Manor Lords: Release Date, and Everything We Know

Manor Lords is an upcoming city-building real-time strategy game. In this game, players can immerse themselves in ruling a medieval empire, dominating the economy, and leading a formidable army to crush opposition. It draws inspiration from late 14th-century Franconia and strives to deliver a historically accurate experience with natural city growth and intense battles.

The city-building and real-time strategy game developed by Slavic Magic Studios has been in the works for some time. However, some good news for the eagerly waiting fans: we finally have a release date. Interest and excitement for the game have increased, particularly since a specific launch window was revealed during the Xbox Partner Preview event in October 2023.

For more details on Manor Lords, here’s a comprehensive overview of what we know about the game thus far. We’ll delve into the expected release date window for Manor Lords, explore Manor Lords gameplay, and discuss the trailers that are available so far.

What is Manor Lords?

Manor Lords is a real-time strategy and city-building game that draws inspiration from the art and architecture of late 14th-century Franconia. We can compare it to games like Age of Empires and Total War. The game aims to provide a historically accurate depiction of this significant period in human history. You assume the role of a medieval lord tasked with governing a thriving city abundant with trade and opportunities for growth and prosperity.

Much like in many real-time strategy games, the main goal is to build a community that survives and thrives in various situations rather than just survive. Whether it’s battling adjacent lands or the hardships of an eternal winter, your ultimate objective is to build a society resilient enough to endure the ups and downs of a whole generation.

What is the story of Manor Lords?

Manor Lords is reminiscent of many other games in its genre—beginning with a patch of grass and a few essential resources. With vast expanses of untamed territory awaiting exploration, you step into the role of an ambitious medieval lord, guiding your small village towards a new era. However, achieving this transformation requires establishing an infrastructure that sustains your people and allows them the freedom to contribute to your realm’s active evolution.

Given its classification as a real-time strategy game, it’s reasonable to expect the narrative to unfold based on your decisions throughout the journey. While the ultimate goal is to turn a grassy highland into a thriving medieval metropolis, the choices you make and the paths you choose will shape the various story arcs.

What is Manor Lords’ Release Date?

Manor Lords is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 26, 2024. The announcement was made during Xbox Partner Preview. It was accompanied by a new Manor Lords gameplay trailer showcasing medieval towns and highlighting the aspects of constructing and safeguarding homesteads. Initially slated for a 2023 release, the developer issued an apology on X (formerly Twitter), explaining that additional bug fixes and polish are required, even for an early access version of the game. With the extended development period, be ready for a highly polished finished product when the release date arrives.

Stay updated by following the official @LordsManor Twitter account for more information. As one of the most anticipated games launching next year, Manor Lords appears to be one of the premier medieval games ever.

What Platforms will Manor Lords be available on?

Currently, Manor Lords is exclusively slated for release on PC platforms, with GOG, Game Pass, and Steam availability. The game already has a dedicated page on the Steam store. While Hooded Horse has revealed plans to release the game on Xbox consoles later, specifically for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, there is no clarity regarding potential releases on other gaming platforms such as PS4, Manor Lords PS5, or Nintendo Switch.

Will Manor Lords Be On Game Pass?

Manor Lords is scheduled to launch its early access version for PC on April 26, 2024, and will be accessible on both Steam and GOG. Additionally, the game will be available on PC Game Pass from day one through the Game Preview program. A press kit is also provided if you’re interested.

On the very first day, it will be accessible through PC Game Pass, and there are future plans for it to be released on Xbox consoles and Xbox Game Pass, with an initial preview through the Xbox Partner Preview. Slavic Magic, the developer, and Hooded Horse, the publisher, have collaborated with Microsoft to bring this promising indie game to consoles.

Manor Lords Official Trailers

Manor Lords received an official release date during the Xbox Partner Premiere on the Xbox YouTube channel. Check out the official trailer for yourself below. Hooded Horse also revealed the release date with this trailer.

The initial Manor Lords trailer unveils a stunning mountainous backdrop set against vibrant green hills and forests. Within this idyllic setting, farmers tend to the land, hunters explore the woods, and workers construct new buildings, creating a serene scene disrupted by the arrival of enemy forces.

In the latter part of the trailer, it becomes evident that Manor Lords is not solely a city-building game but also a military strategy game. Up-close views reveal a diverse range of equipment, from chainmail to plate armor, while a top-down perspective showcases troop formations, underscoring their pivotal role in achieving dominance within the game.

The most recent Manor Lords gameplay trailer delves further into the challenges of governing your land, illustrating battles and the looming threat of war as an illegitimate baron seeks to seize control of the territory. The trailer also provides a detailed look at the city-building system, illustrating the process of placing and constructing farmland and roads and showcasing the evolving appearance of your town as you progressively develop buildings over time. Watch this trailer here:

The Vibrant Manor Lords Gameplay

Manor Lords is a hybrid game that merges two distinct genres. On one hand, it functions as a civilization builder, requiring players to organically nurture and expand a medieval settlement into a thriving city. This entails managing trade, diplomacy, and citizen well-being. On the other hand, it incorporates a real-time strategy element, allowing players to raise and train armies within their settlements and lands, engaging in tactical battles against rival factions. Let’s delve into the specific gameplay mechanics for each of these aspects.

City-building

Manor Lords employs a gridless building system, offering considerable freedom in placing buildings as desired. The objective is to simulate the organic growth of a medieval town, considering factors such as trade routes and the environment.

The formation of new towns revolves around a central marketplace, and proper infrastructure development is essential for the growth and connection of commercial, industrial, and residential districts. Players can shape these districts by strategically placing and upgrading specific buildings. Among the identified building types are:

• Peasant house
• Carpenter camp
• Logging camp
• Forager hut
• Weaver workshop
• Tax collector
• Church
• Woodcutter’s Lodge
• Marketplace

Beyond providing goods, Manor Lords buildings serve multifaceted purposes. For instance, a church may be a substantial investment, but it can yield returns in the form of influence.

Resource management is crucial for constructing farms and workplaces. With resources scattered across the map, it’s vital to tailor new settlements to different types, such as farmer villages or mining outposts. While survival is paramount and building a robust economy is advantageous, expanding too rapidly may deplete essential materials. Caution is advised to avoid shortages without an adequate wood supply during critical times, such as winter.

RTS Combat System

Manor Lords boasts expansive and realistic medieval battles where strategic positioning is crucial. The game incorporates various factors, including individual unit formations, equipment, morale, fatigue, and weather conditions. Players can choose stances and issue commands such as ‘push’ or ‘give ground’ for melee troops and ‘volley’ or ‘quickdraw’ for archers. In case of setbacks, there’s always the option to order a ‘retreat.’

Troops are categorized into three groups: the peasant militia, mercenaries, and the lord’s retinue. Peasants require training to enhance their effectiveness, mercenaries are well-trained but costly, and the lord’s staff consists of a small, heavily armored (and customizable) elite fighting group. While the latter two categories are still in development, the game’s final version is expected to include unit types such as swordsmen, spearmen, archers, cavalry, and siege engines.

The combat system also allows players to upgrade or downgrade troops’ equipment using a stat slider. For instance, adjusting the ‘head protection’ stat visibly improves the headwear of the troops.

Beyond the battlefield, Manor Lords’ battle system has ripple effects on other aspects of Manor Lords gameplay. A hard-won battle, for example, can lead to a challenging winter. The game’s diplomacy system enables players to negotiate and potentially avoid conflict, or they can choose a more confrontational approach, stirring up drama with neighboring factions.

Development, Policies, and Production

Advancing your town through allocating development points introduces new structures, such as enhancing foreign supplies to unlock a Firewood cart and Food cart, thereby supplying resources to the marketplace.

Additionally, players can implement policies like the Small Land Tax, transferring wealth from the region to the lord’s treasury, or the Tithe policy, which allocates 10% of surplus food to the church, converting it into influence.

The Change Of Seasons

The changing seasons significantly influence the priorities of expanding your colony in Manor Lords. Each year becomes a race against the elements, requiring timely planting and harvesting of crops, constructing sufficient houses to address homelessness, and ensuring an ample supply of food and firewood for the winter months.

Effective resource management involves assigning workers to production buildings and adapting your workforce distribution as your settlement grows. With time, you’ll learn the rhythm of weather patterns and production cycles, enabling you to shift focus to societal needs like taverns or churches to attract a diverse population.

As your settlement becomes a well-coordinated system, and you’ve shaped the land according to your aesthetic preferences, the available demo content concludes. Anticipation builds for the future, where economic management and city building will drive diplomacy, warfare, and numerous other features. The prospect of what lies ahead is exceptionally exciting, and there’s eagerness to witness the next developments in Manor Lords.

Real-time strategy in Manor Lords

You must be prepared to defend your territory if diplomatic efforts prove unsuccessful. The initial step in this defense is recruitment, with three options at your disposal:

• Peasant Militia: Mobilize your peasants to fight, utilizing improvised weapons. While numerous, they are vulnerable, and their absence impacts your economy. Training facilities can enhance their capabilities to some extent.
• Mercenaries: Better equipped and heavily armored, mercenaries are professional fighters, providing greater battlefield effectiveness. However, hiring them comes at a cost.
• Lord’s Retinue: A rare and formidable force, your personal knights excel in combat on the battlefield. Although their numbers are limited, you can customize them to suit your preferences.

Once your fighting force is assembled, you can lead them into battle. The observed battles involve commanding divisions in various formations, with strategic elements such as attacking, defending, and flanking from an overhead perspective. Several factors come into play, including army size, troop quality, weather conditions (such as rain or snow), fatigue, terrain, and formation density, all of which require careful consideration.

Manor Lords System Requirements

Eager to experience the game upon its release? The minimum requirements for running the game are as follows:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: i5-3470, AMD FX 6350 or equivalent
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 670, Radeon R9 285 or equivalent
• RAM: 8 GB
• Storage: 16 GB

These aren’t too serious requirements these days. If you want to run it optimally, the recommended requirements are:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: i5 4960K, Ryzen 5 1400 or equivalent
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1070, Radeon RX 5700 or equivalent
• RAM: 16 GB
• Storage: 16 GB

Is Manor Lords a city builder?

Manor Lords is a city-building game that draws inspiration from the architectural style of late 14th-century Franconia. It prioritizes historical accuracy. In a gridless environment, you have complete freedom to construct your medieval city, starting from a central marketplace and expanding into various districts, including residential, commercial, industrial, and farming areas.

Efficient resource management is crucial as you navigate farming, crafting, and foraging. The choice between hoarding resources or establishing trade routes to become a formidable merchant lies in your hands. Your decisions directly impact both your people and the surrounding environment of your city.

Manor Lords News

Manor Lords was initially slated for an early access release in 2020, which did not materialize. However, a time-limited demo of Manor Lords was featured during Steam Next Fest 2022, although it is no longer available. Numerous Manor Lords gameplay videos, including an official developer reaction compilation, can be found on YouTube.

For those eager to get a preview of Manor Lords’ soundtrack, the song “The Peasants” is now available on YouTube. It is funded by Patreon supporters.

Manor Lords Demo

Some gamers had the chance to explore the Manor Lords demo, which was available during the Steam Next Fest. It ran from October 3rd to October 10th, 2022.

Players assumed the role of a lord or lady tasked with developing a settlement for their people. At the beginning of the demo, they had the option to choose their avatar, select a coat of arms, and customize the colors of their emblem.

The early tasks involved constructing essential structures like a logging camp, granary, and hunter’s cabin. Peasant workers were then assigned to tasks such as tree-cutting, building thatch-roof homes, and establishing a bustling village in the wilderness.

The Manor Lords demo featured a gridless map, allowing for an organic city-building experience for the player’s workers. Creating pathways was convenient with flexible and easily snap-able elements.

Even in that early stage of development, Manor Lords exhibited an impressive level of detail. The visuals, from the autumn-colored trees swaying in the breeze to an ox hauling logs for construction, were remarkable. The option to switch to a third-person view and explore the settlement added an extra dimension to the gaming experience.

In the Manor Lord demo, gameplay lasted for approximately twenty minutes. It gave a glimpse of what the full game, set to release on Early Access, would offer. If you’re interested, explore the demo on Manor Lords’ Steam Page.

For more information about Manor Lords, including the most recent news and tips for winning the game, see the blog.

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