There will be no plague in Manor Lords despite community requests
The creator and lead developer of Manor Lords has responded to requests to add bubonic plague to the medieval city-building simulator, and, simply put, it won’t happen, which would make virtual residents happy if they were conscious.
Responding to a fan’s request on Twitter, the developer explained that while the idea of adding plague and disease “seemed interesting at first,” he didn’t think they were game mechanics that could fit into Manor Lords. Detailing this, he noted that due to the game’s medieval theme, realistic and interesting disease management would have been quite challenging.
Imagine a zombie city planner. The Last of Us Lords. You could build quarantine zones, control points, research centers, capture zombies to create vaccines, pass laws on the spread of infections, and so on. This is a system of diseases.
The medieval plague, however… It occurs randomly and kills people. Building a bathhouse will not save them. Quarantine zones don’t fit with the medieval theme, and alternatives like crafting herbal medicines have never been an interesting mechanic for players, as it’s mostly monotonous.
He adds that by now, residents of Manor Lords may already be getting sick, which is stopping their work. Although herbs can be used to speed up their recovery, the developer says:
I think most players don’t notice it because it’s not interesting, deep or measurable, or something the player can actively control. Although the level of sanitation may become a mechanic.
The explanation makes sense – it’s hard to imagine players having much fun seeing a plague ravage their cities with no way to stop it while containment methods can disrupt the atmosphere.
Speaking about new features, the developer noted last week that “it would be a good time to go into the dev cave now and do some more interesting experiments and changes to move the game forward and finally add new features.”
Perhaps this means we’ll see expansions to Manor Lords in the future.
There will be no plague in Manor Lords despite community requests
A short discussion could be beneficial cause I investigated that subject many times. It seemed interesting at first (and it's been suggested a lot), and my hot take is: Plague & Disaease are not real game mechanics. Explanation below: https://t.co/kjojKFTfxI
— MANOR LORDS (@LordsManor) June 15, 2024