“It's not Total War!”

Only nine days left until the release of Manor Lords! On April 26th, the long-awaited medieval strategy game finally goes into early access. It currently counts on Steam to the most anticipated games at all! Not bad for a project that largely comes from a single developer: Greg Styczen, the creative mind behind Manor Lords and the Slavic Magic studio.

But now, so close to release, the developer is apparently worried that fans might have too high expectations of the game. That's why it's on Steam published a comprehensive statementin which he would like to clarify once again before the launch, what Manor Lords currently is – and what is not.

At the same time, the developer is happy about a new high: According to publisher Hooded Horse, the game has already landed on 2.5 million wish lists.

Developer reveals what Manor Lords is NOT:

• Manor Lords is no competition for Total War. It's a city builder with occasional battles. However, the latter are not as large or frequent as some might have expected. Most of the gameplay focuses on building and managing your villages.
• Manor Lords is not a grand strategy game. The map is divided into regions, but you don't conquer half continents, there are no weddings or anything like that. (Obviously he wants to avoid comparisons to Crusader Kings 3.) Greg emphasizes: Manor Lords plays on a significantly smaller scale.
• Manor Lords is too no role play. Comparisons to Kingdom Come: Deliverance or Mount & Blade would be inappropriate, as Manor Lords is a completely different game. This also refers to the possibility of walking through your self-built villages in the form of an NPC. The feature provides great insights into Manor Lords because you can follow village life up close – but it's a purely cosmetic gimmick: In other words: you can walk around as a character and look at everything at your leisure, but it's gameplay not connected with that.
• Manor Lords is not a fast-paced real-time strategy game like Age of Empires or Starcraft. Most of the game is relaxed, simply because goods and resources are transported comfortably across the map. The fights are only meant to provide a little excitement every now and then.

Developer advises: Find out more before buying!

Source: Slavic Magic



Greg also emphasizes again that Manor Lords only in early access appears and many game elements are still unfinished. He hopes to continue developing the game in close collaboration with the community and is pleased that Manor Lords has been so well received by the press and streamers so far.

Tip: Our colleagues at PC Games Hardware already have Manor Lords subjected to an initial test and the Unreal technology was examined.

A Roadmap to Manor Lords However, there will not be at first. Instead, Slavic Magic (in collaboration with publisher Hooded Horse) wants to spend the first few weeks primarily identifying the largest construction sites. “Listen, verify, implement” is Greg's motto: He expects to only deliver bug fixes and polishing in the first month before moving on to collecting community feedback. You then want to develop a plan as to which features and suggestions will be tackled first.

Even before the release, more than 130 testers tried out the game and provided the developer with feedback.

What expectations do you have for Manor Lords? Are you particularly looking forward to comfortable settlement building or are you more interested in features like the combat system?

Manor Lords will be released on April 26, 2024 for PC Steam, GOG and the Epic Store. Manor Lords will also be fine from day one in Game Pass to be available. At launch, the game will also be released with German texts. An exact price is not yet known. Check back with us in the next few days, we have several videos, previews and tips about Manor Lords in the works!

Source: Steam