Given its incredibly well-received Steam Early Access release, Manor Lords is likely a game you’ve heard of by now. It’s a city-builder and strategy game hybrid where you play your role as the lord of a small domain and guide your people through their impending struggles. That means you’ve got to keep everyone fed and housed, but also keep them safe from any battles that might head their way.
It’s filled with an unending rain of decisions for you to make to keep everything in balance, and there’s a joy to be found in the way it simplifies some of the more intricate building choices you can make that are often more complex in other games in the genre. It’s a lot of information and things to juggle if you’re new to the genre, and it can feel a little bit overwhelming at first, but if you stick to it you’ll find an incredibly unique game, and one that’s an awful lot of fun.
Since its hugely successful Steam Next Fest demo there have been a range of comparisons cropping up, from the likes of Medieval Dynasty to Banish and Total War (the developer has tried to calm comparison to the latter). Now we have had our hands on it, we would say it feels akin to Frostpunk, where you’re jumping between different mindsets to keep everything working smoothly, but you’re never quite as in peril as you are in that game’s brutal post-apocalyptic world. Oh, and it’s got a pretty cool first-person mode that enables you to wander around your little fiefdom.
Manor Lords has been developed by a single person over the last seven years, and because it’s in Early Access, it’s going to continue to evolve and grow over the coming months and years as well. As it stands, it’s not a perfect representation of the genre, but it is a huge amount of fun to play. The battles are currently a little simpler than many people will like, but the city-building side of things feels fairly well-realised already.
If you’re someone who loves a bit of medieval strategy, then Manor Lords is a must-play, but whether you decide to do that now and grow alongside it, or just wait for the full release, is up to you.
