Breakdown
- Slavic Magic, the developer of Manor Lords, decided to make a blog post to address all the hype before the game's release.
- He made sure to mention what the game won't be and gave realistic expectations on the type of gameplay to expect.
- He also detailed how he'll be handling the Early Access release and roadmap for the game when it goes for sale.
Manor Lords has become the most wish-listed game on Steam and garnered a huge following and hype. Amidst these expectations and all the hype, the developer Slavic Magic released a statement to clarify what the game will be and temper expectations.
The statement was released as a community post on Steam where he addressed the expectations of the fans intending to buy it and reminded everyone of what the game isn't supposed to be. Here's a condensed list of his reminders.
- "Manor Lords is not a Total War competitor. It's a city builder with battles. Yes, battles are there, but the focus is on city building and management."
- "It's not a Empire Management style Grand Strategy game either. The map has regions, but you won't be able to conquer the whole Europe, nor have marriages or anything like that."
- "It's not an RPG either. The game is really meant to be played from the "bird's eye" perspective, like a strategy game (almost always) should. There won't be any first-person gameplay."
- "It's not a competitive, fast paced RTS like Age of Empires or Starcraft." A lot of the game mechanics focus on aesthetics of your town and resource transportation. This results mostly in a more of a relaxed experience with high-intensity moments used to spice things up every now and then.
For fans who have jumped on the hype train based on all the popularity and coverage, this game is getting, these points serve as a clear reminder as to what the game actually is rather than whatever expectations they might have developed.
He then dropped another important reminder that the game is only being released in Early Access for now. He attributes this to Manor Lords being his "first serious game" and wanting a healthy back-and-forth between himself and the players.
You can read the full blog post where he also details why he isn't releasing a Road Map, and also mentions that he wants people to know what they're getting into before purchasing the game as he says "Feel free to check out numerous streams and let's plays out there before buying to make sure this is the game for you!"
While it's the dream of every aspiring developer for their games to reach the level of popularity Manor Lords has achieved, it's also a ridiculous amount of pressure put on the developer. As a solo developer, Slavic Magic is surely feeling the weight of the fans' expectations on him while being the only person who knows what he can realistically deliver.
Manor Lords will be released on Steam on 26th April!