Hooray for the village people.
How much we now take for granted.
Manor Lords is a window into what life was like in the mediaeval era.
Manor Lords, in so many ways, is a remarkable achievement.
In the way it plays, there’s beauty too.
There’s a confidence here I did not expect.
Note, however, that it’s not finished yet.
Not only do things still need work in the game, there’s a great deal still to implement.
But I’ll come back to those points in a moment.
How to juggle labour, then, is a constant puzzle.
The pace the game plays out at, meanwhile, is ‘walking pace’.
And in a game that takes its time, any further hold-ups can feel excruciating.
But again, trading takes time.
And the upshot is that it takes yet more time to save up for and be able to access.
When you finally do have enough income, you’ve got the option to begin to explore upgrades.
Indeed, workshops are the only way you’ve got the option to do some of these things.
It doesn’t feel great to be reminded of what you could’t do.
I mentioned blacksmithing there - the game does have weaponry, and the game does have combat.
I say “towards” because it’s nowhere near that in depth, but there are similarities there.
You recruit an army two ways.
There are varying types of units.
That’s part of why I say it feels like there’s half a game missing here still.
And it seems characterful, but it doesn’t yet work.
But it’s nothing more than that yet - it’s not finished.
It just sits there on top of the hill or wherever you built it.
There’s tuning that needs to be done here, and tweaking.
A copy of Manor Lords was provided for review by Hooded Horse.
