Slavic Magic and Hooded Horse have released a modern update for Manor Lords, adding several maps, the ability to construct bridges, and a number of smaller features to the already quite solid medieval city builder.
The update combines the two beta patches into one giant changelog. The modern maps announced last November are High Peaks and Winding River. In the latter case, the bridge construction mechanic – an extension of the existing road construction tool – has a chance to shine.
I imagine some tweaks to the game’s cliff geography also assist with bridge building. Publication on Steamlead developer Greg Styczen writes that it should be clearer which areas can be built and which can be traversed thanks to the zigzag pattern that appears in build mode. It also improved pathfinding around cliffs and fixed an issue where gaps would appear between landscape features and cliffs when zoomed out.
Other crucial changes include restrictions on workers at stalls. As of this patch, only workers in warehouse buildings can set up stalls in the market because “there was too much confusion about who owned what and where they worked, and it was very difficult for players to understand, for example, that a grave digger could have a food stall” – continues the developer. Sorry, gravediggers, but you’ll have to whip your own produce a different way. The number of goods a market can supply is now also restricted by the number of stalls (and therefore assigned storage buildings), the capacity of which is indicated in the market panel.
January also implemented stone well improvements for wells and second-level taverns, while also changing the way beer and water from wells and taverns are distributed.
This is just the tip of the update’s virulent compost pile. Definitely click on this Steam link and fill your terrified eyes with bullet points. Sometimes when I read a changelog that is too long, I feel… recording changes one by one. My brain begins to resemble a country market, crowded with cacophonous oxen and saddened gravediggers hopelessly offering handfuls of turnips to anyone who will take them.
Manor Lords was released last April and was expected to remain in early access for about a year. Using the brain cells I have left that aren’t currently entirely devoted to talking about archers, town plots, and carnage, I gather from this that the book may leave early access in April 2025. If you want to learn more about how the publishers Hooded Horse manages its early access projects, see our interview with one of the company’s founders.
