Being in early access, Manor Lords is not without its issues. There are missing icons, buggy AI elements, and even missing buildings such as the Brewery, meaning the only way to get Ale in the game is to import it via trade. A travesty! However, these are micro features in the grand scheme of Manor Lords, and will be added to the game in due time.
So, why does Manor Lords feel so darn good, even in its unfinished state? Why, for all its simplicity, is it getting gamers everywhere wiggly? Here's my two cents.
Manor Lords: The Power of a Narrow Vision
Manor Lords knows exactly what it's trying to be. There's no crossing of wires or clashing of ideas. Greg Styczen is the one-man mastermind behind Manor Lords, and so long as his publisher continues to let him cook, it's hard to imagine Manor Lords getting bent out of shape by clever corporate ideas like cosmetic cash shops and rushed features.
Indeed, the very fact that Greg is on his lonesome on this mission surely has a part to play in folks' overwhelming support of Manor Lords. And hell, why not?
But all of this plays second fiddle to Manor Lords' true strength.
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Yes, Greg is on his own, and it's probably for that reason that the scope of Manor Lords remained so tight. What surely began as a necessity has become the game's biggest strength.
There aren't a ton of buildings, but every building that exists is immensely detailed and is finished with a gorgeous plank-by-plank building animation.
There aren't a dozen types of road, but the dirt roads we have are perfectly textured with all the curved placement mechanics we've come to expect from the likes of Cities: Skylines.
There aren't a ton of military units, yet they are near-perfectly animated and you can't help but worry for the lives of each individual soldier knowing that, back home, those souls play vital roles in the day-to-day running of your village.
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In short, because Manor Lords keeps its scope so small, the finer details find room to breathe. You can practically smell the rain in the wind and the smoke from the bread ovens. Even the audio builds immersion via the idle chatter of your citizens as they go about their duties. The result is a city-builder that, in lieu of the vast and the epic, succeeds at finding an altogether more elusive tone in its genre...
Manor Lords feels intimate. And while suspending disbelief, becoming truly immersed, is harder and harder in the modern world of gaming, by god, Manor Lords is giving it a bloody good shot.
Manor Lords and Tempering Expectations
While Manor Lords was one of the most wish-listed games on Steam in the lead-up to its early access launch, Slavic Magic did the unthinkable in the days before its release.
In a move that only endeared the developer even more in the eyes of the community, Manor Lords' Greg Styczen posted an update warning gamers to keep their expectations in check. He stressed that Manor Lords is still very much a work in progress, that some city-building elements are yet missing, and that, as a military battle simulator, it is nowhere close to a Total War game.
This kind of honesty feels more and more like something we only see from the indie developer community, with triple-A studios so often pressured into hyping their upcoming games (whether they're ready or not) in order to hit sales targets. Half-baked DLCs and buggy new releases sold as finished products might earn big studios a quick buck in the now, but many modern gamers are wising up.
In fact, on platforms like Steam, players have become increasingly willing to band together to eviscerate a game's reputation almost overnight if they feel slighted by a developer, and not even the likes of Helldivers 2 is above decimation.
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Manor Lords: Final Review
So, what can triple-A studios learn from Manor Lords? Well, honesty with your customer base is a great start, even if it will probably hurt your bottom line. But above that, for me, Manor Lords succeeds most in the realm of scope. It's not trying to be the biggest and baddest in its genre, nor is it trying to sell you on that. Manor Lords is more than happy to keep to its own little nook, do its own thing, and invite you over for a beer if you want to drop by.
In a world of over-priced DLCs, meta-chasing multiplayer titles, and copy-paste grand strategy games, maybe that's all we need to get behind a cozy little village-builder.
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