Manor Lords’ next update is now in beta, adding AI towns and lords to the game

Manor Lords developer Greg Styczeń has released the massive 0.8 beta update after nearly eight months of silence since the new maps update, apologizing for the extended development time while introducing sweeping changes to the medieval city-builder’s core systems.

The beta introduces AI-controlled rival lords and AI towns that grow organically, new castle upgrade systems allowing stone fortifications, and four new maps, including Devil’s Hill and Large Lake. Players can now position soldiers on castle walls, climb ladders to access higher floors, and upgrade every castle module to level two. New buildings include the Quarry, Stonemason, and Lime Kiln for stone construction chains.

The update completely overhauls the progression system, replacing what Styczeń admitted was “a weak point” with Development Perks offering more realistic, thematic choices at each settlement stage. The food system now differentiates between vegetable types (cabbages, carrots, beetroots) and meat varieties (mutton, chevon, pork, beef, chicken, small game), with new residential requirements allowing varied resource combinations.

New game modes include Duel (1v1 against AI) and Fractured Realm (four-player free-for-all). The Affinity System ties building efficiency to environmental types like meadows and woodlands, while the Maintenance System requires upkeep for workplaces or risk collapse. A comprehensive Yield System now measures productivity through labor speed, efficiency, and logistics rather than random chance. These are all new ways to think about the city and population management for a truly effective town.

How to access the Manor Lordsa beta

But, this is not a full update fully released. You will need to access the beta to play at the moment. Steam users can access the beta by right-clicking Manor Lords in their library, selecting Properties > Betas, entering the password “veryNiceBasket,” and choosing “pre_release” from the dropdown. Players should back up saves as older versions are incompatible, and remove all mods to avoid crashes.

Styczeń explained that the delay stemmed from expanding the development team, refactoring core systems for AI functionality, and discarding numerous failed perk designs. “I focused on expanding the developer team and tackled way too many issues at once,” he wrote, noting new programmers learning his “giant solo dev spaghetti” codebase created unexpected complications. Going forward, he promises smaller but more frequent updates, starting with bugfixes and the remaining Development Perks, as he had to throw some in the bin as stated in the official post over on Steam. Speaking of which, there are a lot of smaller changes in the game, which you can read up about over there, too.

Oh, the game is also 33% off as part of the Autumn sale, so it’s a great time to get your hands on it on discount and play this pretty major overhaul, despite being in beta.