I think this game has a lot of promise, unfortunately it is not there yet, and seems to have a few more years of development before I could recommend it. Steam doesn't let me do a 2-3 star rating, but Manor Lords has the promise of being a great 5 star game, it is set up for it, but some core mechanics are entirely missing, combat is janky, and there are a lot of QOL systems that are necessary to enjoy the game which are missing (Cancelling upgrades, such as your Manor when suddenly put into war, and AIs cheating the system to build at hyper speed instead of at a realistic speed and pumping out teleporting units across the map. Battles also feel very jank as well, though everything looks really good.
There is some gaps as well, such as roads being built instantly instead of being expanded over time, and the economy feels very unbalanced against the player (to make it more difficult artificially) instead of more focused based on supply and demand. There is no way to move goods between warehouses properly, and markets feel like each family should open a stall instead of a storage / granary worker making a market stall.
I got the game to be a better version of city skylines, but focused on medieval times, and this game has that potential, just is missing a LOT of updates, and based on where the game was 2 years ago to today, it feels like it isn't going to get where it needs to be for at least 2-6 more years, and won't overthrow city skylines for at least a decade if at all which breaks my heart as I see the potential systems at play here and how beautiful it could be. Having steam workshop or in-house mods like other games would at least fix the core issues for the time being until the game is finished or at least more fleshed-out, but that isn't really supported directly which leaves too much to be desired in the meantime.
9/10 aesthetics and artwork (especially the medieval themed UI, shows a lot of foresight)
3/10 combat mechanics (very jank, but feels good when it works)
4/10 city building (there are frustrating QOL mechanics missing)
3/10 sandbox freedom (lots of limiting factors)
5/10 character customization (there are options, can be fleshed out in the future)
1/10 mod-ability (no official mod support, only Nexus)
7/10 relaxing atmosphere (good music, relaxing visuals)
3/10 economy (though can be improved easily)
2/10 diplomacy (though promising)
8/10 graphics (I don't care much for graphics, but they are very well done)
5/10 Overall, has a lot of future promise, but I worry it won't get there for a while
