Xbox Game Pass Owners Should Be Excited For April 26, With One Big Caveat

Summary Manor Lords releases as an Xbox Game Pass day one release, with one huge caveat.

Slavic Magic is the developer of the game and a one-person studio.

There are a few reasons that players could be slightly hesitant to go all in on Manor Lords upon its initial release.

Xbox Game Pass is getting yet another exciting day-one addition on April 26, but despite how incredible this game looks like it could be, there's also some cause for caution. Getting to play new games as soon as they release without a purchase is one of the biggest draws of Xbox Game Pass, which opens up a large library of games for a subscription fee. The service is available on both Xbox systems and PC, and it often makes it possible to play games on either platform.

The April 2024 slate for Xbox Game Pass has its fair share of highlights, some of which are arriving in rapid succession. April 23 and 25 mark the releases of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes and Another Crab's Treasure, respectively a Suikoden-styled JRPG and a unique take on soulslike gameplay. April 23 is also the date for several games that aren't as new but may be equally exciting — Deep Rock Galactic, Superhot: Mind Control Delete, and Wreckfest.

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Manor Lords Is An Exciting But Limited Xbox Game Pass Addition

The Promising City-Builder Isn't Coming To Console Yet

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As announced on Xbox Wire, April 26 will see the Xbox Game Pass release of Manor Lords, a medieval city-builder and management game that throws Total War-style tactical battles into the mix. It's an ambitious and exciting prospect. There's one big catch, however — although Manor Lords is confirmed for a release on Xbox consoles, its day-one arrival on Xbox Game Pass will be exclusive to PC.

Manor Lords is following an early access model, and for the time being, that early access version can only be found on PC. The game should presumably become available through Xbox Game Pass on console whenever it's officially ported, but the wait for that to happen could still take a while, meaning that only a fraction of Xbox Game Pass users can take advantage of the exciting April launch of Manor Lords.

Related Does Manor Lords Have Multiplayer Or Co-op Features? Manor Lords marries medieval city-building with tactical battles, and the idea of potentially going to war with or against friends seems fun.

Having to wait for a later release might not be a bad thing, as there's always a chance that the early access version of Manor Lords will launch with serious bugs and a generally compromised experience. Even if it does come out of the gate running, it should be even better in a year's time, especially considering how much community feedback could contribute to a game that needs to balance multiple complex pillars of gameplay.

Manor Lords Is Being Made By A Solo Developer

Handling The Xbox Port Could Be Difficult

There's one other major note to make about Manor Lords — it's being made by a single person who's releasing the title under the name of Slavic Magic. It's a project many years in the making, and it's already obvious that it's an incredible accomplishment for a solo developer. That doesn't mean that its continued development won't still be an uphill battle, however, especially when it comes to bringing the title from PC to Xbox.

Porting a game across systems can be heavy work, and putting that all in the hands of one person could result in a lot of roadblocks to a good Xbox version of Manor Lords. It's likely that Slavic Magic will end up enlisting outside help for the process, something that Stardew Valley's solo developer ConcernedApe has done with ports. This is probably the best approach for making an Xbox release viable, but an inexperienced contracted team could encounter plenty of struggles of its own.

Related Manor Lords Release Date, Trailer, & Gameplay Details The strategic city builder/real-time tactical game Manor Lords is coming soon. Here’s everything to know about the medieval town sim ahead of launch.

It's also going to be interesting to see how it feels to play Manor Lords on Xbox, as city-builders and strategy games alike tend to be most comfortably at home on the PC. Micro-managing systems with a controller is usually cumbersome compared to a mouse and keyboard, and clever UI overhauls are sometimes necessary to make it even manageable. Having more options to play Manor Lords is definitely a good thing, but the experiences might not ultimately be equal.

It's too early to know exactly how well the continued development of Manor Lords is going to go, but there's definitely reason to be excited for now. Manor Lords has the potential to be one of the best 2024 additions to Xbox Game Pass, it just may end up being a 2025 game for a lot of subscribers.

Source: Xbox Wire