Manor Lords' dev is experimenting with a brand new buying and selling system that enables for 'deliberate financial methods', together with establishing monopolies on assets
Medieval city-builder Manor Lords had a quiet 2025, as its developer adjusted to the sport’s huge success following its launch into Steam early entry in 2024. Issues picked up velocity towards the tip of the yr, nevertheless, with a main patch arriving in December that launched a rework to core techniques and an overhaul to fort building.
It appears Slavic Magic and writer Hooded Horse are eager to keep up that momentum in 2026. In a Steam replace, Hooded Horse’s CEO Tim Bender offered an in depth rundown of what is coming to the administration sim this yr.
Probably the most quick deliberate change is a brand new improve degree for the Burgage Plot—Manor Lords’ primary homestead that may be expanded and tailor-made to quite a lot of makes use of. Burgage plots at the moment have three improve ranges, however Slavic Magic is including a brand new degree, which exists between 2 and three. “Its aim is to extra easily bridge the hole between early and late-game housing”, Bender explains.
In response to Bender, this new system ties commerce routes to particular areas, with mentioned location utilizing them to import and export particular gadgets. “Whereas a great like iron could seem on a number of routes, some cities will supply higher costs than others, ensuring routes extra fascinating…and extra contested”, Bender explains.
Every of those commerce routes can help as much as three retailers utilizing it, whereas partaking in commerce alongside any route requires you to rent no less than one in every of them. If all retailers for a route are employed, lords can try a buyout of that service provider, rising the rent charge and triggering a cooldown earlier than they are often purchased out once more. “This turns worthwhile routes into contested financial territory fairly than assured revenue”, Bender says.
This, Bender reckons, permits gamers to use particular financial methods. “You would, for instance, try to monopolise Iron Slabs by hiring all Retailers on routes that export them. This is able to be costly, however may depart a rival Lord with out entry to Iron, forcing them to adapt by paying inflated costs, increasing into an Iron-rich area, or negotiating with you immediately.” It would even end in “diplomatic offers the place a rival trades extra weapons or different items in trade for Iron Slabs, successfully paying you as a intermediary.”
Bender is clearly jazzed by the idea. However each Hooded Horse and Slavic Magic are eager to know what present Manor Lords gamers take into consideration this potential route for the sport’s economics, requesting that they depart feedback on the publish. “We’re serious about how this type of aggressive commerce feels to you, what considerations it raises, and whether or not it provides significant strategic option to the sport.”
Hooded Horse has had rather a lot occurring on this first week of the yr. On Monday, it launched the 1.0 model of Terra Invicta, the massively bold sci-fi grand technique from the creators of X-COM The Lengthy Struggle, which is sitting fairly with a ‘Very Optimistic’ Steam score. Then on Thursday, Bender revealed simply how a lot he hates generative AI, explaining that “It is written into our contracts if we’re publishing the sport: ‘no fucking AI belongings.’