In April 2024, a great hope emerges for all fans of strategy games. Before Manor Lords enters Early Access, it has stealthily climbed to first place among the most desired titles on Steam.
What game are we talking about? Manor Lords is a new strategy game on Steam that started as a solo project by the indie developer Slavic Magic and is now being published by Hooded Horse.
In this medieval setting, you build your own cities, which you can experience closely and engage in complex battles with good, tactical gameplay.
Manor Lords is set to be released on April 26, 2026, for PC on Steam.
Stealthily climbs to first place among the most desired games
Especially fans of the genre have been keeping an eye on this title for a while. However, Manor Lords has now even sneaked to the first place on the most desired games on Steam. It has now surpassed titles like Hades 2, Black Myth: Wukong, and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
What makes Manor Lords so good? It’s quickly evident why the new strategy game has reached the top place among the most desired games and why it has become a significant hope, especially for fans of the genre, when you take a closer look at the gameplay.
Our colleague, streamer, and strategy expert Maurice Weber has had a chance to take a closer look at the game. His impressions: Manor Lords offers a satisfying experience, especially in the design of cities, where you can create an exceptionally organic urban landscape.
The game’s combat system is also highly praised by Maurice. He finds it to be better than in most strategy games and even compares it a bit to Total War.
You can watch the entire video with 9 minutes of gameplay here:
Complex battles and beautiful cities
Even in the construction of cities, Manor Lords impresses with its mechanics and possibilities. Since there are no fixed grids, you can freely place and rotate paths and buildings, giving you a lot of creative freedom in the design.
However, there are a few challenges you must master and conditions you should keep an eye on:
- Trade routes are crucial for the prosperity and development of the individual regions
- Seasons affect and determine harvest yields, hunting areas need to be allocated and cultivated, and production chains arise
- You need to maintain the balance between import and export and impose taxes for services
- You must carefully manage the population, assign them the right tasks, and keep an eye on resources and needs
The battles in Manor Lords are also intended to become a complex yet interesting task. They take place in real-time and require you to engage in tactical maneuvers. You don’t just send your fighters at the enemy but instead consider the formation in which you do this best.
You choose the best battleground, hire mercenaries, monitor the well-being and morale of your fighters, and pay attention to the environment and the weather. Because all these factors can lead to victory or defeat in battle.
You also determine the stance that your fighters take. You can have them approach aggressively and steadfastly, or you can decide that they should retreat slowly. For example, you can provide your archers with the opportunity for a deadly attack.
However, you should always keep an eye on your city besides the battles, as it might be under attack simultaneously. Losses in this way should be avoided. You should also consider that the losses from a battle can always bring significant economic damage afterward.
For this reason, you should also establish some diplomatic relations in Manor Lords that can ensure progress as well as fewer losses.
The fact that so many players wish for Manor Lords even surprised the developer himself: Manor Lords is one of the most desired games on Steam, yet the developer didn’t expect it the least
