Is Mount & Blade Open World?
Mount & Blade is a franchise of sandbox RPG video games. The first Mount & Blade video game, Mount & Blade (2008), was developed by TaleWorlds Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive. In Mount & Blade video games, players are able to create a custom main game character, swear fealty and allegiance to kings and queens, own villages, towns and castles, as well as fight in large battlefields. Mount & Blade video games have been praised for their innovative and emergent gameplay, immersive game world and replay value. Players who have heard about Mount & Blade video games may wonder whether these video games may be considered open world video games, and how the game world of Mount & Blade video games may be similar or different to the game worlds of traditional open world video games such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Just Cause and Watch Dogs.
Mount & Blade video games are not open world because travelling is done through an overworld, not in third-person or first-person camera perspectives. However, the game world of these games is quite large.
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| On the left, Mount & Blade (2008), an overworld video game. On the right, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002), a third-person camera open world video game. |
The Overworld of Mount & Blade
In Mount & Blade video games, the main game character is able to freely traverse in the game world, through an overworld, either as a single character in the party or as a party of several game characters, including unique NPCs, which are referred to as companions in Mount & Blade video games, as well as soldiers and units that can be recruited throughout the video game. In the overworld view in Mount & Blade video games, players may be able to find real-time information including the garrison of certain locations, such as castles, as well as see parties of friendly NPCs and hostile NPCs, which often belonging to specific factions in the video game. In this overworld, players are able to decide their next destination, and travel to many different locations of the game world of Mount & Blade. In this sense, the overworld of Mount & Blade video games is also similar to the overworld of video games such as Final Fantasy and Kenshi, in which the player is able to see the different locations and landmarks of the game world through the overworld view.
Although the overworld of Mount & Blade video games is quite large and filled with different unique locations and different parties of roaming NPCs, this game world is quite different to the open game worlds seen in traditional open world video games such as GTA and Just Cause. In video games such as GTA and Just Cause, the main player character is able to adventure in the game world in third-person camera at all times, and these video games generally do not feature an overworld. The feature to traverse the open game world in third-person camera, or first-person camera, is also seen in other open world video games such as The Elder Scrolls video games and Cyberpunk 2077. While these video games feature a map and also often feature different means of fast travel, the player character is also able to travel in the game world in third-person camera or first-person camera, which are characteristics of traditional open world video games.
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| Although Mount & Blade (2008) features an overworld, many parts of this video game are played in third-person camera perspective, such as in this screenshot of the main game character walking in a castle. |
Open World in the Case of Mount & Blade: Video Game Genre or Gameplay Design?
There is often debate regarding the most adequate defition of open world video game. One point of view is that open world video games are a genre, and share common characteristics similar to traditional open world video games such as Assassin's Creed video games, Grand Theft Auto video games and Just Cause video games. In this sense, the open world video game would include video games which generally feature either first-person camera or third-person camera, and the ability of the main game character to traverse the open game world without the necessary use of overworld. A different point of view is that open world video games are not a genre, but rather, open world is one type of video game design. In this sense, open world video game design would include any video game in which the player character is given some freedom of direction of movement, as opposed to video games with a more linear level design. In this sense, some open world video games would be Dragon Age, Final Fantasy and Mount & Blade. Considering that Mount & Blade video games feature an overworld, then Mount & Blade video games could be considered open world video games if open world is considered open world design in video game, and not video games similar to traditional open world video games such as GTA video games and Just Cause video games.
Although Mount & Blade video games feature a dynamic and persistent overworld, with various factions, parties, roaming NPCs and dynamic gameplay systems, such as economy, politics, and battles, the gameplay experience of Mount & Blade video games can be quite different to the gameplay experience of classic open world video games such as Assassin's Creed and GTA. Classic open world video games, such as Assassin's Creed, GTA and Just Cause, often feature a variety of side missions that incentivize the player character to adventure in as many specific locations as possible, in order to complete these missions and find collectibles. In overworld video games such as Mount & Blade, the game world is mostly discovered through the overworld view, and the gameplay part in which the player character is able to adventure in locations in first-person camera perspective or third-person camera perspective is often only accessible at specific locations, and not in all of the overworld. In this sense, overworld video games feature a system of adventuring in the game world similar to strategy video games, and different to classic open world video games such as Assassin's Creed, GTA and Just Cause video games.
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