Rising Lords Review (PC)

The peasants aren’t having the best year. A harsh winter spawned a wolf event after killing half of our sheep and cattle. One of them died driving the pack off but that was a necessary sacrifice that ensured the rest have a future. I had to reduce food to half-rations, which made them unhappy, but this is the only way we can be sure to reach our next harvest.

I could ship some food from another province but that costs money that I really do not want to spend. The funds from taxation are better invested in province development, which will include a bathhouse complex as soon as I have all the resources needed. It will take time to build but it will also keep everyone, including armies I plan to raise, healthy and in good spirits.

So far, the other lords haven’t made trouble. I did suffer some losses, mainly spearmen and peasants when I decided to expand into neutral provinces to extract more resources and wealth. Our realm can now support bigger forces but the pressure on the treasury will be high. After another year of peace, I plan to push taxes up, recruit some extra troops (focus on cavalry), and move against Lord Burt.

Rising Lords is developed by Argonwood and published by Deck13 and WhisperGames. I played it on the PC via Steam. It is also offered on the Nintendo Switch, the Xbox Series X and S, and the Xbox One. The title offers turn-based strategy mechanics inspired by those of boardgames.

+4more

The game’s universe is inspired by Medieval Europe, with peasants working the land while their lords prance around giving them meager rations, raising armies, and fighting battles over questions of honor. The names of all characters will recall various historical figures and some of the maps are based around European landscapes. But the title does not want players to re-create those moments. The writing is mostly informative, with dashes of flavor, and the focus is on giving gamers the info they need to overcome challenges and rule over a thriving realm.

Rising Lords is turn and hex based on both the strategic and the tactical level. Gamers will need to carefully manage their towns and regions, creating surplus wealth and keeping the people as happy as possible. At the same time, they will muster and move armies to then engage in battle with armies that represent the interests of other nobles.

The economic system is built around peasants. These spawn in the center of each town and can be picked up and dragged to where they are useful. Their most important task is to work the fields to produce food, which requires them to stay in the same location from winter sowing to autumn reaping. Depending on how the crop comes in, players will have to decide the amount of rations their people will get for each season (which represents a turn).

Peasants will also work to extract other resources, like wood and iron, and can be placed in other buildings for certain effects. Players have to use this limited human resource well as they seek to grow the population and keep everyone content. Rising Lords delivers random events each turn that can upset this carefully constructed balance. War is an integral part of the game. Armies need to first be recruited, with players using population and resources to choose what kinds of soldiers they will take on campaign. Gamers also get to select a small deck of cards that provide abilities and bonuses to their units.

Play Video

When two armies meet, Rising Lords shifts to a tactical battlefield. Players deploy their units and then take turns issuing orders. Players have to take into account terrain, unit placement, and counters if they hope to break the opposition’s morale and win the engagement. If an army loses morale quickly, units can start disobeying orders, which is the moment when it’s a good idea to forfeit and start over with another, presumably better, plan.

A strong economy is required to sustain a capable fighting force but don’t be afraid to send soldiers back to their homes if no threat is on the horizon. It’s more important to develop a strong economy than to keep men under arms. Rising Lords can feel shallow. On the strategic map, players do little more than allocate peasants and put down new buildings. Battles tend to be decided by the number and quality of troops rather than by brilliant tactical maneuvers. But turns move fast, events tend to create challenging moments, and the computer can hold its own in combat.

Rising Lords allows players to challenge their friends for multiplayer matches, with up to four competing at the same time with simultaneous turn structure. The game also has editors that give fans the tools required to build their own scenarios and then share them with the community, which is a very good idea for a strategy title.

Rising Lords uses a style that is well-suited to its world and mechanics, inspired by Medieval art. All buildings and landmarks are stylized and, during combat, the animation for the army figures is minimal. These choices can make the experience feel a little drab. But the game also manages to clearly convey all the information players need for good strategic choices, via an interface that uses radial menus efficiently.

The sound design is decent. Combat sounds suitably Medieval, although there’s no voice acting for the often-funny lines units utter when things tend to go wrong. The music could use more tracks but does a good job of adding to the immersion.

+4more

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion