When “Mount & Blade: Warband” was released, it brought with it multiplayer on top of the many new gameplay features, maps and items. The multiplayer component alone had most people’s money spoken for.
Does the addition of firearms really make for a standalone expansion?
“Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword” offers new items, units and a new map, as well as improvements to town management and sieges. Troop customization for non-hero units is also present but merely features five tiers of items for improvement to any given item slot. The game also attempts a realistic 17th century Europe setting, with new town layouts and models. The towns do look proper and there’s a decent St. Basil’s Cathedral in the city of Moscow to gawk at. The campaign map is not a realistic depiction of the region but does have an interesting layout. The campaign gameplay is difficult, even the once defenseless villagers are now packing heat. There is a main quest line for the player to undertake and while it is linear quest progression unlike most of the game’s other quests, don’t expect anything special there.
Gone are some features as well, most notably – tournaments, which should have been replaced with pistol duels or another period-realistic activity, but were not.

If this sounds like the description of any decent community made mod – it’s because With Fire and Sword really doesn’t go much further than a mod would.
The implementation of all the new features is smooth and comes together well, but is not bug-free. The multiplayer, however, is fun and features new siege options, it is a different animal altogether with the addition of firearms.

Given the amount of community made mods that feature firearms already, With Fire and Sword isn’t a radical departure from what we’ve already seen, but it is a solid take on the next evolution in the type of warfare Mount & Blade has always depicted.
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