Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a ‘damn big update’ that completely overhauls the game’s mechanics: ‘We’re rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay’

I mostly enjoyed Norland and its randy lords when I previewed it last summer, but the medieval colony sim definitely had its problems. Getting monarchs and nobles to do what you needed to ensure your colony’s survival could be tricky when all they cared about was getting laid and acquiring holy rings as status symbols, and this often led to your colonies collapsing in ways you couldn’t avoid.

It appears developer Long Jaunt wasn’t happy with how Norland’s early access build played either. The studio has just released a “damn big update” (literally what it is called) that not only adds a bunch of stuff to the game, but completely reworks the core mechanics to make it more enjoyable.

“I couldn’t come up with a better name than ‘A Damn Big Update’,” writes the game’s designer Dmitry Glaznev. “We’re rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay in the beta branch…as many have rightly suspected, I’m not the most enthusiastic designer of standard mechanics, so it took time to pinpoint what wasn’t working in the core gameplay loop and find ways to make it better. But now, it seems the game is more enjoyable to play.”

There are a ton of changes here, but the most significant is made to how work tasks within a colony are assigned. Previously, you had multiple lords who each took charge of overseeing production in several buildings in the colony, providing instructions to workers every day. Now, a single lord issues orders to all servants, a change intended to reduce micromanagement and make the game feel less like you’re playing a city builder and a life sim at the same time.

This isn’t the only area where Norland’s experience has been streamlined. The “needs” tab for characters has been completely removed, with the game now focussing primarily on character desires. Long Jaunt explains this design as follows: “Since [needs are] mostly physiological, they didn’t apply well to elites who never worry about food or shelter. Over time, it became clear that social factors had a much greater influence on their thoughts”. It’s worth noting that the needs themselves remain, but they have less impact on what the devs refer to as “thought management”.

Other changes include a reworked migration system that’s connected to your settlement’s overall mood, so that more people arrive when your settlement is happy, and start to leave only when the mood becomes really sour. Crime and punishment is more hands-off, with scaffolds performing executions automatically. The morning church sermon has been removed, giving your villagers more time to get things done, and your peasants are no longer dependent on alcohol to remove fatigue, with booze instead providing a morale boost.

There’s a raft of additions outside the core loop, too. Changes to diplomacy let you “burn other kings’ vassals to the ground”, and conduct “dark dealings” in the wake of peace treaties. Kings can now actively make puppets out of other characters, while seduction can be used as a political weapon. Oh, and there are several balance adjustments to systems like forest regrowth and field fertility to make them easier to manage, which is good because getting enough wood for construction in the original build was a massive pain.

The update is currently available to test in the beta branch, and following any further tweaks, will presumably be coming to the stable branch soon. You can read the full list of changes here.