September 17, 2024, 8:04 am | Read time: 6 minutes
This year, medieval construction strategy games made a comeback in the form of “Manor Lords”. But is the game worth playing?
The building game Manor Lords from indie studio Slavic Magic has been causing a sensation for several months now. The web has been full of screenshots and short clips showing details from the game, especially since it went into Early Access. But why is this, and are the prelaunch praises justified? TECHBOOK took a closer look at the game.
This is what “Manor Lords” is all about
If you look at the genre and title, you already have a fairly accurate picture of the core of Manor Lords. Players can experience a detailed town-building simulation in a medieval setting. You can shape both the village itself and the everyday lives of its inhabitants to suit your own needs.
At the start, you can decide whether you want to start as the lord or lady of the manor. There are also three game modes to choose from. Depending on your taste, you can take a warlike approach with few resources and focus on military and general difficulty. Or you can build and plan almost peacefully and with plenty of starting capital. Both, or the third solution in between, have their appeal.
Game offers many familiar mechanics
As is typical of a building game, you start with limited resources. The settlers still live in tents and there is little or no infrastructure. From then on, the aim is to expand your settlement piece by piece with foresight and sometimes a little sensitivity. A special feature here is that you can zoom in incredibly close to the buildings and the action.
Manor Lords achieves a nice balance between resource management and urban planning. The one does not outweigh the other. The game draws on classical mechanics and building types. There are hunter’s camps and gatherer’s huts, lumberjack camps, mines, and much more. The entire construction system fits together well and organically. You can also upgrade buildings later, for example, to increase the yield. This is also extremely important for further expansion.
The game offers two types of currency: The regional wealth represents the financial resources of the villagers. The value also forms the basis for the expansion and trade of the settlement. As a Manor Lord, you also have a separate asset in the treasury. You need this to hire mercenaries or develop new regions, for example.
Seasons add spice
Another special feature of the game is the demands it places on its players. This is because, in Manor Lords, it is essential to build with foresight and manage the economy. If you only ever grow the same thing in your fields, you will eventually have a problem with the fertility of the soil due to the monoculture. The paths between important buildings also need to be carefully considered. The game allows you to place buildings without a grid, making foresight more difficult and fun.
Another nice addition, which is, of course, already familiar from other games, is the seasons function. Winter, for example, offers unique challenges in terms of resource management, and we must, therefore, always be well prepared for it. On the other hand, there are sometimes hot summers that bring with them droughts and the risk of fire.
“Manor Lords” rewards the urge to explore
You start with a very limited area. In order to develop new resources and, above all, to have enough space for the sometimes rapidly growing settlement, it is essential to acquire new territories. This is why a certain amount of military skill is also important in Manor Lords, especially as bandits can always disrupt trade or even attack the town. Depending on the game mode, it is also sometimes necessary to defend yourself against the greedy Lord Hildebolt of Bereneute.
However, you always have to find a good balance between battle-hardened troops and citizen militia. With the latter, it is also important to bear in mind that the peasants cannot carry out their usual tasks in the meantime. In the battles themselves, players must also consider external conditions such as the terrain.
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Is “Manor Lords” worth it?
Currently, Manor Lords is only available in the Early Access version for PC and costs just under 30 euros. However, this also means that some content is not yet finished or available. A console release is also being planned.
With material from dpa.