City-building games tend to focus on the broad strokes of town management, basically letting you be more of a hand of god than a proper mayor. Norland aims to make things a little more personal, letting you take control of a noble family that’s in power over a medieval city, dealing with all the crime, religious uprisings, and social stratification that come along.
The devs bill Norland as a “medieval kingdom sim that generates stories”, inspired by RimWorld, Crusader Kings, and Caesar. Each citizen in your town, from peasants and slaves to soldiers and criminals, have behaviours based on their status and personality, which can result in anything from happy marriages to bloody riots.
While your citizens go about their lives – or while you’re in between quelling riots – you can build up armies, upgrade your village, and look to a global map to start expanding your power. You can fight or ally with your neighboring kingdoms, and work through a host of political events on the wider map.
Check out a trailer below.
Norland is due to hit Steam in 2022, and unlike many games in its genre, the devs plan to forgo any sort of Early Access release. Instead, they intend to invite player feedback through a series of playtests leading up to launch.