Mount & Blade

Calradia is a land at war, a land offering great riches and even greater dangers to the adventurers and mercenaries that flock to shed their blood on its soil. With unerring courage and a strong sword, an unknown stranger can make a name as a warrior. Raise a band of hardened soldiers, become the lord of several towns and castles, and perhaps one day you may wield the power to depose kings and crown new ones at a whim. Free-form sandbox gameplay. You are free to go anywhere and do anything you choose in a world that has more than a hundred unique locations, including villages, castles and towns. Unique horseback combat. You are able to attack your enemies on your horse, whether you-re swinging a sword, holding a lance or unleashing arrows. Highly advanced, sophisticated and intuitive sword-fighting system. Fight on horseback and on foot using an expansive variety of medieval weapons, each with their own unique characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Be anything from a lonesome adventurer to a commander of armies or an owner of villages, castles or towns. Sophisticated AI that will provide a challenge both in combat and in the strategic realm. Freedom to interact with hundreds of characters, including kings, lords, ladies, commoners as well as heroes you can take on as companions, each with their own personality.

Mount and blade has one primary appeal: It promises complexity in an age where too often game publishers demand that their programmers give them only extremely dumbed down games that any five year old would find simple. In an age of Oblivion (which lacked features Ultima 5 had) and Halo 3 (which lacked features the 1992 Red Faction had) - we find ourselves, as PC gamers, playing games designed almost exclusively for the console market; which seems geared less towards depth then what PC gamers often prefer.
This is not a dumbed down game; on the contrary for those willing to put up with its many frustrations, it promises potentially endless gameplay. Therein lies its essential appeal. Created by two people from Poland (or so I read) this 29.99 game (from Best Buy) was designed by real people exclusively for the PC; and so has both the indie charm to it and the sort of complexity many of us crave but can't find in modern games.
Mount & Blade seems at first to be a sort of tactical roleplaying game; you create a character and run around in this fantasy medieval world. You start off with the cloths on your back, a crappy sword (or dagger) and a crappy crossbow - and are then free to do whatever you please, sandbox style. "Whatever you please" mostly means lots and lots of fighting. Its sortof like Medieval: Total War, except imagine your controlling one of the fighters in the army. Yes, this game lets you do that sort of thing - and control the army, too. And run around to castles, be robbed by bandits, mount sieges, do quests, fight in arenas, etc. My first thought when I saw this game was "How the heck did two people do this; the graphics are like Oblivion", and my second thought was "Yes!."