Mount & Blade: Viking Conquest gets a big fat free update

The Mount & Blade: Warband Viking Conquest Reforged Edition is a "monumental update" to last year's DLC release that incorporates a number of new features including "The Last Tuatha De Danann", an all-new story set in the dark, mysterious fantasy realm known as Ireland.

A full breakdown of what's included in the Reforged Edition is up on the TaleWorlds website, with high points including the Hofs of the Nordic Gods, where players can recruit powerful but unpredictable Berserker troops; a faithful canine companion; "Labour mini-games," in which you give up all that raping and the pillaging in favor of an honest day's work in a quarry or on the farm; new quests, events, and items; an Ambush System; and significant changes to multiplayer.

"We are very excited to be releasing Viking Conquest Reforged Edition today as a service to our players and fans!" TaleWorlds said. "Our friends and developers of the DLC, Brytenwalda, have been hard at work over the past few months creating this monumental update."

The Viking Conquest expansion, originally announcedin October 2014, adds a single-player campaign to the game featuring, as you might have guessed, Vikings and conquest. I haven't played Mount & Blade: Warband myself, but Phil makes me think that I should: He said in Novemberthat while it's not the best-looking game ever, "it's an absolutely brilliant RPG-cum-strategy—filled with a multitude of freeform, sandbox options." The Mount & Blade: Warband Viking Conquest Reforged Edition is out now.