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The thing about this game is, that it's given me something a lot of games no longer manage to do: continued immersion. It pulls me in, makes me forget my surroundings and makes time fly by. And at the end, I feel relaxed, happy & fulfilled. There is no frustration, just pure bliss. The game manages to give me the emotions that got me into gaming 2 decades ago.

Manor Lords is the perfect example that size doesn't matter, it only needs to be good.

The fact that these small teams are able to out perform AAA multi media conglomerates is just *chef's kiss

My expectations for this industry are so low that my first reaction was "thank the gods they didn't completely screw this up." That it's actually _good_ feels like a triumph of the highest order.

That last bit about the Hooded Horse bylaw is actually incredible. Shareholders have become nothing but leeches in todays world. Sucking up all the good out of a company/product and killing it for a short term dollar. We actually need more things like this in place, where are legal goal isn't to drain the life out of people for profit.

Dude prepared a button that said "become millionaire" for 7 years, imagine the relief by the end of the launch day when he did indeed become suddenly a millionaire.

Manor Lords is fantastic. Does it have bugs, yes. Does it have jank, yes. Is it incomplete, yes. Can it be frustrating when the Sawmill just stops making Planks which in turn blocks you from progressing, also yes. And with all of that I'm completely addicted to this game.

I am a tester for Nebulous fleet command another game published by hooded horse and I can confirm they take a very hands off approach. The lead dev Mazer has done something very similar to greg having a couple other people do work on the 3d models, sfx and other things while he focuses on the core game design and balance, in fact hooded horse has taken on a UI designer that they are lending out to their developers saving them that expense. I have seen the conquest game mode be born day by day feature by feature with no impression of any external pressures.

Hooded Horse really deserves the praise. We need those shining examples to set a new course for the future of gaming industry, exploitation has gone long enough.

a historian told me that the look of the buildings is very accurate for 14th century franconia. the economy isn't, obviously. most of the people back then were self-sufficient, they would go find their own firewood, make their own clothes, gather their own berries. Markets only took place once or twice a year in towns, not villages. But that would have made for a very dull game.

I like Manor Lords, I think it has a lot of potential and I'm ok with it's progress so far with it being early access. Right now after 10 hours, don't know what else to do really, can't progress further and that's ok. I've had fun with it and will wait until it's developed more to jump back into it.

Hooded Horse is definitely one of the few good guys in publishing. There's an interview with the founder on KZfaq that I recommend listening to. They take good care of the devs and they deserve every success.

this just shows that a game doesn't have to be a hyperactive multiplayer tryhard fest to succeed. And it makes me happpy as a singleplayer slow paced game enjoyer😊

I think more cred should be given to Hooded Horse as the other titles that have chosen to work with them have also been given creative freedom. It's so rare these days and it is proving itself time and time again. Software development happens best by humans who are comfortable, not stressed out.

most cozy and atmospheric game i ever played. so chill

I have noticed over the past year or so that gaming news (to which I'm a hard casual gamer) has become something I'm drawn to more and more. I am so glad that I stumbled upon this channel early on cause not only is the depth about the topics apparent, but explaining backround and build up to the subjects have helped give the full picture. Just very appreciative for the reporting. Thank you!

Imagine being a “Triple AAA” suit seeing percentage gains like this from a team of 1 that had a little help here and there 😂. And they will NEVER understand why lololol

Ok, I never thought I'd actually love a publisher but Hooded Horse sounds awesome.

"Vanished in 2014 which was A DECADE AGO!" why do hurt me so...

I am so glad of the way they handled the details in the game. Sure, some mechanics/research tree options are not available but it's mostly about balancing I think. Thanks for covering such a great game :)

Hooded Horse > Paradox Interactive.

MVP vs MPP vs MOP Min. Viable: "what's the most complete product we can reach in the shortest time?" Min. Possible: "how can we make this as bare-bones as we can feasibly get away with?" Min. Optimal: "what's the BEST version we can make without getting sucked into iteration hell?"

Always exciting when indie devs shows everyone how to make good games.

i put 20 hours in already and all i can say is the game has an amazing foundation and vision. Give it a few years and hopefully some content rich updates and it will be the absolute best medieval city builder to date.

A great win win for the developer and publisher. I like Hooded Horse. I also like Manor Lords. However I knew this game would do well and put my money towards another early access from Hooded Horse, Terra Invicta. This game needs more work on it as any early access game does, but it's another passion project and very much in-keeping with how Hooded Horse does business, it is steadily becoming a polished game which will get many repeat plays due to the effort of the developer. It's just a shame that there are not many Hooded Horse style publishers, rather more like 2K which will drop a secondary launch window on a pre bought game in order to data mine players. They are very different fish in the same pond.

Hooded horse has realized that finding devs that care is what success really is. Ive been a fan of WRSR for 3 years now and HH just wants their people to be happy and know the money will follow

Banished is a decade old?! 🤯

Its takes place in a time and setting of another favorite game of mine Kingdom Come Deliverance (another superbly detailed but focused game with narrow scope.) KZfaq constantly pushed a let's player who was always playing a pre release copy -but skylines 2 soured me on any hype for anything not released. I purposely ignored it until your 'its not total war' video. Dev has a level head. Publishers recent moves have been impressive too.

Installed it a few days ago and I'm frankly SHOCKED how good it runs on my potato of a rig. 16GB Ram, 1060TI - and I can easily play it. Sure, no RT and only 1080p, but it still runs, looks good and plays smoothly - a far cry from some of the games back in the '90s which played at 2 FPS if you didn't have the hottest processor or graphics card. :)

This game is like Caesar 3 but in 2024 - bigger and harder. And I did adore Caesar 3. My husbans plays this game since it appeared in Steam. And now I've got my copy. It's time to return to childhood and play a good RTS :)

I've played every Banished clone And this is a massive jump in the genre Great job by the creator, they clearly love the genre and want to improve it

Let's hope Greg and Hooded Horse keep the good vibes going and others learn from the success.

I think the critical differences between a buggy EA Manor Lords and a buggy EA triple-A title is presentation and gameplay cohesion. By "presentation", I'm talking about marketing and developer transparency. The Manor Lords dev has been upfront and honest about what the game is, what it isn't, and what to expect. In my option, he's actually been humble about what he's been able to achieve. Most triple-A POS releases are the opposite: they promise a complete experience, they promise revolutionary new gameplay and mechanics, they go way over-the-top only to under-deliver. Then they blame *us*, the players, for not shelling out for an unfinished, useless excuse of a game. By "cohesion", I'm talking about how well different aspects of the game work together to build a cohesive, possibly immersive, experience. Every piece of Manor Lords development serves the purpose of adding depth to a medieval European city builder, whereas a lot of the triple-A garbage being peddled these days feel like Cronenberg-esque amalgamation of several different genres and themes. There are clear pieces which were shoe-horned into place that detract from the collective experience, and others which would have helped if they hadn't been so clearly abandoned by the dev team. I think this is why, in addition to being shameless cash-grabs, microtransactions feel so _bad_ in games. In what experience, save for the most tedious portions of real life, are you stopped in the middle of what you're doing and asked to pay money for something? At what point during anything has there been an option for you to pay more money in order to "enhance" your experience? Forcing you to consider the option of paying real money, with real-life implications is like pulling the ripcord on the immersion and throwing you, aggressively, back into reality, shattering the entire experience. Could you imagine if book companies started printing ads in the *middle* of books? How terrible would that reading experience be? This is also likely why watching anything on cable (or on any steaming service with ads) varies from being "kinda lame" to "completely infuriating": it breaks your immersion, un-suspends your disbelief, and thrusts you, rudely, back into your mortal, corporeal form all for the purpose of... asking you to buy some detergent, or a lootbox, or some in-game currency. I think this all culminates in delivering different fundamental experiences. Games like Manor Lords make you *feel* like a Manor Lords, like these people are under your protection and their prosperity is your prosperity. While games with microtransactions and game passes ultimately deliver the experience that nobody but corporate wants: you get the experience of giving them money, poorly disguised as a unique interactive experience, with some gameplay elements sprinkled, randomly, on top.

As far as I could tell, Hooded Horse has been a class act. When the makers of Workers and Resources got themselves into trouble because their business acumen was not strong (their game developing skills are outstanding) Hooded Horse came in and seems to have put that company in strong standing to have a great launch. As a big fan of Old World, again, I see Hooded Horse as being helpful to the developers and not rushing to get a profit at gamers' expenses.

I appreciate how the bird sounds change with the seasons. In the spring/summer there are red-winged blackbirds and indigo buntings. In the winter it’s woodpeckers and crows.

I can’t believe that this early access has given me more immersion than any other game in a long time. It allows me to switch off, to immerse myself in the life of a middle age village. It allows me to map out my road and buildings the way I want it, to shape things I want them but in a more organic way. The flexible plot building is something I have been dreaming about for a long time. I thought CO will do something like that for CS2 but it seems like an indie, one team developer can innovate more than a tripleA studio. Manor Lords is still in early access but it already given me more game time and content than those so called “completed” games and for half the price I might add. I can’t wait to see where this game is going and I’m so happy to support this project, you can clearly see there is so much passion and dedication in this.

wow totally missed that this is a single dev that is insane massive props to that guy

NOOOO BELLULAR WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME. BANISHED CAN'T BE A DECADE OLD NOOOOOO

Enjoying this game quite a bit. Needs more for sure, but a great start and i hope he keeps up the work.

One thing that the dev/published has really done well for the game is gave the game out to influencers, a release copy and allowed to stream / show it off. Which really helped to show just how polished the game is.

I came for manor lords. I stayed for the mods.

The dev was honest.

i honestly feel the main reasons for the succes of this game are (a) there is a market gap for a settler 3 style experience that focuses on modeling your supply chains and you basically "chicken watching" (b) it looks great and is a chill time and (c) the game doesnt bullshit you. I think its mainly the first bit. I don't think its because people are unhappy with their total war games and map painters but more so that there hasnt been a real supply line focused 'watcher' game in ages. To me this game feels very Anno 1800 and that is a great game too. This is for me Anno 1800 on a much smaller scale, without the systems spam and with a bit more interesting combat. One parallel you can draw is in Anno 1800 you can build a zoo with dozens of animals to collec and almost every animal is modelled and you can watch it. This type of joy you really cant get from a lot of games. (theres a bunch of other system level parallels like teching being tied to pop tier upgrades).

When I saw the trailers before I shrugged and said "really want more of a city builder, not an RTS" your last video on it is why I ended up buying it (though I haven't had time to do anything besides get it downloaded yet). I spent waaaaaay to many hours in Banished back in the day. So I'm looking forward to spending some time on this.

Great shout out to Farthest frontier, that's another fantastic village builder. My favourite so far. Hold on, the guy who made this video is also a game developer? I thought at some point he alluded to that. Is there a link or something to his game?

Games journalists were complaining that with all the layoffs at AAA studio's there would be a shortage of "quality titles" int he future, but clearly they never play indie titles or games from mid sized and small publishers. All the big hist this year have been from them and not the AAA studios.

of course it is polish experience when dev is from Poland :D

It is challenging throughout, and the challenges differ and vary. It gets so much fun once you get built up as well.

This game has so much potential. Just imagine castle building and town fortification and so much more in the end product.

The city building in this game reminds me so much of Lionhead's Black and White games. I'm addicted, like being a kid again. Excited to see the dev add more.

Was playing for free on PC Game Pass but as planned bought it on Steam today. Proud to support this developer. When something dies it fertilizes the ground for the next thing. Thank you Paradox and Cities Skylines 2.

I just finally achieved a happy metropolis achievement. After my first 5 failed attempts, 3 days playing. I finally got the hang of things and had an amazing start. Got my starting city absolutely thriving. Now with over 200 houses and more than 100 of them being level 3. and like you said, it vampired my time so well. 😁 I started playing at about 10:00 O'clock am yesterday and next thing I know it was 6:00 pm. This game is so fun and satisfying, and definitely takes a bit to fully understand as it is very in-depth. But certainly worth the time.

I've been playing manor lords on game pass, it is rated highly on game pass and I have been LOVING it as well. Probably over 30 hours already.

Anyone involved I’ve the making of this game should feel incredibly proud. I think they have now just set the bar for ‘city building/rts’ genre.

It's a fantastic unfinished product and it will suffer similar to how other single developer titles suffer, the masses will all scream they want something different and change will come slow, people will stop playing and forget this gem. I recommend everyone who likes city builders get this game, but I also recommend waiting a year or two so the experience you get when you do play is a bit more fleshed out.

I've played Manor Lords for 20 hour so far and all of it has been in normal time. I've been enjoying the ambiance and looks and feel of the whole thing. Yes, the game still needs a bit of work in places, but I have enjoyed every minute of it, just watching the world go by, the sunrises and sunsets and the weather, it is very relaxing and it will only get better. Very well done to Greg and Hooded Horse for releasing games properly.

Dude sounds like a born leader and entrepreneur. Knows how and when to delegate, but ultimately retains control of the vision which focuses everyone. Look forward to games he develops in the future.

The game is so good that I'm clued to my screen as when I was 12 or so playing Age of Empires for way too long. My eyes are bloodshot and I've barely slept for the past 4days and I would love to play more and make diff layouts and managed to hit over 1k city yesterdayday night jeez. It really draws you in it's insane, such good work

1 dev, wiping the floor with trip A companies.

Hooded horse is amazing. In this day and age who would have thought we would praise a publisher.

This game is actually crazy. I don't like RTS or city builders. Games that require a lot of management but really is a lot of staring at the screen and watching things happen. But it was on Game Pass so I was like, you know what? Let's give it a look. The XBOX app says I have 15 hours in it. I don't know where the time went, and I'm absolutely shocked that a game this polished is being developed by one guy. There are AAA game studios that can't make an interface this polished, gameplay this interesting, and all running this smoothly. Can you imagine pouring 7 years of time into a project as a solo developer, and then shifting a MILLION copies still in early access? Mind. Blown. The game has a warning about bugs on startup, but besides some sort of odd behaviour when trying to place down burgages it has so far run flawlessly.

Incredible game so far with immense potential. Love the Dev and how he has approached all of this. He has earned my trust with that and until something happens to change that I will support the game. The next 6 months will be interesting to see. The hate I have seen in forums has been a bit over the top given the state of aaa gaming... Guess nothing should surprise anymore...

The safeguard against shareholders is brilliant, and what most companies should adopt. Shareholders are just there to churn stocks, they want to sell when high not build a long-term sustainable business.

For not being historically accurate, there are a lot of fine details that are accurate. Like, the tavern has benches _outside_ the building - that _is_ historically accurate. It costs too much money, resources, and time to build a whole structure to build a roof large enough for every customer. Anyone who's played/watched a historic or fantasy game/show always sees taverns as sports bars without the TV's all over the walls. The part that isn't is historically accurate: Usually the brewery and the alehouse were one and the same. It was someone's home and they both made and sold the alcohol on site. Taverns sold wines.

to think this was made by one person when you have companies with hundreds of people that cant even get close to it its mind blowing, grats to the dev Greg, passion project indeed

As a Workers and Resources player, I am happy to see all these positive things about Hooded Horse. I was initially sceptical when they came into the picture a while back. I sincerely hope they can help bring the game to a wider audience - it's more than worthy of it.

I am enjoying it and looking forward to more patches. A little bored by mid game but more to come early. I just love how the Dev said out loud its not what people expect. He outlined what the game is exactly and what to expect and if you dont like it thats ok. Massive respect and makes me want to support it.

I’ve played another game by hooded horse, Soviet republics workers and resources. It has similarities in game play and video. I like both. They seem to have a good take on creating games with creators. Not just cut and paste with different graphics.

I'm quite surprised that this game is only a single dev. But people will have to be patient in any update. Hope he will handle well is sudden success.

Hooded Horse is shaping up to be a great publisher: Workers & Resources, Against the Storm, Xenonauts 2.

Honestly it's the first early access game I've experienced where stuff is clearly unfinished but somehow stills feel complete.

One of the first pc games I ever played was age of empires. After that it’s been fps and the like I forgot how good these kind of games are. Manor lords brings me so much nostalgia, I’m hooked!

There are quite a bunch of people that have worked on Manorlords, that "1 Dev" thing is missleading at best. You clear that missunderstanding up halfway through, but still lead with it into the video. Doesn't take away from it being a great game though.

This game is so nice already, can't wait for the updates!

Against the Storm and Manor Lords are all you need for joyous city building

As a developer and gamer myself, Hooded Horse is one of the publisher i think have the balance between devs and players that EVERYONE wants to achieve. I hope they grow larger to get a better industry and better games.

spent hours alr and it just hits diff. feels like playing ONI, DST and Rimworld once again

Manor Lords... A good lil' game. With very similar production/manpower mechanics to the game 'Banished' it does go further with immersion, graphic and sound design as well as nice, chilled music. I have played it over the weekend and it is a pleasure to play and it does have good potential. Now I am off to finish my wheat fields and bakery to get bread ready for the peasants to eat through the winter. ;-)

Im so happy that the launch was a success. I wish Greg the best.

I find this game to be stunning. It is relaxing, challenging but recoverable, and has room for growth. Wow, this is a history maker, a marker in the gaming industry.

Another really good Indi city builder/ resource management game I highly recommend is Captain of Industry.

It's a good and fun game, my village ran out of food before the first winter but trial and error, been a minute since I've played a city builder

Kinda surprised it's been so popular it'll be interesting to see it a few months' time, but I really like it I kinda prefer this to a lot of other game types.

Dam banished is what got me wanting Manor lords, I loved that game and sunk a lot of hours into it.

Things I'm hoping for: Larger armies, more creative story, a historical mode, and slow motion.

Its a funny game, and more challenging than I expected. I keep playing, getting a bit frustrated and stopping, then returning to it again.

It reminds me of a good old days when i was immersed in anno searies.... and this game is gorgeous to look at

Wow, Hooded Horse sounds like a publisher we all gamers should support fully. Especially with that by-law.

6:00 is that feature of equipping militia currently in game and I'm just missing it?

The game is a game for the people A passion and a hard work and hail for the dev for this gem of a game

the dev must be feeling really good right now , and much deserved the game is good .

I have a game pass, but I still got it on Steam as it really looks like a good game even if it's not completely finished, after many videos watching and playing myself one of best "releases" in quite a few years :)

I’m buying my copy of this game this upcoming weekend. I’m excited for this.

Palworld, Helldivers 2, Manor Lords.....looks like AA games are dominating so far. WE NEED MORE OF THEM!!!!!

CO with Cities Skylines II has no excuse and is embarrassing for their manpower and financial recourses when you see what 1 man did with this game...

I've made myself a proud village, but I'm still struggling. Most fun I've had with a game in ages. Honestly, I've probably spent as much time in just the coat-of-arms creator than the rest of the game. It's just so fun. Do wish there was some more functionality with it (adjusting the location of the symbols slightly for example, or adding multiple, or some missing formats), because I want to make some specific flags - the very medieval-y flag of my province and of my family's clan - but it's still so good regardless.

It hits the same spot as rimworld for me, you can sit down to play for a bit and then realize its been 5 hours because theres always that one more thing you want to do really quick. Its also very satisfying to set up road systems with trade and have crop rotations going. Almost everything in game is super intuitive too, its easy to figure stuff out for the most part and I rarely had to look up how to do something in the 20 or so hours ive put into the game already.

This game is truly magical. There is something about it that is just so satisfying. Cant stop playing.

Manor lords is a great combo of all the beloved RTS games