After nearly a year of silence and hundreds of fan complaints, the beloved strategy title Manor Lords is receiving major new content. The game has been significantly improved, but this will be the last update of its scale.

Following almost twelve months with no significant updates, Manor Lords — the medieval simulator that became one of 2024’s most acclaimed strategy titles — has finally received a major overhaul. The patch introduces sweeping changes to core gameplay systems, construction mechanics, and balance. The prolonged lack of updates had frustrated the community, causing the game’s Steam reviews to drop from “Very Positive” to “Mixed” over the past month.

Greg Styczeń, the original creator and lead developer, admitted that the delay was largely due to team expansion and attempting to address too many issues simultaneously. “I’m taking time to reflect on what went wrong so we can ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Styczeń wrote in the patch notes, underlining his commitment to transparency and improvement.

The new patch introduces a wealth of content, including new maps, the option to pre-select your starting location, and fresh game modes such as Duel (pitting players against a more capable AI) and a free-for-all scenario called Fractured Kingdom. Several new professions and structures have also been added, such as the Quarry, Limekiln, and Mason, each focused on producing specific resources like rough stone, mortar, and dressed stone.

Defensive structures have been greatly enhanced as well. Players can now construct stone fortresses, scale ladders, get overhead views of troops inside buildings, and open or close individual doors. Each region features unique biomes that favor certain types of construction, the approval system has been completely reworked, and significant balance changes affect both food production and resource management.

Future Updates Will Be Less Ambitious

Despite the size of this update, there are two major caveats: older save files are no longer compatible, and future patches will include far less new content. Players can already access the experimental beta by navigating to the “Beta” tab in the game’s Steam properties and entering the code “veryNiceBasket” (without quotation marks).

Source: 3djuegos