gone back game versions JUST to grab some of the files from back then to implant them in the latest version of the game, including textures and I'm legit blown away by how much better certain things were back then. THAT'S 50 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ GB TOTAL GOING BACK AND FORTH!!

TL;DR: this game, man. worse relationship i've ever had, i keep coming back like it's going to be different next time. i keep putting time in it thinking, man it's gonna be better this time. I CANT HOLD ON FOREVER!