Mandate Order ▶ Trailer
Mandate Order screenshot 1Mandate Order screenshot 2
IndieSimulationStrategyCity BuilderBuildingHistoricalWargameBase Building

185 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 288

Peak in the last 7 days: 311

Mandate Order Early Access Steam store

Game description

Mandate Order is a Warring States war city-builder set in ancient China. Build a stronghold, manage industries and logistics, recruit scholars from the Hundred Schools of Thought, raise armies, and command real-time tactical battles with thousands of soldiers.

Basic info

DeveloperDigital Sky
PublisherDigital Sky
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckUnsupported
Release dateAug 11, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10
ProcessorIntel Core Core i7-9700 / Ryzen 5 3600
Memory16 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660(6G) / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT(6G)/Arc A750
Storage20 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 456 reviews from the past 1 year

69.6/ 100
Bottom 30%

Steam rating: Very Positive (80%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 15, 2026)

A Spring and Autumn era city builder with gorgeous art, Mandate Order has an engaging foundation for 138 reviewers but runs rough; it scores 69.6.

👍 Strengths

138 reviews find the city building engaging, and the most upvoted calls the foundation excellent. 36 praise the setting and world, some saying the Spring and Autumn period is better presented than expected, and 35 like the depth of its management systems, with some seeing potential in farming, hunting and gathering. Others praise ancient Chinese music that builds atmosphere, and some admire a gorgeous art style. Visuals & Sound ranks 969th of 1249, and Story & World ranks 847th of 1096.

👎 Where it falls short

Tech & Support appears in 47% of analyzed reviews and ranks 1047th of 1399. 54 reviews report performance problems, some with severe slowdowns as farms expand late in the game. 47 criticize the controls, some missing key remapping and saying building rotation does not work. Content Volume ranks 1243rd of 1351: 45 want more content, such as ranching, fishing and animal husbandry. Others describe crashes that freeze the PC, and some say translations are far off. Gameplay ranks 1239th of 1396.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“excellent foundation and engaging city-building gameplay” · 138 reviews
“no key mapping and building rotation key does not work in 2026” · 47 reviews
“Spring and Autumn setting presented better than expected” · 36 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 61% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel -2.45 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Negative “no key mapping and building rotation key does not work in 2026” · 47 reviews

Progression 17% · Difficulty 6% · Onboarding 18% · Freedom 19% · Strategy 22%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 21% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

World +1.84 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “Spring and Autumn setting presented better than expected” · 36 reviews
Negative “lacks immersion and feels disjointed; confusing design choices” · 5 reviews

Story 3% · Characters 1%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 33% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -2.41 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “gameplay is repetitive, mostly same enemies across 12 areas” · 23 reviews

Volume 22% · Replayability 1%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 22% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +2.81 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “ancient Chinese music creates strong atmospheric feeling” · 29 reviews
Negative “same few OST tracks, starting to put me to sleep” · 2 reviews

Visuals 16%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 0% of reviews mention this.

Playing together — · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 14% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.25 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “agriculture route too strong, trading system imbalanced” · 19 reviews
Positive “two doctrine combinations are viable and clear” · 1 review

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 5% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 47% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Performance -0.45 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Negative “late-game farm expansion causes severe performance drops, mouse nearly unresponsive” · 54 reviews
Positive “game runs smoothly in DX11 mode with engaging RTS-like experience” · 3 reviews

Stability 14% · Developer support 29%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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