Manor Lords have come a long way since I first saw them. In 2020, I characterize it as “exile in Total War” and will stick to my guns. With the next steam party dedicated to upcoming games and new talent running until early October, we’ll finally be able to dive into the city portion of the game. I can’t wait to try this. The Lords’ Estate allows the player to feel like a medieval town planner. Build and strengthen your base, gather the strongest army and become the creator of the most advanced and richest city, but be prepared to hold fast the defenses against enemies and ill-wishers to face the internal problems that destabilize the city and develop in a harsh and brutal competitive environment.

I love city and town building simulators. Just last week I wrote SYK songs which is currently my favorite colony sim and I’m looking forward to Dwarf Fortress coming out in 2023. these can be challenging games, but usually feel like playing with Lego. You stick it here, you put it here, and suddenly it comes at 3:00. I’ve always wanted a really good colony simulator. Perhaps on a small scale, but with unrivaled style. The game Manor Lords has arrived, great graphics and attention to detail that is on a completely different level. It is important that gentlemen pay great attention to the strategic and tactical parts. You must acquire resources and then strictly control their distribution. The player must choose between developing the city’s infrastructure or strengthening its defensive forces, collaborating with other colonies or going to war with them by conquering them. The game has pleasant music and a great visual experience that allows the player to enjoy the action for hours.

The inhabitants of each building build it step by step by hand, table by table. Hunters shoot every elk in the forest. Farmers sow fields and harvest crops. Vans are used to transport goods from one county to another, including livestock traders who bring sheep to their settlements. Your soldiers are training in the fields. A fight breaks out in windy heat. I watched as the developers carefully designed a variety of costumes and architecture to fit the era – a little-known European medieval period, but based on the late 1200s century of the Holy Roman Empire. It’s an ambitious project that I can’t wait to see at Demarche’s next party.

The photorealistic farmhouse style is simply amazing. Banished was a great addition when it came out, but it’s already outdated, and in big cities it’s always difficult to work well with the engine. I have the same concerns about the mansion, but the pictures of the big cities look so incredible that I’m excited. The developer confirmed that there were no major cities in the game initially, and that this was added later once the game had more time to develop and fund. However, we won’t know how well it will perform until it hits the market. Evolution to success or failure is not alone. Firstly, the property of other rulers is scattered throughout the player’s territory. Everyone also develops at their own pace and obeys the laws of reality. For example, a rainy climate is not conducive to construction. Countries begging for natural resources will not allow many weapons to be produced.

Internal tests have already shown that the technology tree looks extensive. You can probably research upgrades that will allow you to gradually increase the size of your city. As in other games in this genre, you have to manage food, clothing, tools and trade with other colonies. Late game technologies include bakeries and tailors, and in late game cities wealth is distributed among buildings and their improvements to give the place a more natural feel. The same game is divided into 2 parts. Firstly, infrastructure is developed among landowners, as well as in the city simulator. There is no construction network on the route. Buildings can be rotated and adjusted as needed. But here, too, realism is here to stay. The field has to be cultivated with a plow, iron cannot be taken from nothing, and the sheep must graze. Traditionally, the search for new technologies requires research equivalent to “scientific NYE.”

In addition to city building, Manor Lords showcases total warfighting mechanics in a genre unfamiliar to the genre. Many battles in settlement sims and city builders are limited to small skirmishes or battles to defend towers as waves of enemies approach your base. Songs of Sykes essentially has a combat system that is very similar to All War, but the graphics can’t compare to Estates. These battles certainly test the genre. Balancing the city’s population with realistic combat can be a challenge. While we won’t be able to see these battles in the upcoming demo, it will still be interesting to see how the developer balanced city building with creating armies on the battlefield and leading them.

Manor Lords can download the torrent in Russian and English for free in the latest version using the direct link below.