Lords and Villeins

Lords and Villeins

Released Nov 2022

Build a prosperous settlement in a unique simulation of a feudal economy - each family runs their shop, owns their goods, and trades with other villagers in a free market. You will manage the land, build houses, organise events, set taxes, and balance supply and demand while engaging in diplomacy!

70% positive · 975 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence

Where to buy

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Evaluation

Lords and Villeins launched out of Early Access on November 10, 2022 and has since received one paid DLC — The Great Houses — which shipped on June 25, 2024. Following that DLC's release, the developer (a solo developer operating under Honestly Games) posted a frank update on July 31, 2024 explaining that the team would be shifting focus away from new content toward stabilizing the game technically, including a substantial AI system rework. No new content was announced or teased. The most recent developer communication was a bug-fix patch on September 23, 2024, and the most recent store activity was a sale announcement on January 2, 2026 — neither indicates new content is coming. Both DLC entries in the store are marked as released, with no unreleased items listed. The developer's July 2024 post explicitly stated that, for "the near future," the focus would be on fixing bugs and reworking performance rather than releasing new content, and no follow-up post has announced a resumption of content development. Given that the last substantive patch was September 23, 2024, and no content has been announced since then, the game appears to have reached its content endpoint with The Great Houses DLC.
Evidence
Developer explicitly states that for the near future, focus will shift away from new content to fixing bugs and reworking the AI system. Notes the game has been a solo-dev project since the 1.0 release in November 2022.
news post · Jul 31, 2024 source development ending
high
The Great Houses DLC launched, described as a major expansion adding a world map, diplomacy, military, and dynasty mechanics. Developer notes this follows a year of free post-release updates since the 2022 launch.
news post · Jun 25, 2024 source content shipped
high

Content

2 of 2 released · no outstanding content

Media

Details

Developer
Publisher
Fulqrum Publishing
Achievements
50
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Playable
Players
Single-player

About this game

Experience a highly complex simulation of markets within a sophisticated feudal city-builder. The royals entrusted you to settle and govern a new land, and it is your duty to exploit its riches for the benefit of the realm, your own wealth, and if you feel generous, the villagers alike! In order to do this, you will zone out plots, build houses, determine taxation policies, set priorities, and grow the supply chain alongside your population.

Families are the centrepiece of Lords and Villeins. Their profession dictates their occupation in the economy and the kind of businesses they can run. Once you assign them a plot of land and build their house, they will do so almost completely autonomously, all the while managing their stock, setting aside produce to pay taxes, and trading with other families and caravans for supplies and to maximise their profit.

Your role is to direct and regulate the economy. Balance the supply and demand, secure critical resources, and maintain stable growth. Lords and Villeins offers you a sandbox with an in-depth simulation and a great variety of strategies to manage it! Ranging from a fully communist economy where all produce is taxed and redistributed from your warehouse to a free marketplace with little to no intervention.

Logistics will challenge your management skills. As your settlement grows, you need to keep in mind the travelling distances, storage placements, private markets, and housing while reflecting on the terrain and its natural resources in order to fully optimise the productivity of each villager.

Highly customizable gameplay lets you craft the exact kind of game that fits your taste! Between a great variety of game modules and difficulty sliders, you can tweak the experience and focus on the elements of the game that you enjoy the most. While Lords and Villeins is primarily an economically driven game and military conflict plays only a small role, there are tons of options to explore and play with!

  • Unique family-management mechanic where you assign plots of land to autonomous families and manage taxation policies, production priorities and logistics

  • In-depth simulation of personal ownership and a market economy. Villagers manage storefronts to sell surplus goods and purchase food and material from others in a cooperative production chain. Prices of goods fluctuate based on supply and demand, and trading caravans facilitate import and export.

  • Fully simulated procedurally generated environment with a complex AI that can develop relationships, satisfy their needs, daily routines and personal ambitions.

  • Highly customizable difficulty settings, it is completely up to you how complex or laid-back your playthrough will be!

  • Campaign mode with 15 distinct levels that introduce game mechanics and teach players about the game.

  • Noble houses that visit your settlement, request resources and send gifts as you engage in diplomatic relations.

  • Ability to build a sprawling monastery with monks, churches and chapels that host the Sunday Mass, produce unique resources and treat villagers in an outburst of a sickness.

  • Villagers can be recruited as your personal servants or guards that protect villagers from crime.

  • Character designer lets you fully customise and name everyone in your ruling family.

  • 160+ objects at your disposal to build, decorate and improve your settlement.

  • 53 different zones and 40 professions that can be performed by the villagers.

  • 130+ resources to be used in a fully functional production chain.

  • A number of domesticated animals and pets and thriving nature with wildlife.

  • Visually distinct seasons with a soundtrack of seasonal themes.

  • Fully simulated and dynamic world with changing temperature and weather effects.

Lords and Villeins is inspired by medieval history, in its themes and the production processes of goods and material. However, it should not be viewed as a historically accurate simulation of medieval society and its economy as it is straying away from it in many aspects to give players more variety and serve a fun and interesting gameplay.

Last evaluated Jun 22, 2026
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