Manor Lords - medieval city-building with large scale battles

[fizzelopeguss]

How the fuck would a game like this be the most wishlisted on Steam?

Total War fanbase adopted it.

 

[Gerrard]

I can already tell you this guy's opinion isn't worth shit because not only he thought Settlers 3 was good but also that there wasn't a better game in 20 years.

 

[Baron Tahn]

The colony builder/God sim IS poorly represented for how many play it. One of their weaknesses is always combat, so if someone makes one with good combat Ill be all over it like a fat girl on cake.

Certainly hoping its decent!

 

[Hace El Oso]

How the fuck would a game like this be the most wishlisted on Steam?

Total War fanbase adopted it.

Good or bad, Manor Lords is one castle-building and one battlefield expansion pack away from being more comprehensive than any Total War ever was.

On another note, the way that dead men lie on the field reminds me exactly of the great Stephen Biesty artwork and cross-sections:

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

I can already tell you this guy's opinion isn't worth shit because not only he thought Settlers 3 was good but also that there wasn't a better game in 20 years.

I don't always like the games he likes but I always hate the games he hates.

 

[JarlFrank]

But then also throw in the disgruntled Total War and Age of Empires gamers. And probably a lot of Paradox paypiggies who are interested in strategy games in a historical setting, but cry themselves to sleep dreaming of tactical battles. What they've been showing looks like The Game for a few different audiences. So I'm not surprised it's building up a lot of hopium.

This is absolutely The Game for me.

I'm big into Total War but anything after Attila is just plain shit, the combat mechanics of TW games have become garbage since Warhammer.
I also love city builders, The Settlers was my first strategy game and I never lost my love for that kind of thing. Currently I'm playing Foundation which is pretty fun, I love building up a flourishing economy.
And I'm really, really big into siege battles, but the only real castle builder out there is Stronghold but that series has been getting wonkier with every new release.

Now here's a game that combines city building with a proper simulationist combat model. Pretty much my dream game, something I've been longing for for over a decade.

 

[Bastardchops]

If I can build a castle I'm very interested.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

How the fuck would a game like this be the most wishlisted on Steam?

Total War fanbase adopted it.

Good or bad, Manor Lords is one castle-building and one battlefield expansion pack away from being more comprehensive than any Total War ever was.

On another note, the way that dead men lie on the field reminds me exactly of the great Stephen Biesty artwork and cross-sections:

To me it looks like what the 3d Stronghold games should have been. I always appreciate a decent archer animation as well, looks like they're putting their backs into the draw.

 

[Axioms]

What does this game really provide besides apparently amazing vibes?

Banished city building combined with superor to Total War combat?

I can't imagine the politics is very deep.

Does the game only represent a single country overall?

 

[Luka-boy]

This seems to me like a medieval-themed Caesar 2. Is that a (roughly) correct guess?

 

[Sinilevä]

I can already tell you this guy's opinion isn't worth shit because not only he thought Settlers 3 was good but also that there wasn't a better game in 20 years.

Worth a shekel should never be trusted.

 

[Zanzoken]

I don't really get the hype tbh. The only thing that stands out to me is the autistic level of detail put into the economy, which isn't a feature that excites me.

I will say though it is cool that it appears to have taken some inspiration from Lords of the Realm, which is one of my favorite classic PC games from my childhood.

 

[Axioms]

I don't really get the hype tbh. The only thing that stands out to me is the autistic level of detail put into the economy, which isn't a feature that excites me.

I will say though it is cool that it appears to have taken some inspiration from Lords of the Realm, which is one of my favorite classic PC games from my childhood.

As far as I can tell it is just a regular city builder with really strong "vibes" and maybe it has a more detailed combat simulator than a typical Impressions games from the 2000s.

Most people talk about the visuals and the realistic use of burgage plots and long skinny backyards.

 

[Shrimp]

I don't really get the hype tbh. The only thing that stands out to me is the autistic level of detail put into the economy, which isn't a feature that excites me.

I will say though it is cool that it appears to have taken some inspiration from Lords of the Realm, which is one of my favorite classic PC games from my childhood.

As far as I can tell it is just a regular city builder with really strong "vibes" and maybe it has a more detailed combat simulator than a typical Impressions games from the 2000s.

Most people talk about the visuals and the realistic use of burgage plots and long skinny backyards.

When it initially was announced like 4 or 5 years ago people took notice of it because it was a one man project (at least at the time) and because it was a city builder with higher emphasis on combat. From what I recall the creator uploaded a couple of tech demos and videos showing units moving around fairly early on during the development so people started comparing it to Total War. I never really kept up with all the newer TW games but I imagine a lot of people had grown tired of or simply never were interested in the non-historical TW games like Warhammer and saw this as a potential replacement or competitor.
I haven't watched any gameplay footage yet outside of the official trailers but I have a suspicion that the people who intend to play this game solely to get a TW/battlesim fix will end up being disappointed. I was under the impression that it's more of a city builder that happens to have field combat rather than a city builder that focuses on field combat

 

[vota DC]

What does this game really provide besides apparently amazing vibes?

Banished city building combined with superor to Total War combat?

I can't imagine the politics is very deep.

Does the game only represent a single country overall?

It will be a Caesar with more combat. Or a Stronghold with more economy and politics.
Total War itself is just a Birthright with better combat but with very dumbed down politics and no rpg parts.

 

[Serious_Business]

I don't really get the hype tbh.

Me either, but I'm not into city builders much. Amazing vibes, I guess. Sounds painful, tbh. I mean if someone told me they were experiencing "amazing vibes", I would definitively want to punch them in the throat. Which, I assume, would not be so amazing, in terms of vibes. Maybe you just need to shut down the vibes. It just needs to stop vibing. Forever

 

[whocares]

For me, I like the idea of city builders, but I hate games that just play themselves. Like what's the point? You just place some buildings and watch how your dudes go about their business? No thank you.

Having an actual competent combat system to go with the building? Now that's a game to be excited about. Like the guy above said - stronghold with more economy and diplomacy? What's not to like.

 

[The Wall]

How the fuck would a game like this be the most wishlisted on Steam?

Gamedev explanation:

It's a non-political game where you're a medieval lord and you do medieval lord things.

That is hugely appealing for a large audience.

AAA gaming is a dumpster fire right now.

They hit the lottery.

YES!YES!YES!YES!YES!YES! YES!

People are blind like moles, I swear. There is SUN SIZED vacuum hole on gaming and entertainment market for quality entertainment without WOKE agenda and with good production values. Games we played as teens, if they released today would make hundreds of millions of $$$. Gaming Industry is feeding steak starved market with radishes for years

Manor Lords will be for Hooded Horse publisher their Skyrim moment, financially

 

[Axioms]

The actual issue is that for indie devs 1000 devs make a game for every game that takes off. Maybe 10 devs finish their game for anything that isn't unit asset flips or oversaturated stuff like platformers. The indie devs who fail are invisible to gamers.

Meanwhile an actual dev studio with a major publisher can't afford to fail so much. They need basically every game to hit, even if it doesn't take off fully like a viral game. And people have higher expectations for them, also.

TiltedMill closed while working on Medieval Mayor. It was a bit more cartoony than Manor Lords but was otherwise similar to Caeser or Emperor or Pharaoh. Gaslamp Games ate shit developing the very un-pc and unique and awesome Clockwork Empires.

City-builders are a risky genre in many ways and they also don't have a massive ceiling. Crate, of Grim Dawn fame, has a city builder out now, but it's not exactly taking over the market. The game is quite good IMO, needs a little work but easily comparable to Banished or Manor Lords.

Manor Lords is a game that has a narrative strongly bent by survivorship bias. It happened to be in dev when Hooded Horse was looking to throw money around, unlike Medieval Mayor or Clockwork Empires which were in dev a few years too early.

Also Hooded Horse is run by a guy who worked at McKinsey with money from people he met during his time there. Not as bad as Sweet Baby Inc but not exactly an anti-woke hero company.

 

[Tyranicon]

TMI, but this is the kind of stuff that gives me a boner. Medieval lord sim is a dream genre.

I hope this game makes it.

 

[Axioms]

TMI, but this is the kind of stuff that gives me a boner. Medieval lord sim is a dream genre.

I hope this game makes it.

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I feel like this will be limited because the scope is so small. Like you won't have actual personal relationships with people. It'll be more 4x/gsg style diplomacy.

 

[Hace El Oso]

The actual issue is that for indie devs 1000 devs make a game for every game that takes off. Maybe 10 devs finish their game for anything that isn't unit asset flips or oversaturated stuff like platformers. The indie devs who fail are invisible to gamers.

Meanwhile an actual dev studio with a major publisher can't afford to fail so much. They need basically every game to hit, even if it doesn't take off fully like a viral game. And people have higher expectations for them, also.

This wasn’t any different in the 1990s, except the closest thing to ‘indie’ back then was a small software house in the San Francisco Bay. The attrition rate was sky high, a white-collar aspirational Bataan Death March.

Also Hooded Horse is run by a guy who worked at McKinsey with money from people he met during his time there. Not as bad as Sweet Baby Inc but not exactly an anti-woke hero company.

Maybe my perspective is different since I went to prep school with people who went to work at McKinsey, but these things take capital and if your ‘side’ refuses to muster that capital for cultural products then be damned. Hooded Horse along with Barbedwire Studios & subsidiaries have under their umbrella the vast majority of the games I enjoy and am looking forward to. Who offers better?

 

[The Wall]

Hooded Horse is only publisher with zero niggers in their promotion material. Also games like Xenonauts 2 and Norland have removed niggers and obvious WOKERY from their promo material after signing with Hooded Horse. REMOVED. Norland is game about Rimworld meeting Medieval Europe. Screenshots used to be full of nigger and brown knights and asian princesses in Medieval Europe. No longer. Xenonauts is placed in alternative cold war 70s and had on its banner 3 girlbosses giving commands to male generals. No longer

Look, I haven't done deep dive investigation about Hooded Horse and its owners, but we're in 2024. It's illegal to be strong, decisive white male and be on cover of video game. LOOK at their games' covers. As far as WOKE is concerned, Hooded Horse is only normal publisher at this moment in time

 

[Zanzoken]

Having an actual competent combat system to go with the building? Now that's a game to be excited about. Like the guy above said - stronghold with more economy and diplomacy? What's not to like.

Where are people getting that Manor Lords has way better / different combat than Total War? I am admittedly not an RTS guy but I've watched a few videos now and it looks exactly like a typical RTS.

 

[The Wall]

Norland, Manor Lords, Espiocracy, Sons of Valhalla, Old World, Xenonauts 2, Menace (from Battle Brothers devs), Falling Frontier, Soviet Republic, Clanfolk, Into the Storm...

All published by Hooded Horse. We know from Manor Lords and Xenonauts 2 that they also invest not only promote games they publish, like things were done before. C'mon, that's quite an achievement for today. Objectively respectable