Highlights

  • Manor Lords stands out as a solo-developed indie game with extensive city-building mechanics and real-time battles.
  • The innovative Visit Mode allows players to explore their city as a medieval character, but faces technical issues.
  • Potential future additions to Visit Mode could include player character creation and home decoration, enhancing immersion.

There is no shortage of real-time strategy and city-building games, and with other titles like Frostpunk 2 on the horizon, that library is only going to continue to grow. Despite this growing list of games, Slavic Magic's Manor Lords stands out, particularly due to being a solo-developed indie game that is already off to a great start. Manor Lords offers just about everything a lover of medieval city-builders might want in a game, from extensive, liberal city-building mechanics to epic real-time battles with the enemy. However, one particular feature helps distinguish Manor Lords in a vast sea filled with games like it, despite the feature being a bit rough and ready at the moment.

Unlike other real-time strategy city-builders, Manor Lords includes a third-person mode called "Visit Mode" in which players can explore the reaches of their own city to see it from the perspective of the villagers there. Upon activating Visit Mode, the player becomes a character dressed in medieval attire whom they can directly control and wander the city at their leisure. It is a highly innovative feature that complements the game's creative liberty, and could very well set a precedent for the game and the genres that define it. Unfortunately, it has a long road ahead of it when it comes to stamping out various glitches and bugs, as well as reaching its full potential.

Frostpunk 2 and Manor Lords
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How Frostpunk 2's Gameplay Compares to Manor Lords

Frostpunk 2 and Manor Lords are two sides of the same coin, both offering unique city-building and survival mechanics but with different emphases.

Manor Lords' Innovative Visit Mode Has Yet to Reach Its Full Potential

Manor Lords' Visit Mode Currently Suffers From Technical Issues

Despite being one of the most innovative features in the city-building and real-time strategy genres, Manor Lords' Visit Mode suffers from some rather glaring technical issues. The most prominent glitch allows players to phase through anything in their city, from walls to fences, unlike the villagers, who are required to acknowledge the boundaries set for them. To be fair, Manor Lords is currently only in early access and there is even an in-game disclaimer when attempting to activate Visit Mode that tells players to expect glitches from it.

Manor Lords Could Allow Players to Create Their Own Character for Its Visit Mode

Something that Manor Lords should consider for its Visit Mode (and likely already has) is giving players the ability to create their own character. Currently, there is a standard character for Visit Mode, and it is almost impossible to even get a good look at the character's face. Giving players the chance to create their own character and customize their wardrobe would help with the immersion that Manor Lords' Visit Mode already provides.

Manor Lords' Visit Mode Could Allow Players to Live in and Decorate Their Own Home

Another feature that Manor Lords' Visit Mode could implement at some point would be to allow players to live in and decorate the interior of their own homes. This is presumably a tall task for a game like Manor Lords, considering a feature like this might detract from the top-down city-building aspect of the game, but it would arguably fit right in with the Visit Mode experience. Creative liberty such as home decoration is becoming an increasingly popular feature in the gaming sphere, especially when it comes to the multitude of cozy games that have come out recently. While Manor Lords is far from a cozy game, Visit Mode could be enhanced even further with a feature like home decoration.

Despite the long road it still has ahead of it, Manor Lords' Visit Mode is nonetheless one of its most innovative features, and it's likely to set a precedent both for the game itself and for future real-time strategy and city-building games. If it can overcome the technical obstacles it currently faces and also add some more features to increase its immersion even more, it will undoubtedly set the tone for Manor Lords moving forward and any games like it to be released in the future.