Launching in Steam and Epic Games Store Early Access on August 12, Mandate Order brings the daily work of a growing settlement and the demands of a Warring States war together in one sandbox.
For many strategy players, their favourite games answer very different kinds of questions.
Manor Lords speaks to the pleasure of shaping a settlement that feels alive: roads, homes, fields, and workshops gradually becoming a place with its own rhythm. Farthest Frontier represents another kind of appeal — the pressure of keeping a community supplied, healthy, and prepared for difficult seasons. Total War: Three Kingdoms, meanwhile, captures the fantasy of commanding armies, reading a wider political situation, and deciding when a battle is worth fighting.
These are not the same experiences, nor do they need to be. But many strategy players carry all three desires with them: to build a place worth protecting, to keep it alive under pressure, and eventually to lead it into war.
That is the space Mandate Order is designed to explore.
Set during China’s Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, Mandate Order is an ancient Chinese war city-builder where city planning, survival management, diplomacy, and large-scale warfare are not separate modes. They are parts of one growing state.
A city-building game where the city becomes the battle plan
Players begin with the familiar work of establishing a settlement: placing homes, wells, farms, workshops, warehouses, roads, and military buildings.
But in Mandate Order, these decisions do not remain in the background once conflict begins. The location of storage affects how quickly supplies can move. A road network shapes the movement of workers and resources. A wall is not simply a visual landmark; it becomes a defensive line that must be manned, supplied, and protected when enemies arrive.
The goal is to make a city feel like more than a collection of buildings. It is a functioning system whose layout influences the speed of growth, the resilience of its people, and the options available in war.
Survival pressure that lasts beyond the opening hours
A settlement cannot become a state by expanding without consequence.
Food, water, housing, fuel, labour, and public order all affect whether residents remain stable and whether new people are willing to join. Farming follows the seasons, from cultivation and planting to summer care, autumn harvest, and winter storage. A city that looks prosperous in summer can still be unprepared for winter — or for a new military burden.
This is where the survival-management audience enters the picture. A player is not simply chasing higher output. They are asking whether the whole settlement can continue to function when resources are stretched, workers are pulled away from their jobs, or an unexpected threat interrupts a carefully planned year.
Warfare that begins before armies meet
The war-game audience enters through the same chain of decisions.
An army requires weapons, equipment, people, and time. Workers called into service are no longer available for farming, transport, or production. A city with weak supply lines may struggle before a single formation reaches the battlefield.
When fighting begins, players can organise troops with a line-drawing formation system, shaping movement and frontage across larger engagements. Chariots, infantry, ranged units, terrain, city walls, towers, gates, and defensive equipment all influence the result.
The key idea is simple: war should not interrupt city-building. It should reveal whether the city has been built well enough to endure it.
A Warring States sandbox with a longer horizon
The journey in Mandate Order does not end when the settlement looks prosperous.
Players can raise their rank, recruit retainers from different philosophical schools, shape policies, trade and negotiate with neighbouring powers, and pursue the path toward kingship. A farming-focused settlement, a heavily fortified frontier city, a trade-oriented state, and an expansionist military power may all start from the same map, but they will not face the same challenges.
For players who love the quiet satisfaction of city-building, the tension of survival management, and the spectacle of large-scale warfare, Mandate Order is not trying to replace any one experience. It is asking what happens when all three are allowed to shape the same city.
Mandate Order enters Early Access on Steam and Epic Games Store on August 12, 2026, at 10:00 AM Beijing Time. The game supports 12 languages and will be priced at US$19.99 internationally and RMB 68 in mainland China, with a 15% launch discount for the first two weeks.
About Mandate Order
Mandate Order is an ancient Chinese war city-building simulation set during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. Players begin with a frontier settlement and build it into a state through city construction, farming, production, logistics, public needs, retainers, diplomacy, recruitment, city defense, and large-scale battles. Every road, storehouse, wall, and military decision can shape whether a growing city survives — and eventually claims its place in a fractured world. Mandate Order enters Early Access on Steam and Epic Games Store on August 12, 2026.
Steam
Official X
Official website
For many strategy players, their favourite games answer very different kinds of questions.
Manor Lords speaks to the pleasure of shaping a settlement that feels alive: roads, homes, fields, and workshops gradually becoming a place with its own rhythm. Farthest Frontier represents another kind of appeal — the pressure of keeping a community supplied, healthy, and prepared for difficult seasons. Total War: Three Kingdoms, meanwhile, captures the fantasy of commanding armies, reading a wider political situation, and deciding when a battle is worth fighting.
These are not the same experiences, nor do they need to be. But many strategy players carry all three desires with them: to build a place worth protecting, to keep it alive under pressure, and eventually to lead it into war.
That is the space Mandate Order is designed to explore.
Set during China’s Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, Mandate Order is an ancient Chinese war city-builder where city planning, survival management, diplomacy, and large-scale warfare are not separate modes. They are parts of one growing state.
A city-building game where the city becomes the battle plan
Players begin with the familiar work of establishing a settlement: placing homes, wells, farms, workshops, warehouses, roads, and military buildings.
But in Mandate Order, these decisions do not remain in the background once conflict begins. The location of storage affects how quickly supplies can move. A road network shapes the movement of workers and resources. A wall is not simply a visual landmark; it becomes a defensive line that must be manned, supplied, and protected when enemies arrive.
The goal is to make a city feel like more than a collection of buildings. It is a functioning system whose layout influences the speed of growth, the resilience of its people, and the options available in war.
Survival pressure that lasts beyond the opening hours
A settlement cannot become a state by expanding without consequence.
Food, water, housing, fuel, labour, and public order all affect whether residents remain stable and whether new people are willing to join. Farming follows the seasons, from cultivation and planting to summer care, autumn harvest, and winter storage. A city that looks prosperous in summer can still be unprepared for winter — or for a new military burden.
This is where the survival-management audience enters the picture. A player is not simply chasing higher output. They are asking whether the whole settlement can continue to function when resources are stretched, workers are pulled away from their jobs, or an unexpected threat interrupts a carefully planned year.
Warfare that begins before armies meet
The war-game audience enters through the same chain of decisions.
An army requires weapons, equipment, people, and time. Workers called into service are no longer available for farming, transport, or production. A city with weak supply lines may struggle before a single formation reaches the battlefield.
When fighting begins, players can organise troops with a line-drawing formation system, shaping movement and frontage across larger engagements. Chariots, infantry, ranged units, terrain, city walls, towers, gates, and defensive equipment all influence the result.
The key idea is simple: war should not interrupt city-building. It should reveal whether the city has been built well enough to endure it.
A Warring States sandbox with a longer horizon
The journey in Mandate Order does not end when the settlement looks prosperous.
Players can raise their rank, recruit retainers from different philosophical schools, shape policies, trade and negotiate with neighbouring powers, and pursue the path toward kingship. A farming-focused settlement, a heavily fortified frontier city, a trade-oriented state, and an expansionist military power may all start from the same map, but they will not face the same challenges.
For players who love the quiet satisfaction of city-building, the tension of survival management, and the spectacle of large-scale warfare, Mandate Order is not trying to replace any one experience. It is asking what happens when all three are allowed to shape the same city.
Mandate Order enters Early Access on Steam and Epic Games Store on August 12, 2026, at 10:00 AM Beijing Time. The game supports 12 languages and will be priced at US$19.99 internationally and RMB 68 in mainland China, with a 15% launch discount for the first two weeks.
About Mandate Order
Mandate Order is an ancient Chinese war city-building simulation set during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. Players begin with a frontier settlement and build it into a state through city construction, farming, production, logistics, public needs, retainers, diplomacy, recruitment, city defense, and large-scale battles. Every road, storehouse, wall, and military decision can shape whether a growing city survives — and eventually claims its place in a fractured world. Mandate Order enters Early Access on Steam and Epic Games Store on August 12, 2026.
Steam
Official X
Official website