Manor Lords has already gained quite a following for a game developed by a single person. The upcoming hybrid RTS city-builder recently passed a milestone that very few games will ever reach. It now sits alongside Elden Ring and Dying Light 2 as one of Steam’s only games to reach three million wishlists.
RTS city-builder Manor Lords surpasses three million wishlists on Steam
Publisher Hooded Horse announced Manor Lords’ three million wishlists on Monday. “[Developer] Slavic Magic has done amazing work,” Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender said in a press release. “We’re honored and glad to be his publisher and help him realize his dream.” The medieval city-builder launches on Early Access for Steam and PC Game Pass on Friday, with an Xbox One and Series X/S version in development.
Manor Lords casts the player as a minor feudal lord in a world inspired by 14th-century Germany. As with other city builders, players must manage workers and resources to grow their estate from a small village to a bustling city.
However, part of what sets Manor Lords apart is its Total War-inspired RTS combat and how the two aspects interact. There is no Total War-style campaign map, and the combat and city-building occur in the same environment. As with historical medieval armies, the player only has a few professional soldiers. They’ll have to conscript the rest from the village’s civilian workforce. This means that combat casualties can be a significant setback for the player’s economy.
That said, Slavic Magic has also been careful not to oversell the military side of things. “Manor Lords is not a Total War competitor,” the developer said. “It’s a city-builder with battles. It’s not an Empire Management-style Grand Strategy game, either. The map has regions, but you won’t be able to conquer the whole of Europe.”