Manor Lords Demo Review: An Amazing Medieval City Builder And RTS Hybrid

It was the summer of 2020 during lockdown when a friend of mine texted me a link to an announcement trailer for this game called Manor Lords.

What I saw was something that I’d only seen in my dreams. A prophecy that was thought to never be fulfilled. Childhood fantasies, but fully realized. The concept behind this game has been stuck in my mind since the early 00’s.

Take everything you love from your favorite RTS game and combine it with the complexities of economic management and city building, and then have them sing and dance in harmony together. Manor Lords’ song sounds just as good as its dance looks, and I have so many goosebumps it looks like I used gel to spike my arm hair.

Is Manor Lords Worth The Wait?

First impressions are important, and Slavic Magic, the sole developer of Manor Lords has created something incredibly impressive. You could’ve told me there were 100 devs working on this project and I’d believe you.

As you boot up Manor Lords’ free demo from Steam’s Next Fest (Oct. 3-10) and enter the main menu your expectations are immediately set by a fantastic soundtrack that is so good I sat there for five minutes bracing myself. Ok, *click click click* I’ve created my character, made a banner that slightly resembles the rebel insignia from Star Wars, and… oh my manor lord. Here we go.

As soon as I entered the game I laughed. Not a “haha” this is a funny laugh, an ecstatic laugh. I accidently zoomed the camera so far out that I was in the clouds. I scrolled out further until a map screen appeared, and then back down, all the way down until I was in between each blade of grass. I truly couldn’t believe it.

The level of detail is unparalleled for the genre, and I can’t imagine how much work went into this.

Medieval Gameplay In Manor Lords

The settlement needs a lumber camp. We start to build one and it doesn’t explode into existence, it doesn’t have a three-staged building animation either. What’s going on? Wait…

Here comes a woman with her ox that’s dragging a log down a bumpy dirt road kicking up dust as they trudge to the soon-to-be construction site.

The peasants gather materials delivered by the ox handler and start to build the foundation. The framing goes up next, piece by piece, then the trusses to support the roof, the logs have a natural taper to them which creates an imperfect structure, and finally the thatched roof and some tools for the lumber camp.

Every single action a peasant makes, every building that is constructed, and everything that happens in this world is done one step at a time. I spent the first two hours of the demo following random villagers around on their daily routines and was left mesmerized by their methodical process.

Attention to detail is a crucial element of the believability and immersive experience that a player has in any game, and it’s almost uncanny to see so much heart and soul poured into Manor Lords.

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The wind blows through the thick forests as sunlight bleeds through the canopy of the trees, cloth and fabrics ripple in the breeze, the dusty roads turn to mud puddles in the rain, snow builds on surfaces during the winter, fires are stoked and smoke billows from homes as temperatures drop.

I realize I’m beating a dead horse here, but I just can’t shut up about all the small things that equate to a big deal.

Citybuilding In Manor Lords

Building a city and managing its population can be a daunting task with a steep learning curve in game series such as Anno. Luckily, Manor Lords by design is quite intuitive. Firstly, the UI is very clean with stylized icons that give you just the right amount of information at both the top and bottom of your screen.

Hovering over objects with your cursor or clicking on buildings will give you all the details needed to succeed without being so dense that an in-game encyclopedia is needed.

Like City Skylines, there is a nice colored overlay that you can apply to the land that will show the land’s fertility to various crops that you can grow, where water beds are located for constructing wells, and other miscellaneous information such as the city’s pollution. While it’s not always exciting to talk about, UI design and the overall UX is important when information plays such a pivotal role in city planning.

As you build your settlement there aren’t any grid overlays or measuring tools to make everything perfect, and I like that. It might drive people with OCD crazy, but I think the more natural approach fits the game’s setting. With an emphasis on organic construction, there is a four-point building system. Selecting the first two points will indicate the front face of a structure, while the second two points will make up the back. There is a snap toggle that you can use as well to connect structures or to snap paths or road segments together. Other buildings are predesigned and will only require you to rotate and place them where you like, so not every single project will need to be sketched out. As someone who enjoys being creative but sucks at being creative, this is a nice and easy balance to the build process.

The Change of Seasons

Seasons play a major part in dictating what you should be doing as you expand your colony. Each year is a race against the elements to plant and harvest crops on time, build enough houses to keep homelessness down, and enough food and firewood to keep everyone full and warm through winter.

Each production building will need workers assigned to them to keep resources coming in, and you’ll need to be flexible as you spread out your workforce.

Eventually, you’ll become familiar with the weather’s cadence and production flow, and you can then focus on other societal necessities such as a tavern or church to attract not only peasants but villagers and artisans.

Once your settlement becomes a well-oiled machine and you’ve carved your aesthetic wishes into the land, you’ve essentially finished what the demo has to offer. Looking towards the future knowing that economic management and city building will fuel diplomacy, war, and many other features is unbearably exciting. I can’t wait to see what comes next.