Manor Lords, a city builder from a lone developer, is now the number 2 wished-for game on Steam

We all love an underdog story (don't we?), so how about this one: an indie developer that's actually a lone programmer whose game is almost at the top of Steam's most-wanted rankings.

Manor Lords is in second place on Steam's wishlist rankings, which is a more than remarkable achievement against truly heavyweight competition as you might imagine.

The game from developer Slavic Magic (otherwise known as Greg Styczeń) is a city builder with a medieval theme and an in-depth economic and social engine, with large tactical battles thrown in to spice up the pot.

As PC Gamer reports, two million people have put Manor Lords on their Steam wishlist, meaning it's only behind one game currently: Hades II is in pole position. (And Manor Lords is ahead of the likes of Hollow Knight: Silksong, Frostpunk 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and more big names).

Styczeń hoped to get on around 14,000 wishlists when the game was first listed on Steam, so to say that this target has been blown away is rather an understatement. It has been exceeded by over 140x, in fact.

So, why all the fuss? Well, this is a reflection of the overall popularity of city builders with PC gamers these days, plus Manor Lords has a trailer (see the video below) which makes it look pretty enticing - both the city building looks slick, and the combat looks nifty too.

The details in the demo

A demo was released back in 2022, as well, which impressed, and revealed some clever attention to detail which helps to differentiate the game from the masses. For example, when houses are built, you see the construction process in some detail, and a finished home varies a little so not every dwelling is a cookie cutter graphic identical to all the others.

We're intrigued about this one, for sure, but the scale of the game does leave some room for doubt about how the lone wolf developer is going to handle it all. We'll find out in April 2024, when Manor Lords is slated for release on Steam (in early access).

Mind you, we can't be sure that timeframe will be hit, as the game has already suffered delays (not too surprisingly given the circumstances for the dev). It was originally planned for a 2023 launch, but was pushed back to this year (and was delayed previous to that, too).

With it being early access, of course, that does allow for Manor Lords to be a little rough round the edges still, but if it's too unpolished, that's going to be a risk - particularly for a title which has built up so much anticipation. This is the game some people are most looking forward to in 2024, after all. Fingers firmly crossed it comes good.