This game is currently in the Humble Choice for October 2023, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before November 7th, 2023, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.
Become a lord, with the worst vassals possible.
Lords and Villeins has the player acting like a leader who can divide up a kingdom, create houses, parcel out the land, and decide what goes on. You build your city by designing zones, filling them with blueprints, and giving the household the materials to construct those blueprints. There are a lot of levels here, and just the first one took me the entire hour.
However, after that hour, I would have put down the game no matter what. None of the NPCs seems to have a single thought in their head. You have to give them the materials for everything, you can’t just have them pull from the big warehouse, instead, you’re expected to grant or gift them items, potentially selling goods so they can build the blueprints you’ve demanded. I get this might be an attempt to replicate how the lord fiefdom system worked, and why it was bad, but it just is all micromanagement with very little payback. Perhaps later there's a way to automate this, but it really should have been taught in that first mission because without that, the game is quite annoying.
Don’t pick this one up. I know there’s a strong community out there, but there’s a strong community for a lot of games. It reminds me a lot of Amazing Cultivation Simulator or what I’ve heard Rimworld is like, but also done in such a way I get more frustrated than feeling I have agency. Also, a lot of that hour was spent speeding up time because things take entirely too long here.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/rdJm-7HQysM
Become a lord, with the worst vassals possible.
Lords and Villeins has the player acting like a leader who can divide up a kingdom, create houses, parcel out the land, and decide what goes on. You build your city by designing zones, filling them with blueprints, and giving the household the materials to construct those blueprints. There are a lot of levels here, and just the first one took me the entire hour.
However, after that hour, I would have put down the game no matter what. None of the NPCs seems to have a single thought in their head. You have to give them the materials for everything, you can’t just have them pull from the big warehouse, instead, you’re expected to grant or gift them items, potentially selling goods so they can build the blueprints you’ve demanded. I get this might be an attempt to replicate how the lord fiefdom system worked, and why it was bad, but it just is all micromanagement with very little payback. Perhaps later there's a way to automate this, but it really should have been taught in that first mission because without that, the game is quite annoying.
Don’t pick this one up. I know there’s a strong community out there, but there’s a strong community for a lot of games. It reminds me a lot of Amazing Cultivation Simulator or what I’ve heard Rimworld is like, but also done in such a way I get more frustrated than feeling I have agency. Also, a lot of that hour was spent speeding up time because things take entirely too long here.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/rdJm-7HQysM