Slavic Magic’s city-builder Manor Lords was a huge hit when it launched into Steam Early Access in April 2024. Since then, the developer has slowly but surely built on solid foundations as it strives to hit 1.0. Available right now, the flatteringly named beta patch 0.7.987 is a tremendous leap forward for the strategy game, adding fishing, crossbow soldiers, and even a visual upgrade.
Manor Lords was already one of the best city-building games before this update, though the new additions deliver on many fan requests since launch, which we went over in our Manor Lords review. The patch is currently only available on the experimental branch for testing, though if all goes according to plan, it shouldn’t be long before everyone can enjoy all the latest additions.
First off, for a medieval game all about building a flourishing town, fishing seemed like an odd omission at launch. Well, thanks to the addition of fishing ponds, the Fisherman’s Hut, and the Winter Fishing development branch, you’ve now got a whole new way of keeping your village alive, even through harsh winters. Sure, almost every game has fishing nowadays, but it feels right at home in Manor Lords.
Building on this is the new Butcher’s Shop artisan conversion, which takes surplus livestock and converts it into meat. This plays into the food spoilage system where food and certain crops will spoil over time. Thankfully, you can cure specific produce or store it properly in special building types to extend shelf life. This makes hoarding food, especially through the winter months, more engaging as you have to keep an eye on what you’re producing and how you’re storing it.
To help you manage production, all workplaces can now set production limits. Even better, you can set different reserves for each type of produce, allowing more precise prioritization of your resources. This update also improves trade, notably by letting you check all transactions for every region, as well as displaying your overall trade balance. This helps you understand how your village is developing and where you should focus your efforts.
With your settlement thriving more than ever now with butchers, fish, and rivers of gold, you’ll naturally need to defend it. That’s where the new crossbow militia units and The Huntsmen mercenary company come in. The addition of the Bowyer’s Workshop allows you to craft this powerful ranged weapon to equip your soldiers like never before.
As the final cherry on top, this Manor Lords update also includes various visual improvements. Most notably, Slavic Magic has ported Manor Lords to Unreal Engine 5 after the discontinuation of UE4. Though the developer admits this change has come with some drawbacks, such as the removal of tessellation lowering snow distortion resolution, it’s also had its benefits. Volumetric clouds are much more dynamic and natural, and various bugs that previously could not be fixed are now on the chopping block. Alongside this, many animations, icons, and portraits have been improved.
All in all, the new Manor Lords update takes the strategy game to the next level, and there’s still more to come throughout the Steam Early Access period. If you’d rather wait to try out the new features when they’re out of beta, why not build your own zoo or theme park in one of the other best management games out there?
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