After a year of playing the game Lords of the Manor, I ran into a big problem. A gang of thugs and marauders threatened to invade my humble but growing fiefdom, and since I had invested almost no resources in military defense at the time, things weren’t looking good. I also had no money, and suddenly I had to start raising taxes, which made everyone at work kind of panic.
Technically I could have done this earlier, but I had no idea my dingy little castle was advanced enough to build a manor. We’ll discuss this later. Anyway, the point is, the farmers are angry. My support among the lower classes was rapidly declining, so – considering the future of my treasury and the prospect of attracting newcomers – I did what any good medieval lord would do. I built a church. Then I got really fancy and upgraded it with clay roof tiles.
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Everyone likes this.Not that they didn’t hate me a little bit when the beginning of the month came around, but I guess the ringtone and Holy, holy, holy Distract them into something they don’t care about. Taxes and taxable income from new villagers kept pouring in, just as I planned. I still had my noble rear handed to me when the Hillbilly Raiders finally showed up, but that’s mostly because the game’s combat tutorial – and basically all of its tutorials – are now a bit vague and difficult to parse.
The short version of all this? Manor Lords is definitely an Early Access game, but it’s also the most fun I’ve had with a city builder for…I don’t know how long.
I start with the uncertain part first. The Lord of the Manor is not good at explaining things to you. Important matter. Things like how trade works, what you need to equip an army, and how long your crops take a full year to grow. Most of these minor obstacles are eventually easy to solve, but they can feel a bit exhausting until you learn how to play – especially the important aspects, like how and when to build estates and raise taxes. As my serfs will tell you.
These issues, along with the dozen or more locked features, will undoubtedly raise eyebrows as the early access period wears on, so while they may be annoying, this case is definitely not representative of the final product.
Still, it’s worth learning how to overcome these annoyances. Exclusive developer Slavic Magic released an overview saying that Lords of the Manor is cool and not a Total War competitor, and they weren’t kidding. Manor Lords is remarkably laid-back for a game with so many pieces and things that can go horribly wrong, and that sense of ease comes not just from the monastic chants and chamber music playing in the background.
As the seasons slowly passed and land and capabilities expanded, the serfs cut logs at a steady pace, stumbling through the forest but starving to no avail. Well, it’s stable until you increase the speed to 12x the usual, in true 4x fashion.
It also comes from the basic workings of the Lord of the Manor. The game strikes a smart balance between automating certain systems (people open their own market stalls and handle buying and selling goods for themselves) and creating progression paths that feel natural. You have many choices from the start, but not all of them are logical.For example, you Can Running a mine can provide you with stone and clay, but if you don’t need stone and clay, it’s a complete waste of resources.
There is no need to rush and there is no benefit in doing so. Careful, intelligent planning for a fully functioning, self-sufficient village is far more important than racing to capture new territory or razing your opponent’s capital before they can get started. If you do make a hasty choice, you can just dismantle it and get your resources back without any harm done. Manor Lords is happy to let you work it all out at your own pace.
Another favorite is the way the lord of the manor treats his people. There are more than just citizens or villagers in a lord’s estate. You have family units and this system does more than just change a little label. All members of a family will help at any point you specify, so two or three people (sometimes more) are needed in the lumber shop, the same on the farm, etc.
Once you’ve upgraded your stolen plot – land for people who aren’t yours – you can build additions to the home, and this is where things get interesting. These additional facilities include self-sustaining activities and cottage industries such as vegetable gardens and chicken coops. They keep people fed, which eases your burden during tough economic times, and you can sell some of your excess produce. But they took at least one person away from a family-assigned job site.
Deciding what to upgrade and when adds a welcome extra layer of strategy to aspects of the genre that are often pretty straightforward, and a lack of resources in the early years will naturally encourage you to create specific areas without much thought. Your part of town – probably farther from the city center where there’s more space – will almost inevitably be a luxury neighborhood, while the poor folks who were unlucky enough to buy in when the town was young are stuck in the bullpen neighborhood. There is no room for expansion in the shed or saw pit.
There are a half-dozen or more other lovely, thoughtful details that make Lord of the Manor feel energizing. An animal’s habitat changes over time, and if you hunt too much, you’ll permanently lose your food source. The berries regrow in the spring for foragers to harvest and foresters to replant to avoid total deforestation and disaster. The need for resources to provide food and fuel for your town drives you to expand. Even if you don’t want to, you’ll eventually find yourself occupying new territories and making peace with annoying neighbor lords so that they share resources instead of killing you.
The genre simplifies resource gathering, warfare, and all large-scale content, so the focus is on large-scale planning. Slavic Magic adds a bit of history and causal realism to things with some clever touches, while Lords of the Manor excels at managing the big picture and day-to-day activities.
Manor Lords will be available in Early Access on Steam on April 26, 2024, and will be available on Game Pass for PC from day one. That’s how I am now. My well-trained army of rednecks were killed in another skirmish, so I need to go build some body pits, and hopefully those who stay will have enough to eat this winter (they probably won’t; I sold all their excess food).