It's a good bit of fun, and it looks great. Sadly, I can only play it on my laptop - because I'm not at home - and due to that I have to have the graphics down to the lowest, to help with the performance of the game.
Since the graphic settings are turned down on mine, my screenshots wouldn't exactly do the game justice.
The Graphics
The game does look very good, and you're able to zoom right in, to see you people, and buildings in great detail.
When I'm back home, I'm looking forward to booting the game up on my pc so I can have a proper go of it, and really see it in full detail.
I did turn it up to full quality for a minute just so I could look at the game, my laptop just wouldn't be able to handle it for too long, so I had to turn it back down.
Combat
The combat mechanics and gameplay element is one of the major differences between this and the likes of Banished, or other city builder games of that nature.
With the addition of political intrigue and negotiations with other kingdoms, and the wars that may come from that, this game seems to be carving out its own place among many other RTS games out there.
While those elements exist, I do see the major emphasis being on the city building, which is great, because I love these types of games. It is nice, however, having the extra elements included, which should keep me on my toes while building myself up.
My Experience
So far I haven't had any issues with the game, but considering it's a game preview/ early access, there were warnings prior to booting it up, saying to expect crashes, bugs, and glitches.
I haven't heard anything bad about the game so far, and the review copies had been circulating for a few days leading up to the launch. Gameplay videos of this was something I avoided, as I wanted to experience it for myself.
With these types of games I like to learn as I go, and pick things up along the way, rather than going into them knowing exactly what to do. After getting some basic/ intermediate knowledge, and experience, I tend to go in search of hint and tip videos.
After that, when I have gotten far into the game and enter late-ish game, that's when I'd look for some reviews and things like that, to see if anyone else's opinion of the game itself is the same as my own.
Usually I pick up things easy enough, however, the way I do things worked against me with Kenshi, because I got my ass handed to me in my first two playthroughs, which caused me to the rage quiet. After a few minutes of being annoyed though, I scuttled to YouTube for some help with that game, and got it... or at least enough for me to get started.
What It's Similar To
I find it really close to Banished, gameplay wise.
For example, you need to have villagers idle, so they can construct other buildings. The difference though, would be that you don't highlight resources to gather for idle villagers to go and harvest, like you do in Banished.
Instead, you create logging camps, and places like that, assign people to work those jobs, and in turn they'll gather the resources needed to expand your town. As you expand, and build more, you need a larger amount of resources, and a larger variety of materials.
It's a solid game, and it's great seeing indie games like this garner a good amount of attention from the wider gamer community. I've been anticipating this for a few years now, as have many people, and recently enough, many started to learn of Manor Lords, and get excited for its release.
I read a comment somewhere, that said, "Good work Manor Lords, in only a few hours of launch you crashed the Steam servers." After looking it up, sure enough, it seems to be true.
Price
The game costs about 40 Euros, and I had the money ready for Slavic Magic (the creators) but, luckily for me, I saw that it came out for free on Gamepass Ultimate.
Being an Xbox player, I have this, and have the app on both my PC and Laptop, so yet again, Gamepass has saved me some money and earned my subscription once again.
I've played Warhammer 3, Crusader Kings 2, and now Manor Lords, upon release for the PC alone. Not to mention the countless games I play on the Xbox due to it.
It's so handy, and I'm glad I'm able to get on and have a go of it without forking over any money upfront.