Manor Lords Review - "Buy, Wait for Sale, Never Touch?"

Check out our new home for the podcast / @thebestgamingpodcast Manor Lords Early Access Review
I normally don't do early access coverage much but there are so many oddities with the coverage so far with comparisons to Total War and other titles. It got so bad the Manor Lords Devs have even tried to calm it down.
Manor Lords is a medieval strategy game featuring in-depth city building, large-scale tactical battles, and complex economic and social simulations. Rule your lands as a medieval lord -- the seasons pass, the weather changes, and cities rise and fall.
store.steampow...
All Reviews:
Very Positive (14,591)
Release Date:
Apr 26, 2024
Developer:
Slavic Magic
Publisher:
Hooded Horse
Coming on the 26th for PC game pass and Steam early access and Xbox gamepass later.
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🕶 Karak with ACG or angrycentaurgaming, covers new games, old games, previews, reviews, and opinions on the videogame industry and leading podcasts on new gaming subjects each week that you can get by joining this channel to get access to perks: Gaming discord.
Coverage includes ps4, PS5, XBox series X/s, Xbox one, pc, Switch, and digital storefronts like Steam, as well as companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
Buy, wait for a sale, rent, or never touch it. The Patented Karak review system to see if a game is worth a buy upon release or if I recommend waiting.

[@ACGreviews]

My take on what Manor Lords is like and what it offers in the Early Access Timeframe! www.patreon.com/AngryCentaurGaming

[@SinglyPringly]

Your videos always bring me comfort. Even if I’m not interested in the game, I just enjoy the way you review things and I’m glad you’ve chosen the path you have. Keep on keeping on bud

[@SloMoMonday]

When the dev made the post discribing all the things he's game is and isn't, he hit on exactly what I was looking for. Glad it holds up.

[@ACGreviews]

I felt like they had to for sure

[@boburrides]

The real question: will Henry come to see us?

[@EvilijoUK]

Exactly! All I see in this footage is KCD in isometric view! 🤣

[@Scottyjscizzle]

Let’s hope not, does anything good happen to villages he goes too??

[@byrdfeathers3552]

I’ve been thinking about kingdom come every time I look at this game. So happy they announced the second one!

[@boburrides]

@@byrdfeathers3552 right there with you mate, I'm ecstatic!!

[@ALiberalVeteran]

HA!!

[@cmykmatter1813]

Making the game you want to make will always result in a better game than making the game you feel you have to make due to the audience. Every time I come across a game that feels like it had checkboxes of trendy mechanics they had to hit, I can't help but feel like the creators strayed from their vision to hit them.

[@michaelh878]

Yeah hopefully he sticks to his vision and ignores the peanut gallery during early access.

[@mrhenrik7472]

Yup. That's how almost every tripple A game is made today, sadly....

[@TheWildManEnkidu]

5:54 - it's a tiny detail but as a student of archery, it's wonderful to see an almost perfect representation of drawing a longbow in a game. They really nailed it.

[@JohnnyTwos]

Back before this game got super popular I remember the developer discord had parts where he discussed the animations being grounded in reality. One in particular focused on the archers. So awesome to finally see it in action.

[@ACGreviews]

Oh ya its nice. It all fits nicely in their loop for animation as well. Though once or twice I did see an animation where it looked like he had a shovel instead of an arrow in the bow lol

[@NeoXandercrossfade]

@@ACGreviews the shovel arrow, when a bodkin isn't enough to bury your opponent.

[@vadimmanuilov7401]

What’s crazy is HE nailed it. One. Freaking. Guy. That says a lot about big game developers.

[@landsbyreview3420]

Man, this looks good. I love how they incorporate how modern RTS and citybuilders feels like. Less micromanagement and more natural evolution of the city.

[@despot666]

I’d love to see a deeper acknowledgment of those who fell in battle. Like a mourning mechanism or an indication so when you select a family to perform a task you would know that one of theirs died fighting for you.

[@keiichimorisato98]

A grave yard that slowly expands.

[@MuzzySkeleton]

I'm going to use the city or village layouts from Kingdom Come/ Witcher 3 and recreate them in my Manor Lords playthrough. I always enjoyed how some of the buildings were placed, making the villages/city easy to traverse.

[@MrManDiller]

Man I miss Black&White 2

[@MrEvan1932]

Like… Pokemon???

[@MrManDiller]

@@MrEvan1932 no the PC Game sequel to Black&White. A wonderful game where you play a god with a giant mythical creature. It was made by Lionhead studios and released in 2005. Wonderful civilization building game where you can be cruel or you can be merciful. There was even an expansion for it.

[@Scottyjscizzle]

I loved the game, had a nice little hamlet with a happy little wolf…..til I went out for a day with friends and came home to my village destroyed and my hand looking like the devil. Turned out my mom and little brother were having fun throwing and torturing my town and they didn’t know how to turn it off without saving…..

[@MrManDiller]

@@Scottyjscizzle I still have the physical copy of the game and the expansion. I am severely tempted to attempt to install it and see if it'll work. I made a friend laugh so hard he threw up when I first showed him that game. He had no idea about anything involving that game and I showed him the creature and started petting him and telling him he's a good creature and then tried to molest him and the animal didn't like it so I beat the s*** out of him my friend laughed so hard he threw up

[@anduril38]

I miss it too! I played through it again last year. Honestly still holds up on a city builder front, although it wasn't as nice as the first one.

[@madclown329]

Love that you decided to review this, it really needs some realistic reviews so that the hype train doesn't wreck it if it doesn't live up to the enormous hype that is around it

[@Swarm509]

I really hope over hyped people don't ruin this game for the rest of us and the dev.

[@FSVR54]

it has little hype

[@michaelh878]

@@FSVR54 It has more hype than any other game.

[@FSVR54]

@@michaelh878 what? Lol Elden Ring DLC. Black Myth WuKong has more hype than Manor lords

[@siciliangamer]

ACG replaced the dearly departed (and irreplaceable) TB for me.

[@beansmayne4581]

💯

[@talananiyiyaya8912]

TB wasn't a good person

[@siciliangamer]

@@talananiyiyaya8912 he was a good critic though

[@InsomniacOwlxc]

TB?

[@talananiyiyaya8912]

@@InsomniacOwlxc TotalBiscuit

[@swampssa]

Im tired of getting burned out on early access games. Once they’re finished and more stuff has been added on regular release I just don’t feel like playing. I’m waiting for this one. Super excited about it but I’ll come back next year after they do what they want to it.

[@R3TR0J4N]

love mix-genres i see myself from M&B Bannerlords migrating to Manorlords

[@1974greymalkin]

Best reviews on KZbin. You have not steered me wrong once. Thank you for your excellent research and review.

[@CoffinCrawler]

I always start up these 4x, sim games thinking, "Oh, I can't wait to just chill out, build stuff, fight stuff, engage in diplomacy..." Roughly about an hour or 2 in... I have a massive headache from the overwhelming options available to me. Definitely not my genre, but I try anyway. Looks pretty deep with even more on the horizon. Enjoy if that's your thing! Great vid as usual.

[@tle90]

This actually sounds awesome. I slept on this but after your review it's now high on my list. *Thanks ACG!* Been watching you since 2013 and your quality has only improved. Really grateful to you and your channel.

[@Zihenroy]

Using families and not single people is not weird, its new, its innovative. Most gamedevs are afraid to use small new stuff like this in their games.

[@ssjbargainsale]

Hey man, I've been following you for many years now and I gotta say, you never disappoint. Every review I check out is in depth and well-thought-out. Really informative stuff. Thanks for that

[@Asytra]

All I've really been looking for is a good, in-depth, town builder. The extra stuff like small scale battles and regional diplomacy/conflict is icing on the cake. I had a BLAST with the demo that was out a few years back and I'm REALLY looking forward to this one. I have Gamepass so I'll play it there for now, but when full release drops I'll buy it on Steam.

[@ACGreviews]

This one is different that is for sure

[@HAL1138]

Been excited for this. Hope they stick with it. Thanks for the review!

[@jasonfernald3994]

I haven’t played anything like this for years. Thanks for the review.

[@pj_ytmt-123]

Glad to find out he sold 1M copies at launch, but that figure has since plunged to 10k concurrent players (so the video title made a wrong prediction). Some thoughts I had: - game is quite pricey for an early access product - establishing supply chains hinted at lots of micro-management - ironically, I learnt from watching youtube videos that gameplay involved expanding within starter region, then expanding to nearby regions, which means the micro-management thing is COMPOUNDED - youtube videos also highlighted the amount of supply-chain/resource upgrades needed to equip a small squad of farmers - no multi-player - even if in future eg. each map (every region conquered) becomes a "player kingdom" that other players can invade, it's still an isolated instance. But this type of PvP model I don't mind at all. - as is, it's really a game for hardcore city-builder nerds, a niche compared to the Total War crowd - being a solo indie project means it's probably going to have lots of missing features, lots of features that are shallow implementations, that either don't really affect or have oversized effects on the outcomes (ie. make or break) - 👍👍 for CHURCHES 😊😊

[@LivinLifeLifeless]

Sounds like they looked a lot at Banished when making this game. And that is a good thing. Seems more in-depth, which I often wished Banished was. Sure need to keep an eye on this!

[@m00nm00n]

Nice to see reviews even if it's "only" an Early Access title. Not everyone 'bothers' reviewing Early Access-titles. But I guess the amount of interest in this game might be a contributing factor :D

[@J-STAR830]

I'm mainly an RTS guy, but I dee the appeal to city builders. I like the ones where you build you currently up and monster or some creature tries to knock it down.

[@D-OveRMinD]

This sounds like a more involved version of Banished, which I am totally here for.

[@phodaOG]

This is basically Banished 2. Nice to see awesome loop of Banished with combat and better graphics.

[@geoffroydegodefroy2374]

If anyone's traumatically obsessed with purely hardcore Medieval warfare and society content I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's videos series

[@mdc123-v2v]

Why am I seeing these comments on EVERY single video?

[@KingDudeness]

​@@mdc123-v2vProbably good, so people are spreading the word

[@holisticselfinquiry2736]

Traumatically obsessed 😂

[@ReinisIkass]

This game really scratches an inch from my youth, when Lords of the Realm 2 was my favorite RTS game. No other game to date has captured that vibe.

[@joshhoxsie9596]

Yes! Lords of the Realm 2. played that soo much as a kid. i also thought of that when i was looking at this game.

[@kingkurtzig]

Good to see you do a Manor Lords review karak, cant wait till Friday 👍

[@HandsomeAlex25]

Looks like a beautiful reimagining of my favourite play style of Stronghold

[@PsychMike]

Thank you for the added tips within your review!

[@armblaster]

That "Amazon rainforest" reference hit hard

[@benjaminburns4412]

I think I will wait to buy this feels like one of those games where its a disservice to oneself to burnout during early access.

[@seasleeper7557]

I hear that. You have better discipline than me. I'm worried they're going to make vast advancements in the combat portion of the game in 2 years but I will have played it for 300 hours in early access and not needing to play it again

[@mynameismud-qd9vu]

I love the game, learned early that it's wise to build an army early or bandits will come rob you blind!

[@skabba]

excellent review as always! will pick this one up when it releases

[@ACGreviews]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@Trebiane]

Commenting just to support you Karak. Love your reviews.

[@BoydWillemsen]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the developers have played Knights & Merchants back when they were young.

[@DaScorpion]

"Luckily, there's always some jackass who takes money for punching someone else in the face." XD

[@233mpme]

This guy is my guy. Long time fan!

[@SpectralSlayer7]

I think it’s just nice to have a game with a proper scope where it knows what it wants to do and has deep systems without trying to do everything

[@Jeffero28]

This looks interesting but the RTS snd world building aspect seem a little bit tedious. I have wanted a game forever that has lighter RTS and world building with a heavier focus on comabt staging, planning and execution.

[@WOWOW_3]

Extremely excited, I always dream for more games like these. Even though it doesn't try to acomplish everything, I really hope this game will have a good modding scene, so lack luster features like diplomacy could maybe approach Crusader King's level.

[@stewartmackay]

I'm interested to know what manor lords has over furthest frontier? Is this another game which will be in permanent early access?

[@KyleJamesFrazer]

I never do early access, but this has me thinking of changing that.

[@Atomsk0192]

Maybe I'm crazy, but the UI looks very familiar to me.

[@SkelNeldory]

Looks a little like Banished to me.

[@ashamahee]

Could be the engine?

[@Capt.Slappy]

The houses racked and stacked like that not look organic what so ever. It looks manufactured aka it looks like modern design and not anywhere near the period piece of the setting. If only they could somehow make the villager housing more like how Foundation handles. That would be amazing.

[@Timmy51m]

I sense the kind of hype is present that lead me to buy Bannerlord when it came out, which I regretted because I didn't find it fun, so I'm going to avoid this one. Even if it's good at being what it is, it's still what it is, and I wouldn't normally go for a game like this. Hype makes you do silly things sometimes. Thanks for the review.

[@blindmown]

Pretty much just seems like Stronghold but with some extra focus on organic gameplay.

[@Uni0nDirect0r]

Jesus, Karak really sucks at building medieval village! :D

[@quasivasi]

I hope that after the release, the Dev will have the financial resources to hire a few more devs to speed up further development 🤞🏻

[@eiadtarabulsi]

Awesome video as always! Thanks, Karak! God bless and stay!

[@jkayrichardson3366]

Glad to see the early impressions for this are good, since its on gamepass i might see if my 10 y/o pc can run it

[@MisterFoxton]

Seems like a 2024 version of Banished, with a very polished look. Looking forward to the escapism of bleak feudalism and horrific famine-inducing winters.

[@oliversdouglas]

Exactly my kind of game; been following it for a few weeks now. Very excited to play it and I think it's going to be something really special

[@Brekner]

I'd only play this if we had the option to make every other nation neutral, and only have bandits as threats. I know that's planned, but I don't think it'll be there on launch.

[@dubstyle311]

I think it is there at launch. I saw @tacticat do a stream and the settings had a bandits only difficulty.

[@FastCarsLoudMusic]

Been looking for the next thing after Against the Storm. This looks promising!

[@sekh765]

Yea, his description of the way it works sounds very close to Against the Storm at the start lol

[@FastCarsLoudMusic]

Yes and the idle villagers being workers concept as well.

[@vgamedude12]

Against the storm was one of the best builders I have played in a long time

[@Draidis]

@ACG will you be reviewing Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes?

[@JL-rj9fl]

Thanks, definitely keeping this on my radar for when it leaves early access.

[@cweber9112]

This looks like a pretty interesting game. Great review today!

[@DrasticSkuba]

I've been eyeing this game for quite a while now. I'm glad to hear it is more than just pretty. Looking forward to trying it for myself

[@ACGreviews]

Enjoy it man!

[@MarioGoatse]

Aaaaand you've sold me. This is right up my alley.

[@Reason4Termination]

The problem with these type of games, is that when you finally do everything perfectly, and overcome every obstacle, it becomes stale and boring afterwards. Kind of like Kenshi, where the actual fun was in the struggle.. but then you acquire a steady stream of money and food, and everything else becomes trivial.

[@harlowisla]

That perfectly explains why I stopped playing kenshi

[@Blessed_Souls]

"what matters most in manor lords" Me: Everything, literally every pixel of this game matters the most to me. I love it. I will take care of it, and I will nurture it.

[@iamthebatmanxiii3574]

Finally the only review I actually care about.

[@joebob8713]

First time live lol. Looking fresh Karak

[@davehogan1716]

Someone please make a Braveheart style game (like this but battling the English) already

[@DrSlippyy]

Games aren't as fun if you lose in the end and get chucked back over a small wall

[@asellandrofacchio7263]

Braveheart S U C K S stop spamming bullsit ideas

[@Destide]

@@DrSlippyy History nerd roguelike

[@DrSlippyy]

@@Destide take my money

[@PedroNevesPlus]

ACG is the best. This is for you my algo friend

[@dmitripopov8570]

Wonderful revue and a very unique project!

[@vanceg4901]

This game really reminds me of Phantom Fury, I think I might need an aspirin.

[@SerpC]

Great review as always!

[@ACGreviews]

I appreciate that

[@DPtdryste]

This looks like the opposite of a game I’d play because it looks too damn involved haha, but still enjoyed your review because I like tracking even news on stuff I know I’m not gonna play.

[@kittenburger_prime]

They should make a witcher mod. A visit from the VVitch wouldn't be bad either.

[@woollychaps]

I will juice the algo.

[@outlawz38]

reminds me of stronghold a bit. i miss that game.

[@bretts1646]

Yep, this looks exactly like what I want it to be.

[@12yrsnfat66]

Roll on Friday, been waiting years!

[@dgabrell]

Looking forward to this one! Thanks ACG

[@PeculiarNotions]

Thank you, as always, for your reviews.

[@corrion1]

I think this game makes you appreciate how easy we have it lol

[@blakem.2611]

My favorite video game youtuber. Love ya ACG

[@HawkSea]

Will families get mad that their home gets deleted to move them closer to what's needed?

[@bigmikeg84]

This is just Banished with combat and I'm 100% for it

[@BottomFocus]

Love your reviews! Another great one regarding Manor Lords.

[@ACGreviews]

Thanks!

[@TaderSamich]

Sounds similar to Medieval Dynasty

[@pimpatterson]

id love more EA/indie game reviews

[@Mr.Stone_]

Video starts at 14:15

[@GearheadDaily]

Soooo basically feudal SIMS?

[@jinchoung]

the quality of sound can be pronounced TAMBER. but when you're referring to wood, it is pronounced TIMBER.

[@amnforge]

It's fun. I do wish there was more content but it's EA. Im surprised the performance is so good as well.

[@steveyford7127]

Good review that. And I'm not really pleased. If i hear a youtube say the words "smash that like button" they are immediately blocked.

[@jeje4131]

stellar blade review when?

[@howmuch75]

I got 3rd place.

[@matthewgreen3988]

For some reason I'm thinking the jobs assignment has a Surviving the Apocalypse feel.

[@ACGreviews]

VERY and thats a good point man

[@AWY-LO]

This game is made by a solo developer that no AAA can do.

[@tnutt666]

why is this not advertised on gamepass

[@linkvagar2336]

It is

[@rhiiinoo]

great vid mate cant wait to get it

[@brianwest7344]

early access games on gamepass? oh dear, looks like we will get a load of unfinished half arsed games on gamespass in the future

[@zulwe]

I am looking forward to this game. It reminds me a bit of Banished.

[@ajpend]

Incomplete games are incomplete.