If you enjoy medieval games, city-builders, and commanding units in strategic battles, you’ll likely fall in love with one of 2024’s most highly anticipated new releases: Manor Lords. Developed entirely by Slavic Magic’s solo developer Greg Styczeń over the course of many years, it’s a passion project that’s resonating with thousands of gamers worldwide. Right now, it’s the most wishlisted game on Steam, surpassing other huge titles like Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
The pre-launch hype for Manor Lords is amazing to see — and as its Early Access draws near, players undoubtedly have tons of questions about what to expect from the game, what features it will have, what platforms they’ll be able to play it on, and more. To answer them, I’ve put together this comprehensive FAQ, and will update it frequently as new information about Manor Lords comes from Slavic Magic and publisher Hooded Horse.
For a complete overview of everything you need to know about Manor Lords, including its gameplay, release date, Early Access length, and more, read on.
What is Manor Lords?
Best answer: Manor Lords is a medieval city-builder game that primarily emphasizes development and management, though there are strategic Total War-style battles to fight whenever the situation at hand calls for war. It’s being developed by Slavic Magic’s solo developer Greg Styczeń, who’s been working on the game for several years. Notably, when it releases it will be in Early Access.
Manor Lords is an ambitious project Slavic Magic solo developer Greg Styczeń has been working on for years, and is best described as what you’d get if you threw a city-builder, a farming simulator, and the strategic battles of Total War into a blender and then set the resulting game in medieval Europe. It places a greater emphasis on city development and management than on warfare — the developer stressed this in a new pre-release blog post — though you’ll still have to take up arms when driven to do so by aggressing forces or the desire to conquest.
Success in Manor Lords largely depends on your ability to grow, hunt, and harvest the resources you need from your land, with things like soil fertility, animal population density, and the health of forests directly affected by where and how you set up your operations and expand. These factors, along with road placement and established trade routes, have a significant impact on how your settlements grow over time — just as they did in real towns and villages of the era.
Your management skills will also be put to the test by challenging obstacles such as seasonal climate changes, instances of inclement weather, and sickness, among others. These force you to decide where to allocate your resources carefully, and keep you on your toes even when harvests are bountiful. Using too much timber when you don’t need to, for example, might leave you without the wood you desperately need in wintertime.
These types of lasting consequences extend to Manor Lords’ period-accurate combat systems, too; every man-at-arms you lose in battle is a farmer or tradesman you lose at home, weakening your economic stability. Because of that, choosing your tactics and positioning wisely and ensuring your troops are well-fed, adequately trained and equipped, and in high spirits is paramount.
Notably, Manor Lords is launching in Early Access, with Styczeń planning to add additional features and content to the game over time and make adjustments based on community feedback.
“This will be an early access release. Yes, it must be disappointing, but I think it’s the right choice. It’s my first serious game and not only some stuff is still unfinished, but I bet you guys will ask me to change some things you don’t necessarily like,” he wrote in the aforementioned blog post. “But I want to pursue an open development strategy of a back and forth between me and you, I think it worked great for the game so far (I’m comparing to times where there wasn’t even a testing group and I was developing in a bubble).”
What is Manor Lords’ release date?
Best answer: Manor Lords is scheduled to release on Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Store in Early Access on April 26.
Manor Lords has been in development for a long, long time, but now it’s only a week or so away from being in our hands — barring any sudden delays, of course. Specifically, the game’s Early Access launch is scheduled for April 26, 2024. When it releases, it will be available on Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Store.
Manor Lords’ publisher Hooded Horse noted that it usually releases its games between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. PT, so it’s likely that the medieval city-builder will be made available in the morning. There will also be a countdown clock visible in Steam once the release date draws nearer, and Hooded Horse plans to publish a release times map with time zone conversions, too (I’ll add it to this section once it’s posted).
How long will Manor Lords Early Access last?
Best answer: Slavic Magic plans to keep Manor Lords in Early Access for “around a year,” though this might change based on the feedback the community gives for the game.
Like many games that release in Early Access, Manor Lords is expected to be in this work-in-progress state for about a year or so. Developer Slavic Magic confirmed this in the Early Access section of the game’s description on Steam: “We might remain in Early Access for around a year, but that might change depending on how the design develops with player feedback.”
Therefore, you can tentatively expect Manor Lords’ full release in Spring 2025, though it might come later (or sooner) depending on the feedback given by the community. This is core to Greg Styczeń’s pursuit of “an open development strategy of a back and forth between me and you,” which is a common reason many games begin life as Early Access titles.
Will Manor Lords get a roadmap?
Roadmaps give fans an idea of what types of content additions they can expect and when they’ll come, but it sounds like we won’t get one for Manor Lords for a long time. That’s because developer Greg Styczeń confirmed in his pre-release blog post on Steam that he has no plans to make a roadmap right now, as he wants to “adopt the philosophy of ‘listen, verify, implement'” before working on a feature fans may not want.
However, that same post does confirm that the first month of patches for the game will be for “bug fixes and polish,” with Hooded Horse and Styczeń choosing what content to focus on developing after gathering feedback during that time.
How much does Manor Lords cost?
Best answer: Manor Lords’ price hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it’s expected to be around $30-40. Something that’s been stated, though, is that the game’s price may increase during its Early Access period as more content and features are added.
Most games are usually pretty straightforward with their pricing ahead of their launch, but Manor Lords is an exception to this trend. Even though its Early Access launch is just a week away, we still don’t have any concrete information about how much the game will cost. With that said, it’s expected to be around $30-40, so keep that in mind.
Something we do know, however, is that Slavic Magic and Hooded Horse might increase Manor Lords’ price during the Early Access period “as additional content and features are added.” This was revealed in the Early Access section of the game’s Steam page, though whether or not this actually happens is something only time will tell.
Is Manor Lords coming to Xbox?
Best answer: Yes, Manor Lords is coming to Xbox in addition to Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Store. However, it won’t be available on Microsoft’s consoles for the Early Access launch, so you’ll have to wait a while to play it if you’re an Xbox player.
Manor Lords looks to be one of 2024’s best PC games, which naturally has many players on Xbox curious if they’ll be able to play the game, too. Ultimately, there’s good news and bad news; the good news is that Manor Lords is indeed coming to Microsoft’s consoles, but the bad news is that it won’t be available on them when it launches into Early Access on April 26.
With that said, Xbox fans may not have to wait long to play Slavic Magic’s exciting city management game. In Manor Lords’ release date trailer, it was said that it would be “coming soon to consoles.” Then, in a preview post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft noted that the title would arrive on its consoles “shortly after” its Early Access launch. That wording makes it sound like it could arrive on Xbox in just a few months, though nothing’s been confirmed yet.
Is Manor Lords coming to Game Pass?
Best answer: Yes, Manor Lords is coming to Game Pass. Specifically, it will be available on the Microsoft Store through PC Game Pass when it launches on April 26, and when it releases on Xbox consoles, it will be playable on Xbox Game Pass as well. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will give you access to Manor Lords on both platforms.
Microsoft’s buffet-style Game Pass service allows players to check out many games without buying them directly, and with Manor Lords so close to launching, plenty of subscribers are curious if they’ll be able to play it through their membership. Luckily, they will, as Manor Lords will be available to play with PC Game Pass once it’s released on April 26.
Once the city-builder arrives on Xbox, users with the console-specific version of the service, Xbox Game Pass, will be able to play Manor Lords on it as well. Notably, you can access the game on both PC and Xbox with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the best tier of Game Pass that includes the option to stream your games over the cloud.
Does Manor Lords have multiplayer or co-op?
Best answer: Manor Lords has been designed to be a single-player game, so there won’t be multiplayer or co-op play of any kind when it launches. Developer Slavic Magic also doesn’t have any plans to develop any right now.
Manor Lords has been designed from the ground up as a “refined single-player experience,” so when it launches, it won’t have multiplayer features, content, or modes of any kind. That means you won’t be able to develop your city in co-op with friends, and you won’t be able to conquer another player’s kingdom in PvP, either.
Slavic Magic has also gone on record to say that there are “no multiplayer or cooperative modes planned at the moment,” so I wouldn’t expect one unless the developer says otherwise at some point. If fans want it enough, though, there’s always a chance multiplayer could be considered in the future.
What are Manor Lords’ minimum system requirements?
We’ve got a full article on Manor Lords’ required specs that includes instructions on how to check your PC’s hardware, but I’ve also listed the minimum and recommended specs for the game here. You’ll find them below:
Manor Lords minimum system requirements
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4670 (quad-core) / AMD FX-Series FX-4350 (quad-core)
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2 GB) / AMD Radeon RX-460 (4 GB)
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 16 GB available space
Manor Lords recommended specs
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i5-7600 (quad-core) / AMD® Ryzen 3 2200G (quad-core)
- Memory: 12 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1060 (6 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB)
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 16 GB available space
Ultimately, these specs should be very easy to meet as long as you’ve got a modern computer — the recommended CPUs and GPUs are nearly a decade old, after all. The only thing that might reduce your performance a bit is not having 12GB of memory or more (16-32GB is generally considered the standard for gaming PCs these days), but 8GB is enough to meet the minimum required spec, so as long as you have that, you’ll be fine.
Manor Lords trailers
In this final section, I’ve embedded all of Manor Lords’ different trailers in one place for easy viewing.
