MANOR LORDS - Worth The Hype?

MANOR LORDS is here! With a PC Steam and Gamepass release of April 26, 2024 this is one of (if not the most) hotly anticipated strategy & simulation game of the year. After seven years of development by a largely lone developer, and later picked up by publisher Hooded Horse, let's see how the Early Access release of Manor Lords stacks up!

I don't generally make explicit review videos, thinking back to 16 year old me who would've bought one of the three games he could afford a year on the basis of a youtube video, I don't think its wise. But here is my version of a Manor Lords Gameplay Review - my impressions, thoughts and analysis of how Manor Lords sticks up within the City Builder, Colony Survival, RTS genre. Thanks for watching! #manorlords #gaming #citybuilder #simulation #strategy

FOOTNOTES:
I don't like to give strict review conclusions as discussed above, but if you're curious:
It's a great game.
Early Access - yup. But generally solid, unique & interesting.

As I write this description, late (like, late late) at night before the review embargo lifts...

Context - I'm considering this impressions/ analysis as review-style so i wanted to wait out of respect to Hooded Horse for extending the press-preview version to little old me.

... I vaguely predict Manor Lords will be generally well received. Some will certainly take issue with its lack of balance, and I can't speak to any performance issues, but with that in mind I'd guess it'll settle around a positive review score on steam likely starting with an 8 and ending with a low number. Let see! (24 April - embargo lifts 25 April 2am NZ Time).

CONTENTS
0:00 - MANOR LORDS IN REVIEW
0:25 - What actually is Manor Lords?
1:35 - What Manor Lords is Not.
4:05 - The Gameplay
9:11 - Not a 'perfectly balanced game'
12:36 - My experience with Manor Lords

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[coyotefire]

Yes, just dont expect Total War :) Expect Medieval Cities Skylines

[TheRealPotoroo]

"MANOR LORDS is here!"

"This game plans to unlock in approximately 1 day and 21 hours."

[Kidraver]

The way you create workshops in back yards seems to be in keeping with the reality of those times, low tech, high skill manufacturing.

[NordicUlfr]

Its not a Total war killer as Total War killed itself.

[Swarm]

I really hope other games take the dynamic system for building the houses. I would love to see that in a City Skylines or Sim City style game instead of grid zones.

[teresmajor]

Why would anyone with proper IQ claim this is similar to Total War? It was very obvious from the Demo and gameplay trailers that it clearly wasn't a total war game.

[Aligoose]

seems like the publisher is desperate to temper peoples expectations, seen a couple of these types of videos lately

[bmrigs]

Yeah, I think its going to stay on my wishlist for awhile still.

[burtreynolds]

It’s a great upgrade to Ostriv, another very good medevial city builder

[kostas]

What's the music in the first 15 seconds of the video?

[arevolvingdoor]

I really hope that the developer takes the approach some smaller devs have made, by hiring people based on the mods they create for the game.

The game looks fantastic, but I would love to see some depth when it comes to the Influence and Lords treasury. Maybe one more town and building level, but I don't think it should go much further than this, it's called "Manor Lords" not "Castle Lords".

Hence on the same not, the game should be playable and fun at a base level and not add too much complexity if the player doesn't want it. Much like how CIV 6 works, the average person shouldn't need to spend more than an hour of two playing to understand the basics enough to get mostly towards the end of the game. I think they got it perfect with the early access version, but it might be missing some depth to make it as complex as it could be if the player wanted it to be.

If the dev somehow sees this comment, I have a suggestion, Some new features that should be added are to do with the church, its a central building and make people happy, but considering the time period it should be much more important, maybe a "religion interface" that allows the player to choose the religion and select certain buffs and debuffs. A hard mode could include people not working for a few days in a month due to it being a Sunday. Adding a monastery that makes wine and or candles could also be a great addition to add some more flavor, but not too much complexity. You could have users choose between Catholicism and orthodoxy once they build their church, each would have a unique buff and debuff. For example; Catholics could buy indulgences which give influence, but also the income from upgrading to level 3 burgage does not increase taxes. The Orthodox could have the buff of every March they do not eat food, but also their churches cost more materials and they do not work 7 days of the month. I think there are a lot of interesting ways this mechanic could go and I'm sure other people have some better ideas than I do.

[CheeseGarlicFocaccia]

Song of Syx is a city builder meets empire, Manor Lords is city builder meets County/Duchy, from the scope of things. Or you can say it's City Builder meets Lords of the Realm 1/2, for me at least.

[FredOwlman]

I think if modding becomes available this might become really really good

[soliitudegaming]

I always wanted a game that was an RTS city builder with RTS combat.... and it hurts my soul that its basically taken until today to get something that truly fits what I always hoped the big RTS studios would deliver. Instead we always get either 99% combat or 99% city builder (or 100% of either). Never a good mix, this game looks like a solid mix.

I hope the balance improved since the demo though. I played the old demo version again yesterday and it was.... rough. (Obviously its a way older build so im assuming its vastly improved since that demo from ages ago). It was hard in the demo cuz workers would often just do... other random shit or get bugged out and procrastinate 100% of the time.

[graham]

Great video as always. I’d like to see more expensive goods attract more, better armed raiders. I agree with the design choice that some goods are just worth more than others, but I also think the choice to specialize in one over another could act as a choice of the “pace” of your game rather than “difficulty.” More money means I’m growing faster, but might mean I’m defending myself more as well. On the flip side, a low income agrarian run plays a bit more as a chill, cozy village builder.

How is the performance? I’m on a laptop right now while I move but have been following ML for a while. Do you think I’ll need to wait till I’ve got my desktop set back up to crack this one open? Cheers

[geoffroydegodefroy]

If anyone's traumatically obsessed with purely hardcore Medieval warfare and society content I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's videos series

[coreyshaffer]

Croping is a year 2 thing if compared to other survival city builders. Usually it's gathering and hunting year 1

[wsdmsage]

Played the first few hours, I somehow been zooming and using 3rd person to follow people and see what they are doing. Somehow I wish the people would greet me when in 3rd person 😅 also noticed there are different faces when looking at them. Hoping for more great updates for the game. I would say this will be my nothing to do game and relax.

[marcuslegion]

There's no Calvary you can't fight with your lord and there's not much war at all

[GeorgeMasterclass]

Probably the best medieval city builder out there. Although it's still lacking features as its early access. As for the battles, it still needs work, but its on the right path.