Manor Lords release date, gameplay, and news

When was the Manor Lords release date? If you want to rule a medieval empire, dominate the economy, and crush all who dare to oppose you with a magnificent army, Manor Lords could be the game you're looking for. The city-building real-time strategy game lets you do all that and more, and is currently in early access.

strategy game Manor Lords.

Manor Lords release date

Manor Lords was released into early access on April 26, 2024. Available on PC via Steam and Xbox Game at launch, Manor Lords is due to arrive on Xbox One and Series X|S at a later date.

Manor Lords gameplay

City-building

Manor Lords uses a gridless building system, with a great deal of freedom to place the buildings as you like. The aim is to mimic the natural growth of a medieval town, taking the influence of trade routes and the environment into .

New towns don't just pop up; they evolve around a central marketplace. Every fledgling settlement needs proper infrastructure to grow and connect its commercial districts, industrial districts, and residential districts. You have the power to shape these districts by placing and upgrading specific buildings. Just some of the buildings you can place include:

Farmhouse
Granary
Logging camp
Forager hut
Smithy
Trading Post
Church
Woodcutter's Lodge
Marketplace

Naturally, Manor Lords buildings can do much more than just provide goods. A church, for example, is a costly institution, but it can return the investment by granting you influence, and you need many of them to increase your burgage plot level.

To build all these farms and workplaces, you need resources. As they're scattered across the map, it's important to adjust the type of new settlements accordingly, choosing between farmer villages, mining outposts, and many others. Surviving is good and building a large economy is even better, but beware; if you expand too fast, you may run out of base materials. Don't want to face a winter without wood, do we?

RTS combat system

Manor Lords features massive, realistic medieval battles. Positioning plays an important role, but so do individual unit formations, equipment, morale, fatigue, and weather conditions. You're able to choose between stances and commands, such as 'push' or 'give ground' orders for melee troops, and 'volley' or 'quickdraw' orders for archers. If things go wrong, there's always the 'retreat!' option.

Troops are divided into various categories, including Spear militia, archer militia, and polearm militia, and which you choose to build first should depend on which weapons and resources you are able to supply.

As another video on Manor Lords' combat system shows, you're able to upgrade or downgrade your troops' equipment using a stat slider. If you increase 'head protection', for example, the headwear will visibly improve.

As a city building game, Manor Lords' battle system impacts other aspects of gameplay as well. For example, a hard-won battle can result in a very tough winter. Luckily for the silver-tongued politicians out there, the Manor Lords diplomacy system allows you to negotiate, possibly avoiding battling altogether. Alternatively, if peace was never an option, you can be rude to your neighbors and watch the drama unfold.

Development, policies, and production

Developing your town by using development points provides new buildings such as choosing to develop foreign supplies to unlock a Firewood cart and Food cart to provide resources at the marketplace.

You also have the option to enact policies such as Small Land Tax, to transfer wealth from the region to the lord's treasury, or Tithe which gives back 10% of the surplus food to the church and coverts it into influence.

Manor Lords guides

Here's every one of our helpful and exhaustive Manor Lords guides:

While you're waiting for the full Manor Lords release date or the console release, there's still plenty to do in the Manor Lords beginner's guide with the best tips and tricks.