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Manor Lords Sales Top 1 Million Units in Early Access

Manor Lords Sales Top 1 Million Units in Early Access - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 28 April 2024 / 1,691 Views

Publisher Hooded Horse and developer Slavic Magic have announced the medieval city-builder and real-time tactics game, Manor Lords, has sold over one million units.

The game released in Early Access for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, and GOG, and PC Game Pass on April 26.

"Since yesterday's launch Manor Lords has already sold over 1 million copies & hit a peak Steam concurrent player count of 170k - highest ever for a city builder (or for other different genres like GSG/4x/colony sim). Congrats Manor Lords, we're honored to serve as your publisher!" said publisher Hooded Horse.

Read details on the game below:

your starting village into a bustling city, manage resources and production chains, and expand your lands through conquest.

Inspired by the art and architecture of late 14th century Franconia, Manor Lords prioritizes historical accuracy wherever possible, using it to inform gameplay mechanics and visuals alike. Common medieval tropes are avoided in favor of historical accuracy in order to make the world feel more authentic, colorful, and believable.

Organic City Building

Manor Lords provides a gridless city-building experience with full freedom of placement and rotation. Building mechanics are inspired by the growth of real medieval towns and villages, where major trade routes and the landscape influenced how settlements formed and developed.

  • Spreading outward from a central marketplace, build your residential, commercial, and industrial districts following the natural lay of the land. Establish farms based on soil fertility, position hunting grounds according to animal populations, and ensure access to adequate resource deposits and forests to provide the raw materials needed for growth.
  • Assign areas for housing and watch your residents build their homes in accordance with the historical burgage plot system. Each area will be subdivided based on your roads and the allotted space, and homes will scale accordingly.
  • Build extensions behind larger homes to generate resources that would not otherwise be available. Homeowners don't just pay taxes – they grow vegetables, raise chickens and goats, and otherwise supply themselves and other townsfolk with essential needs beyond what your managed farms, pastures, and industries can provide.
  • Guide your settlements through the unique demands and opportunities of each season, enjoying the bounty brought by spring rains and preparing for the harsh snows of winter.

Resource Management

From boots to barley and hides to honey, Manor Lords features a great variety of goods fitting of the era. Materials need to be transported and processed into finished products through production chains, and you must balance the basic needs of your people against the desire to produce luxury items to ensure happiness, manufacture trade goods for export, or forge arms and armor to aid in your conquests.

  • Resources are littered across the map, encouraging you to expand and establish multiple specialized settlements. Extract valuable ores from your mining colonies, while villages devoted to agriculture, herding, or hunting supply the grains and meats needed to feed your growing populations. Will you spend your hard-earned influence to first acquire a rich source of iron for your smiths, or will you prioritize regions with fertile soil to serve as your breadbasket?
  • Unchecked expansion will have a direct effect on the environment. Herds of deer will migrate away from encroaching civilization, lack of crop rotation will worsen soil fertility, and cutting down too many trees will result in deforestation.
  • Establish trade routes and sell surplus goods to traveling merchants to enrich your population. Manufacturing and exporting a variety of goods will provide wealth with which to upgrade your peoples’ homes, import goods you can’t produce yourself, and through taxes on said wealth, fill your own coffers.

Medieval Warfare

Yours is but a small parcel of land in a vast territory, and the competing ambitions between you and rival lords will inevitably lead to conflict. Lead your people into battle, not as expendable units to be easily replenished, but as your beloved loyal subjects where every death is a cost worth considering.

  • Train a retinue of skilled warriors to fight battles alongside the levies you raise from the town militia. At times these soldiers will be needed to suppress banditry, and at other times you will lead your men into battle to conquer or defend territory. When needed, mercenaries are a costly option to bolster your ranks. Will you raise the militia at the first sign of trouble, bringing your economy to a stand-still as your peasants pick up arms and rush to form ranks, or will you spend your personal wealth to hire bands of sellswords instead?
  • Command real-time tactical battles, taking into consideration fatigue, weather conditions, and equipment. Position your troops wisely – a smaller force can defeat a larger enemy, if commanded well.
  • Feel the cost of battle, even in victory, as each fallen soldier represents a lost person from your city.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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5 Comments
SuperNintend0rk (on 28 April 2024)

It's crazy that this game has the highest Steam player count for a city builder! I only heard about it a few days ago lol

  • +2
Zkuq SuperNintend0rk (on 28 April 2024)

It has been hyped a lot among friends of the genre for a long time now. I guess media visibility hasn't been as high though.

  • 0
SuperNintend0rk Zkuq (on 29 April 2024)

Oh really? I bet Cities: Skylines II would have had a higher peak if it hadn't launched in such a poor state.

  • 0
Zkuq SuperNintend0rk (on 29 April 2024)

Even in its launch state, I would probably have expected that... But I guess not. Apparently its all-time peak is just a bit over 100k.

  • 0
SuperNintend0rk Zkuq (on 29 April 2024)

According to SteamDB, Civ 6 had the previous peak, if that even counts as a city builder lol

  • 0