Manor Lords is Banished meets Medieval: Total War
And it's by a solo developer.
Manor Lords is a just-announced medieval strategy game for PC that's part city builder, part real-time strategy battle game.
The announcement video shows off lovely-looking medieval city-building, reminiscent of fantastic city-building strategy game Banished (with a bit of Frostpunk and perhaps even Cities: Skylines thrown in).
And then we see the Total War influence: large scale, tactical battles.
It's all the work of a Polish solo developer who goes by the name Slavic Magic. They promise "a gridless, organic city-building experience with full freedom of placement and rotation, but utilising snapping tools to make the planning more comfortable".
The idea is to create a building mechanic that recreates the growth of real medieval towns and villages. Every building is inspired by historical references from XI-XV century Europe. From the official blurb:
"Fields must be plowed by a team of oxen, iron bloomed in a bloomery, the sheep herded on the open pastures governed by the Lord of the Manor...
"This combined with an attention to detail is the key to immersing yourself fully in the medieval fiefdom you rule.
"The seasons pass, the weather changes, towns can rise and fall to war, disease or famine."
On to the large-scale battles, and we see unit formations, with morale, flanking, fatigue and weather affecting the outcome.
Manor Lords is raising eyebrows, but given this is the effort of a solo developer, there's an element of healthy scepticism about the final product.
"It's a real game alright!" Slavic Magic said in response to a user on Steam. "It requires a lot of work still, but it's real :)"
Expect some sort of Early Access launch in 2020. One to watch!