Manor Lords

Inspired by late 14th-century Franconia, Manor Lords is a city-building game which includes real-time tactical warfare. The game can also be considered a colony simulation. There are five different modes in Manor Lords, titled Rise to prosperity, Restoring the peace, On the edge, A duel and Fractured Realm. Rise to prosperity is a combat-free mode, while the other modes include a varying amount of combat and enemies.

Additionally, players can also edit their character, name, and coat of arms from a wide variety of provided options. Manor Lords is normally viewed from a birds-eye perspective but it includes a third-person camera mode that allows players to roam their streets.

Grzegorz "Greg" Styczeń is the creator of Manor Lords through his studio Slavic Magic. In the early years, development was funded in part through donations on Patreon. In 2021, Styczeń also received a grant from Epic Games through their Epic MegaGrants program. The game was initially developed with Unreal Engine 4.

Releasing an announcement trailer in July 2020, Styczeń initially aimed for the game to be wishlisted 14,000 times on Steam. However, anticipation grew steadily, with Manor Lords being wishlisted over two million times by January 2024, overtaking Hades II shortly before release to become the most-wishlisted game on Steam, with over three million by release.

Reception to initial demos, such as one showcased at the Xbox Partner Preview in late October 2023, was very positive, with praise directed especially at the game's complex nature. Matt Jarvis of Rock Paper Shotgun compared its various aspects to the established franchises of Total War, Crusader Kings, and Age of Empires, calling it "hugely ambitious" and "filled with potential". The game has been noted for its relatively high degree of historical accuracy. However, Styczeń has stated in interviews that in some cases considerations of gameplay superseded concerns of historical exactness.

Manor Lords has received criticism for its quickly consumable content and there being no proper objective in the game. Leana Hafer from IGN states that the game is unfinished – she points out the lack of endgame challenge and ways to test its RTS battles definitively. Robert Purchese from Eurogamer states that one of the biggest missing pieces for him is any kind of story, or stories coming from the people he's responsible for in the game. Aleksa Stojković says that the combat is the thing he likes doing the least in Manor Lords.