Manor Lords is an upcoming medieval strategy game due to be released this year. Inspired by the likes of Banished and the Total War series, this game offers a blend of city building, strategy and large scale battles.
This game announcement seemingly came out of nowhere so it’s got a few people talking and speculating online. Manor Lords comes from the the Polish solo-developer, Slavic Magic
Slavic Magic promises a “gridless, organic city-building experience with full freedom of placement and rotation, but utilising snapping tools to make the planning more comfortable”.
Banished Meets Total War
Gamers are already comparing Manor Lords to titles such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Anno, Banished, and Total War. It looks like a combination of realistic medieval city-building and strategy like Banished with large, tactical battles on top like we’d see in a Total War game.
The trailer gives us a glimpse of some gameplay of the city building aspect including placing buildings and building roads. Slavic Magic has described the city building aspect as “deep, organic and realistic city building”.
The city building side will have full freedom of placement and rotation with snapping tools to make building easier. The building mechanic is inspired by real medieval towns, with everything built around the landscape or major trade routes.
The realism of the game goes beyond great graphics. It refers to the historical representation of medieval Europe and the weather and season changes. “The seasons pass, the weather changes, towns can rise and fall to war, disease or famine.” While it’s not set in a particular century, the buildings, weapons, and tools are influenced by the 11th to 15th centuries in Europe.
After this part of the trailer, we see a bit of the battlefield with companies of archers and swordsmen in a real-time strategy battle. Manor Lords aims to create realistic battles with morale, fatigue, and weather all playing a part in how well your armies can function. You’ll need to position troops strategically, build fortifications, manage the cavalry, and siege weapons.
It looks like an interesting juxtaposition from the city building at the start. These things are all a work in progress right now. However, Slavic Magic is aiming for all this to be in the final game.
Release Date for Manor Lords
Manor Lords is still in development so a lot could change before we get our hands on it.
Manor Lords will be launching in Early Access sometime in Fall 2020 on Steam. The plan is to remain in Early Access for 1-2 years. So, it will be good to see how it develops over the next year or so.
Will you be keeping an eye out for Manor Lords? Let us know your thoughts on the new trailer.