In 2024, the solo-developed 'Manor Lords' set a new milestone for the city-building simulation genre. By combining the familiar setting of medieval Europe with the intricate details of small-scale estate management, it achieved one of the greatest successes in Steam's history, sparking a wave of similar genre attempts. Now, a new team has emerged to challenge the genre with a setting based on ancient Eastern history.

'Mandate Order,' currently under development by a small studio based in Chengdu, China, is an 'ancient Chinese fortress simulator' set during the Spring and Autumn period. The game, which emphasizes fortification, management, and warfare, is slated for an early access release this July.

On the 21st, attendees at 'Bilibili First Look' in Shanghai were given the opportunity to play an early build of 'Mandate Order.'

It's the 'Spring and Autumn Period,' not the 'Three Kingdoms'

When one thinks of strategy games based on ancient Chinese history, the Three Kingdoms era usually comes to mind. Beyond Koei's 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'—a series deeply familiar to many—Creative Assembly's 'Total War: Three Kingdoms' further cemented the era as a compelling subject for Western strategy fans.

However, this also means the 'Three Kingdoms' has become a somewhat common trope. The developers of 'Mandate Order' chose to look even further back, selecting the Spring and Autumn period, which spanned roughly 800 years from the 8th to the 3rd century BC.

The game doesn't just borrow the setting. The Spring and Autumn period was a time of profound social transformation from slavery to feudalism, and an era where thinkers like Confucius, Mozi, and Han Fei debated the future of the state. 'Mandate Order' strives to reflect these characteristics in its game system design.

For instance, the developers revealed that the game's defense system was inspired by the "City Defense" (Cheng Shou) chapter of the Mozi. The Mohist school was renowned for its defensive tactics, and "Mandate Order" structures its gameplay around the Mohist philosophy that "the city wall is the monarch's shield and the people's refuge." Instead of medieval European castles, players will encounter Warring States-era military architecture, such as rammed-earth walls, beacon tower alarms, and tunnel warfare.

People... no, wood comes first

My first impression of the early build of 'Mandate Order' at the Bilibili First Look demo was quite clear: it is a game that lets you enjoy city-building and large-scale combat simultaneously. To put it slightly hyperbolically, it felt as though the developers' goal was to combine 'SimCity' and 'Total War' into a single experience.

When the game begins, the player commands a small group of people—calling them a 'faction' feels like a stretch—somewhere on the map. With not a single proper building to start with, you must quickly increase your resources to build a village.

The game begins by constructing a logging camp, assigning workers to automatically gather nearby timber, and using that wood to build tents for your people.

According to the developers, they have worked to make the resource cycle in 'Mandate Order' highly organic. Much like the old saying that 'agriculture is the foundation of all things,' farming plays a major role. In a game session that progresses through four seasons, you can only sow seeds in fields and paddies during the spring. If you miss this window, it means you will be unable to obtain food for the rest of the year, save for gathering jujubes or hunting deer.

'People' are also a vital resource. The population in 'Mandate Order' is organized into 'Wu' (the smallest unit of ancient Chinese military organization, consisting of five people), and each tent you build can house one 'Wu.' Replenishing your population is simple: if your population satisfaction is 50 or higher and there is an empty tent, a new 'Wu' will move in the following month.

The role of these 'Wu' is endless. As mentioned, they are needed to gather basic resources like wood, clay, and iron ore, and to process them. If resources are far from your base, you need 'Wu' to transport them. Since more people mean more capabilities, it is essential to build tents frequently and in large numbers.

Diverse buildings each have their own roles, so you must build at least one of each. While the early build didn't reveal everything, following the tutorial allowed me to naturally learn the resource cycle. You collect wood and create processed goods for various uses—these might become charcoal or wooden hinges needed for construction.

Perhaps because it is set in an era before oil was used as a resource, it is no exaggeration to say that all basic resources in 'Mandate Order' start with wood. You need so much of it. At first, the surrounding forest looked lush, but within 10 minutes, it was impossible to avoid turning the area into a barren hillside. To prevent this, the game includes facilities for replanting trees.

From resource gathering, storage, and transportation to housing for the people, the construction system this game offers is deeper and more robust than I expected. Furthermore, when you zoom in with the mouse wheel to watch the people running around working in the village, you might find yourself thinking, 'This is actually quite well-made.'

However, construction is only part of the fun. The combat is still to come.

Why logistics are vital in war

Producing troops in this game is a much tougher task than you might think. It would be a mistake to assume you can just 'click' to produce the unit you want, as you would in other strategy simulations. From the people themselves (naturally) to weapons and armor, there is a long list of requirements to fulfill before even a single soldier is ready.

Troops are also based on the 'Wu' system. If you suddenly conscript a large number of soldiers, the people who were previously gathering resources will quit their jobs to enlist. Therefore, producing a large army in the early game is nearly impossible.

The need to craft weapons yourself is another hurdle. The tutorial easily teaches you how to make wooden clubs, but crafting a copper sword is a different story. You have to send a 'Wu' to a copper mine far from your base to extract ore, build a wheelwright to make wheels, use those wheels to build a cart, and then build a logistics center to bring the ore back.

Once the ore is brought back, it must be processed into 'ingots.' To build a processing plant and refine the copper, you need charcoal. Charcoal can only be obtained by burning logs at a lumber mill. Oops—I had already used all my logs to make planks.

These are the kinds of trial-and-error experiences you face when crafting a single copper sword. If you want to make shield-bearers, you must also provide them with shields for their left hands, adding the process of building a shield workshop and obtaining the necessary processed materials. Archers? Chariots? It's all the same.

While this might sound painful, 'Mandate Order' is not a competitive game. The developers are crafting it as a purely single-player experience, and as you gradually build your fortress, you will eventually accumulate the resources needed to produce weapons. It helps to think of it as playing 'SimCity' while gathering materials for swords, shields, and chariots.

In the city-building genre, combat has generally remained a secondary element. Even 'Manor Lords' was criticized for having relatively simple combat. However, 'Mandate Order' shows an ambitious plan to layer large-scale warfare on top of a robust city-building foundation.

The core of this is a unit control system the developers call 'Quick Line Drawing Formation.' By selecting a unit and 'right-click dragging' to a desired location, you can change the formation of your troops according to the cursor's trajectory. You can create a sharp wedge to break through enemy lines or easily execute a 'hammer and anvil' maneuver using multi-unit coordinated formations.

Furthermore, classic elements like damage calculations based on elevation for archers and unit-type relationships are all included. It is very impressive that the game allows for such deep combat, which is rarely seen in typical city-builders.

60,000 wishlists: Good news for strategy game enthusiasts

Unfortunately, I couldn't experience large-scale unit battles during this demo because I was too busy just trying to make a single copper weapon. However, the screenshots shown by the developers and the various elements to be added to the game later will likely be very appealing to strategy game fans.

Another feature of 'Mandate Order' is the 'Guest' (Men-ke) system, inspired by the legend of Lord Xinling (Wei Wuji), who had over 3,000 retainers. It is a system that brings the characteristics of the Spring and Autumn period—when the Hundred Schools of Thought flourished—into the game. The guests you receive support your faction with diverse abilities, and the developers explain that some have quite surprising effects.

The natural disaster system shares a similar design philosophy. Floods, droughts, and plagues occur unexpectedly in the mid-to-late game, disrupting your construction rhythm and forcing you to respond appropriately. You might have to quarantine the infected to stop the spread of a plague, or perhaps execute them.

The meteorite impact event is also impressive. It causes massive damage to the surrounding area but creates a rare resource called 'Star Iron,' which can be used to craft new weapons if successfully harvested.

Various strategies reflecting the era are also being prepared for war. Though I haven't mentioned it yet, all your people live in tents and 'defecate.' This is why you must build facilities to process waste for their comfort. These buildings can turn waste into a resource called 'Golden Juice' (Jin Zhi)—a reference to actual ancient tactics where boiled human waste was dropped on enemies during sieges.

That a small studio of 28 people developed a game with this level of depth in just one year is both amazing and concerning. The developer has officially acknowledged that issues remain, such as NPC model clipping, missing character model parts, and frame drops during long play sessions. The tutorial also had translation errors, which made playing the Korean version quite difficult.

Nevertheless, the reason to pay attention to this game is clear. According to the developer, the game has already surpassed 60,000 Steam wishlists, nearly 90% of which are from overseas users. It is quite unusual for a game based on ancient Chinese history to generate anticipation outside of China first.

While it didn't show perfection as an early version, it clearly stands as one of the most interesting answers to where city-building simulations might head after 'Manor Lords.'

'Mandate Order' is slated for an early access release this July, and a campaign DLC based on the 'Battle of Changping'—one of the most famous battles of the Spring and Autumn period—is also in development. You can currently download and enjoy a demo version on the Steam store page.