The building game Manor Lords is still in Early Access, but the intervals between new updates are slowly getting longer. There’s a simple reason for this, though.
Anyone who likes the Middle Ages and building games has at least heard ofManor Lords. After all, no other game in the genre lets you build medieval villages and towns so authentically.
The game is generally popular on Steam, but after two years in Early Access, loyal fans are starting to get impatient—especially because updates are no longer released as frequently as they were shortly after launch. The developer has now explained why this is the case on Twitter.
The Early Access Trap?
Early access games don’t have a spotless reputation. Many of them started out promisingly, but despite initial success, development eventually stalled or was abandoned altogether. Alternatively, games were declared finished far too early—despite bugs and missing content.
With Manor Lords, too, some players fear the building game is heading toward such a fate. On Twitter/X, AdsoofBelk:
Manor lords is fairly fun but from what I can tell it kind of fell into that early access pit where game development progress paradoxically slows down dramatically as soon as the game becomes a hit
— Adso Øvbelk (@AdsoOfBelk) April 27, 2026
Manor Lords is somewhat fun, but it seems to me like it has fallen into that early-access trap where, paradoxically, development slows down dramatically as soon as the game becomes a hit.
To this, theofficial accountof the Manor Lords developer:
Thank you. Development gets harder the closer the game gets to completion. Not only do you have to maintain the existing complexity, but it’s also about ten times harder to make something perfect than it is to just get it working. And now we’re making it ten times harder because there won’t be any more Early Access excuses.
Although Manor Lords hasn’t announced a date for when the building game will leave Early Access, after two years, plans are naturally already in place for a Version 1.0. And what’s ultimately included in that version should be fully developed—not just a prototype—and function perfectly. Accordingly, new features take longer to implement.
In January, however, Manor Lords took a big step forward: With Update 5, players can finally build proper castles. These and other new features put fans in a good mood. We, too, are pleased with the new features in our follow-up review, but we also believe there is still a lot of work to be done!
So, anyone playing Manor Lords will likely have to be patient for a while longer: The release of the full version is still quite a ways off, and major updates take time—now more than ever.
But luckily, there are other great building games out there: Anno 117 is getting its first DLC on April 30 after a delay, and Farthest Frontier has just impressed many building game fans with an update. You can find more about this in the link box above.
