Manor Lords: What Will Be Available in Early Access?

Manor Lords is one of the most anticipated games of 2024, and on April 26th, you are finally going to be able to play it. The game is a medieval strategy city builder set in the 14th century, which allows you to grow your empire and conquer the lands surrounding you through warfare or diplomacy. As the anticipation around the release of the game continues to grow, some might not know that Manor Lords is going to be releasing in an Early Access stage.

With developers using the Early Access stage in different ways, it's important to know exactly how much content and what kind of features the game is going to have before you buy it. In this article, we are going to go over everything you need to know about the Manor Lords Early Access.

Manor Lords Early Access Content

In a recent Reddit Q&A, one of the developers from Slavic Magic answered this question, explaining all of the different features players are going to find at the start of the Early Access stage. In the Manor Lords Early Access, players are going to be able to build and develop their cities all the way up to Tier 3 housing, which will include a huge variety of different development branches.

Combat will also be available, and you will be able to hire mercenaries and turn your own villagers into militia, which can then be used to claim neighboring lands to expand your empire. There will be only one map, and each campaign will place you into a randomized location in one of its regions. You will also be able to switch between some difficulty settings, with an option to turn off any combat so you can focus on the city-building aspect. Here are some more detailed descriptions of all the features that will be available at the release of the Manor Lords Early Access:

What will be available at Early Access?

• City-building – Develop your region from a tiny village to a dense town, build industries, unlock development branches, and plan and upgrade your manor. You can build up to Tier 3 housing and set up specialized artisans and industries across multiple regions.
• Army management and battles: Draft villagers into militias, hire and upgrade retinues, and hire mercenaries to fight against bandits or rival lords that plague your lands.
• Claims — Earn influence and lay claims to neighboring lands. To press your claim, you must fight an off-map AI Lord and defeat – Earn influence and lay claims to neighboring lands. You must fight an off-map AI Lord to press your claim by defeating his army.
• Maps - One map is planned for the initial early access launch. Your starting region will be randomized, as well as what nearby resources are available, and in what quantity.
• Scenarios — Besides the standard scenario, there is an ultra-hard variant and a “peaceful” variant, allowing you to focus only on city-building.

Sometime around the release of the game on April 26th, players can also expect to receive a roadmap for the future development of the game, which will showcase some of the new features that will be coming in the next few months. We can't wait to see all of the content that will be added in future updates. For more Manor Lords news and guides, make sure to check out our dedicated section on the website!