Review of the game Manor Lords, which became the most popular on Steam in 1 day. Millions loved this medieval simulator

Last week, the game Manor Lords was released on Steam Early Access.

Another result before the project became the most desired in the store. Just a day after sending, there were more than 1 million orders placed! The online peak then reached 170 thousand people, almost a week later this figure dropped to 100 thousand and continues to remain at this level.

What’s most remarkable is There is only one person working on the game, Polish developer Grzegorz Styczen (sometimes he had to make a small team, but he made 90% of the title himself). And it was he who was able to set a record simultaneously online in a city planning simulator.

Let’s figure out why the revolution is so good and what would be worth improving.

Since this is an early access version, we will evaluate it accordingly

Building medieval cities

For the most part, Manor Lords is a large-scale city-building simulator that has elements of strategy at first. And it differs from its analogues not only in this way.

Nothing in the game is directed towards a specific grid, you can place houses, farms, roads and so on as you see fit. And turn it the way you want.

I’ll say right away: there is no plot here yet. This is a huge sandbox, the main goal of which is to capture all territories in different game formats.

In fact, we have before us a historically accurate (in a sense) game that has been developed down to the smallest detail. Here literally every element is closely connected with each other.

We start on a small hill in unoccupied territory with small settlers and tents with basic supplies. Next to us there is a fairly extensive map, divided into 8 territories – each has its own ruler.

The game is all about freedom of action.. No one limits you in any way, except for logical conventions, such as those that you cannot build a house on water. In many ways, the logic of the game is reminiscent of the cult Stronghold series, but is distinguished by an innovative, deeper development (of course, the project is set for 2024, and has still been in development for 7 years).

Returning to the relationship. Everything works in state with each other. That is, for example, you need to prepare bread for your settlers. To do this, you first need to grow wheat, plant the grains, grind it in a mill and transfer it to a vertical oven to make a baked product.

And this practically works with every element. All the resources you need collect, process in several stages at specialized enterprises, and then only start processing them into the final product. That is, there are no universal designs that do everything at once.

Residents, in turn, have their own farm. And it is you who choose the size of your territory. I advise you to immediately build it so that there is an area for a medium-sized vegetable garden. American commoners can grow agricultural crops on their plots and engage in various types of production. In the latter territory, the count of outbuildings will be adjusted.

The game increases in pace every minute. Initially, everything happens slowly and unhurriedly. As they move forward, new farms are asking people to be frugal. He will need more water, food, supplies, and so on. But along with this, the level of your production also increases.

Each farm can be upgraded so that it brings not only more resources, but also income. But we’ll talk about the solution later. Accordingly, to level up you need to please their wishes. For example, someone may need a new tavern, while others may want a wider selection of clothes on the market.

Along with the farms, the level of your region also grows. There is a separate development branch for it, where you can discover new technologies, such as increased tethers for oxen or chain mail for blacksmiths.

Or start producing honey on your property.

Here you need to monitor all indicators

The variety of resources in the game is huge. State development about 68 types. I haven’t personally counted it, but I readily believe in this figure. This includes not only food, but also supplies for mining, mining, processing, ammunition and so on.

People are also observed separately. One unit for a particular “event” is one family, usually consisting of three people. They will then be joined by their relatives as part of settlement/city expansion. Each family member has his own name, status and execution. You can track it full time from morning to evening.

You can and should also get supplies track. They have deep concerns about special conditions. For example, food left on the ground with firewood can become soggy when it rains, and without storage, sour food will spoil. Bottom line: you get precious resources, people suffer and leave the settlement/die.

Higher rates of family growth have been observed among both the employed and the unemployed. It is best to have a couple of families in reserve for a small settlement and about a dozen in the city. They will be engaged in the delivery of supplies, including building materials and food, as well as the direct construction of new and improvement of existing buildings.

You also need to monitor the spirituality of the people, because this directly affects their support for you as a leader. Of course, this is influenced by the presence of other factors, but this includes getting involved in the church at the very beginning. It will also help you in a situation where many corpses have died on the battlefields and need to be buried (enemies also have a separate corpse pit).

In the life of your village and the changing seasons. And this factor can also become exceptional. For example, berries in the forest belong to all seasons except winter. So I should stock up in advance. And they are not endless, they also have their own limit. It is important to maintain a balance here so that you are not left with nothing later. Wood burns faster to provide heating in cold weather.

It is clear that depending on the season people need to change jobs. In winter, for example, they do not have the opportunity to pick berries and grow grain crops, so they can be sent to warehouses or abroad. There can be a lot of options.

About the army and danger

Animals do not come to the city on their own; they need to be purchased from factories or livestock markets. To do this, you need to work out a quick path and establish relationships with your neighbors to request the resources and people you need. It will also be possible to buy mercenaries, but to provide them with gold, which can be paid in addition, is required from taxes or during trade.

In general, everything here rests on trade relations. They take into account your caution with other colleagues, as well as road safety. The same trade caravan can intercept robbers who periodically raid settlements.

The most interesting thing begins when you capture (or extract economically) other people’s territories. There, new trade routes and opportunities for transferring resources open up for you.

To capture the playing area, you need to earn points obtained from battles and taxes.

As for battles, they either hire mercenaries for a salary, or build squads of local men. Various types of weapons are produced for them, which break (not always) after battles. They look good a little, but nothing special. In general, you can monitor the progress of the confrontation first of all and provide assistance by adjusting the number and type of warriors and their direction (this is where the RTS element comes into play).

There are no castle sieges, but they are unlikely to be added in the future. For now, you can build these same castles by completely choosing the design and size of the surrounding areas. Even the walls are made by hand.

All units can be given a command to hold positions, attack, storm, change a rotating building, and so on. In general, a basic set for presence.

Very good game, but still a lot needs to be improved

The same settings are simple, and yet effective. The economy is limping in places, money can appear out of thin air.

I didn’t have any problems with partial optimization at all. Even on the old 1070 Ti, the game produces a stable 40-50 FPS on ultra settings at 1440p. On Mac you can play through emulation, but there may still be a lot of graphical artifacts.

Another bonus. You can not only pick up the camera, but even run through its position in the overlord cutscenes from a third person perspective. Like.

Essentially, this is a cool city-planning simulator with incredible freedom of action. And I recommend it to all fans of the genre.

Manor Lords costs 1,124 rubles in Russia (while the discount is valid). And it justifies its price.