Manor Lords dev says Unreal Engine 5 upgrade looks like a "smoother overall experience" so far, but here are some new coats of arms that "medieval games for some reason never add" while you wait

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The hit city-builder is set to get even better

A screenshot of some sheep in a field in Manor Lords.
(Image credit: Slavic Magic)

Manor Lords dev Slavic Magic is still working towards the city-builder's Unreal Engine 5 upgrade, but has added a bunch of new coat of arms designs in the meantime, including some that "medieval games for some reason never add" as a sweet bonus.

The Unreal Engine 5 update has been on the cards for some time for Manor Lords, but sort-of-solo dev Greg Styczeń now hints that the "precise performance tests" that are currently being carried out are looking very promising. "So far it looks like compared to [Unreal Engine 4] the framerate is more stable, that is highs are lower but lows are higher," the dev says. "Even if the highest FPS might be lower, it should result in a smoother overall experience."

Elaborating further, it doesn't sound like Manor Lords will be implementing Unreal Engine 5's fancy illumination and reflections system, Lumen, simply because it's not really worth it. "So far Lumen wasn't worth the extra performance cost for this particular game therefore I left it off," Styczeń explains. "It also caused some 'black hole' bugs. Direct comparison below. The overall difference in lighting will be subtle."

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Overall though, it's sounding pretty good, right? We still don't have an exact release date for the Unreal Engine 5 upgrade, but last week, Styczeń said it'll be coming with the highly anticipated fishing ponds update which is planned to arrive in the coming weeks, so it shouldn't be too far away.

However, those aforementioned new coats of arms symbols are available right now, and include everything from "derpy lions to fish to weird characters and even two snakes," the latter of which were added after content creator GamerZakh "mentioned that medieval games for some reason never add snake as an option (no idea why but also was true for ML)." The coat of arms creator was already super detailed, but these new options should give players even more room to create one that matches their style.

Manor Lords gets crossbows and a new trade feature when the city builder's next update lands in the "next few weeks."

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.