Recent reviews by wake

I NEVER do these feedback comments, but here I feel obliged to warn other potential buyers.

I've played Medieval Kingdom Wars in the past and this seems to be an upgrade of it.

I'm someone who doesn't like to be forced into a crusader order role, and instead would rather focus on a nation like England, crusade later if willing. I notice that there's no option to play other nations on Campaign mode, still, Sandbox then.

I play as a vassal of England, as York, but the moment I plunge into the game I notice that I'm at war with 3 other countries. Fine.

My problem
- I can't play in borderless window, there's no option for it.
- I'm stuck (even in Campaign) with a filthy green army/map color palette, I researched, seems there's a way to change it inconveniently, but even when I tried that, it doesn't work. England + Green color = Horrific
- I'm a vassal of England, yet somehow become the centre of everything, I get attacked by Scotland/Norway, lets be real, its normal, but then -FRANCE- pushes from south, THROUGH England, onto York and my lands. And there's no resistance.
- Allied Vassals outright don't help, not even the King.
- When I exit the game, I run into a runtime error, great, and it bugs out my desktop, force quit through task manager is more convenient.
- The graphics control is severely limited, not something you'd expect from a 2025 game but oh well.
- Country armies don't display their banners a top their army (basically France isn't bearing the France flag). It's just a colored box-pattern flag. Ruins the immersion a lot imo, where Norway is carrying pink color and a pink overhead banner. Feels like im in a competitive multiplayer game where you need to see who's who..
- BUT, when I'm being attacked by 3+ armies france/norway/scotland in north england? you'd expect that my king and vassal allies are fighting back right?? wrong, for some reason, they're "around" but essentially, useless.
- Also starting off the sandbox, all enemy/friendly settlements have maxed out garrisons, me? 1 peasant and 1 chicken.
- The game wants you to siege properly, setting up camp, etc, but you're then locked to a 30 min timer with no way to increase it.

You'd expect from what is essentially a copy/paste game like total war, to have at least good stability and functionalities that enhance immersion. especially from a game that has been in development since 2013.

I don't dislike the game, and it most certainly has potential, I just dont get why its never aimed to be completed in full rather than having 5-6 different game releases. And why some simple things like 'banner overhead' and colors are not base game implemented before release.

Manor Lords is a great game, been waiting on it for a long time. Even on aggressive AI stance its still pretty peaceful. The building is great, economy is ehhh, questionable, but alright. I do love the multiple region trading system.

In this game you need several regions if you want your kingdom to expand and thrive.
1. Main Land (This is where A LOT of trade is booming, from producing armor/weaponry to brewing ale or tools, clothes, etc.)
2. Farm dedicated (This is where a lot of food is produced which you're going to be lacking in your main town)
3. Iron and/or Clay lands (Rich veins are VERY important. I trade with my 1. region to get iron.)

Remember, trading raw resources is always better cause you'll receive a bigger yield.

No AI !!!
I get this is in EA but I really expected for an opponent town... there IS AI but they are an off-map presence, they will send units to the map to claim a region, however when they get the region, nothing is done with it at all. I looked forward to attacking other towns.

No Protection
You build your town but the lack of defenses is worrying, you can put walls around your manor (I even tried walling my entire town but it seems to be buggy as hell). Really hope there'll be castles and walled towns/cities in the future

Limited Units
very sad. Every region brings along a retinue (after you build a manor). It costs quite some gold to fully arm this retinue. This gives you 3 units. Additionally you can recruit 4 units. You can then also hire 4 more mercenary units.

In total with 4 regions I have would come down to 12 units. But just take the scenario where you have 1 region and little money. AI will destroy you when playing on aggressive mode (if you want to fight I highly recommend this option cause AI doesn't attack on any other mode)

Overall, good game, still needs lots of work but definetly potential.