Sam Leith Sam Leith

Gorgeous and deeply absorbing: Manor Lords reviewed

Feudal life may have been miserable, brutish and short, but overseeing it in this new video game is a pleasure

issue 18 May 2024

Grade: A

‘God games’, as they used to be called, have a storied history. SimCity, Civilisation and the excellently sadistic Dungeon Keeper have all been responsible for many a PhD thesis being delivered late. The Almighty seems to have smiled on the latest iteration of the genre. The product of a one-man-band independent developer, Greg Styczen, its current pre-release version scored a million downloads on the first day it was available.

You can see why. It’s made with such care and love. You take the role of a medieval lord of the manor – choose a surly avatar and a coat of arms – who starts with a handful of peasant families in a tented encampment in a drizzly forest.

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