Sales aren’t the only measure of success, but they’re an indicator that a game is doing something right. Manor Lords has now sold over three million copies in early access. It’s done so while maintaining a Very Positive rating on Steam. Slavic Magic has fortified its medieval base builder with a complex brew of economic simulation and RTS action. You may have to bend your plowshares back into swords to fend off your bandit neighbors, but at least you’ll have a cozy cottage to retire to. Here’s what Slavic Magic did so right in the land of pheasants and peasantry.
Manor Lords Hits Three Million Copies and Counting
Some Steam games get abandoned, but not Manor Lords. It’s been getting updates since it hit early access in April 2024, adding bridge building, new maps, and other features. Winding River and High Peaks are fun, but it’s the flexible base building and exciting RTS battles that hooked me. There’s a reason the Manor Lords sales chart looks the way it does. Dynamic road construction and other QoL features make building settlements easy and enjoyable. Whether you want to obsess over market stall placement and min-maxing your forges or you’re focused on military might, Manor Lords gives you a lot to love.
If there’s one thing I think helped Manor Lords earn its sales, however, it’s the immersion. Want to pop into third-person mode to walk the roads you’ve laid? Maybe you’d prefer to zoom out and watch your villagers carve paths through the snow from a bird’s-eye view. Either way, you feel like a part of your village. That might not stop it from getting torched and looted, but at least you’ll have a home worth fighting for. Better yet, hire mercenaries to do the fighting for you. Slavic Magic has given players a base builder as cozy as a tavern hearth. It’d be a shame to get raider blood all over it.
