All Manor Lords starting scenarios & difficulty settings explained

Manor Lords has multiple difficulty settings available and each one works a little differently to the others. Here’s a breakdown of each scenario and difficulty setting in Manor Lords and how they work.

In Manor Lords, difficulty and playstyle are intertwined and split into three different scenarios. While each of these could be viewed as Easy, Normal, and Hard, there are significant differences between them that extend further than just the difficulty of the AI. Each scenario is geared around a certain style of gameplay and will appeal to players depending on their preferences.

There’s a scenario focused on simply building and being creative, while another is geared around the struggle for survival in a hostile world. Then there’s a third scenario which offers a balanced approach, letting players engage with all aspects of the game.

Don’t forget, you can also create a custom game that combines aspects of each, so you’re not forced to choose from any of the below scenarios if you don’t want to. As well as this, your difficulty slider can be adjusted separately, allowing you to select either Relaxing, Default, or Challenging, then tailor the options to your liking.

Rise to Prosperity

Rise to Prosperity could be seen as the game‘s easy mode, but it’s more than this. It’s primarily a city-builder that allows players to leisurely build a city without worrying about the game’s combat mechanics. While players will still need to engage with the survival aspects somewhat, such as the winter cold, this is mostly a scenario for those who want to relax and learn the various systems.

The scenario ends successfully when you reach the Growth status. This essentially means you win once you grow your settlement to Large Town status. To achieve this, you’ll need to keep your people happy, maintain a high Manor Lords approval rating, and keep your town ticking over nicely enough to attract more settlers.

Restoring the Peace

The Restoring the Peace scenario can be seen as the normal difficulty, as it provides a nice balance between building and combat. All of the mechanics learned in Rise to Prosperity will be in play here, but in Restoring the Peace, you’ll also need to defeat your rival lords and fold their domains into your own. You’ll also need to ensure your land isn’t threatened by bandits.

Here, the pace won’t be so leisurely, as your enemies will also be aiming to annex your land and end your reign as the Manor Lord. So, it won’t be enough to just sit back and build, you’ll need to outwit your opponents and ensure you’ve got enough resources to not only build your settlement but to win in the hostilities between yourself and your neighbors.

On the Edge

On the Edge is the most difficult scenario in Manor Lords and is essentially a survival mode that requires careful resource management. Here, the AI of your enemies will be much improved, meaning rival lords will be more aggressive and devious in their tactics. The likelihood of bandit attacks will increase and keeping your people happy will also be much harder.

In this mode, you’ll need to keep the wolves from the door while building a powerful settlement, then, with your base secure, launch an attack on your enemies. Your ultimate goal is Conquest, which means to kill all your rivals and control the land on the map while a cold and bitter winter sets in. The On the Edge scenario is like the previous two combined but dialed up to eleven in terms of difficulty.

For more Manor Lords content, check out our guides below:

How to build and use the Sawpit | Manor Lords system requirements | Is Manor Lords on Game Pass? | Does Manor Lords run on Steam Deck?