Today, Hooded Horse and Slavic Magic introduced another major update to their hit medieval strategy simulator, Manor Lords.
Manor Lords update 7 marks one of the game’s biggest technical overhauls to date, bringing major upgrades to pathfinding, AI, performance, and quality-of-life systems.
The update’s main feature is a complete overhaul of the pathfinding system, reducing the time units spend searching for routes. A new island detection system now blocks impossible paths between isolated areas, such as castles or riverbanks without bridges. Group pathfinding and character movement have been refined to ensure more consistent behavior across all game speeds, and squad controls have also been redesigned significantly.
Short right-click move commands now automatically select formations based on terrain, with units forming wide lines in open fields, marching in three columns on roads, and spreading out in built-up areas. Players can hold the Alt key to use previous squad spacing when issuing movement orders.
Manor Lords update 7 also adds full gamepad support and refreshes the presentation with a redesigned Game Setup screen, updated loading screens, smoother interface animations, and expanded tooltips.
Several gameplay systems have been rebalanced, including the change that level 1 families no longer consume ale, and the reduction of ale production from two units to one. Farmhouse threshing priorities now also require fewer workers by default, and raiders now fill their inventories before retreating, typically after stealing about half of a settlement’s available loot or burning about 40 percent of it.
Villager behavior has been expanded, as unemployed family members now assist with chores, workers make better use of handcarts, and improved task queuing reduces congestion at workplaces and storage buildings. The patch even introduces a range of visual improvements, including enhanced environmental details, updated market assets, refined construction models, and improved animations.
Manor Lords update 7 also fixes hundreds of bugs across production, logistics, military behavior, trading, pathfinding, save files, user interface, and visuals. These fixes address long-standing issues such as stuck workers, broken AI, construction problems, and save/load inconsistencies.
Performance optimization was another major focus. Improvements include faster AI calculations, lower memory usage, reduced interface stuttering, and more efficient animation and harvest calculations. Due to increased simulation precision, the game’s maximum speed is now capped at 8x.
For other quality-of-life improvements, such as UI and text spacing and positioning, you can check out the official patch notes. Manor Lords has been a considerable success since its launch in 2024, crossing a couple of impressive thresholds: a million copies sold just 48 hours after its early access release, and a second million just three weeks later.
Momentum has continued to build since then, with the medieval city-builder crossing the 3 million-sold mark back in February 2025. The strategy title is currently available in early access for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store for $39.99.
