Anno 1800 - A masterpiece of a game! (so far)

Pingal Pratyush · Feb 5, 2019

Uplay username: spieltimes

My childhood memories are all filled with hour-long sessions of Age of Empires, Empire Earth, Lord of the Rings and Simcity. Somehow, out of all the genres in video games, simulation and city-building seem to fascinate me the most. While I never played any Anno game before, Anno 1800 surely changed my perspective of the series, all at once.

Prior to playing the Closed Beta, I thought the Anno seris would be just like some other so-so franchise with a few dedicated fans. So, I was skeptical about Anno 1800 and whether I should spend 22GB of my not-unlimited data on it. But the moment the loading screen appeared, I was glued to the screen.

It wasn't even the actual gameplay, but the loading screens that were so intriguing that developed a kind of eagerness to consume the game as soon as possible.

The gameplay is so diverse, bulidings and structures so well designed, environmental elements perfectly modelled and the sound effects are just ear-blowing. I've played the game for over 5 hours during the Closed Beta, and I'm so pumped up for April's Open Beta. Can't wait!

HumanSmoke · Feb 5, 2019

You should play Anno 2205 I liked it a lot

Going from the grassy area to Antartica to the moon was fun

DocSeuss · Feb 5, 2019

Anno 1800 is like... fuck, how do you make a game so much better than all the great games that came before? This is what happens when people who know what they're doing keep honing their craft. These guys are the kung fu masters of city building games.

And to think... Anno isn't even their best series. Settlers is. AND WE'RE GETTING ONE OF THOSE TOO!!!! IM SO HYPE

I hope it stays this good, because, like, hot damn. I need more.

SuikerBrood · Feb 5, 2019

Fully agree. Anno 1800 is shaping up to be a brilliant game.

Anno · Feb 5, 2019

Unsurprisingly I am very excited by all the great things I'm hearing from this beta. I can't wait to return to historical Anno goodness.

SuikerBrood · Feb 5, 2019

It's a shame games like these don't get any attention on resetera. It is what it is, I guess.

Violet Wren · Feb 5, 2019

This beta blew my expectations out of the water. I was expecting a really complicated city builder that I couldn't wrap my head around. What I got was a highly accessible, yet deep city builder that allowed me to play and trade with my friends. Absolutely loved it.

Pingal Pratyush · Feb 5, 2019

HumanSmoke said:
You should play Anno 2205 I liked it a lot

Going from the grassy area to Antartica to the moon was fun

I'll definitely give it a try. In fact, I'm gonna go through every Anno now!

Pingal Pratyush · Feb 5, 2019

strangerinthealps said:
This beta blew my expectations out of the water. I was expecting a really complicated city builder that I couldn't wrap my head around. What I got was a highly accessible, yet deep city builder that allowed me to play and trade with my friends. Absolutely loved it.

Same here. I was thinking some Civilization kinda stuff. But it was more real-time and dynamic.

1.21Gigawatts · Feb 5, 2019

SuikerBrood said:
It's a shame games like these don't get any attention on resetera. It is what it is, I guess.

Not supporting consoles severely limits you audience. But I guess these kinds of games just require mouse and keyboard.
I always loved Anno games, ever since 1602, but I haven't owned a PC in almost 10 years, so I am pretty out of the loop when it comes to Anno.

SuikerBrood · Feb 5, 2019

1.21Gigawatts said:
Not supporting consoles severely limits you audience. But I guess these kinds of games just require mouse and keyboard.
I always loved Anno games, ever since 1602, but I haven't owned a PC in almost 10 years, so I am pretty out of the loop when it comes to Anno.

Well, it limits your audience on resetera, mostly. This is a very console centered website.

Nerun · Feb 5, 2019

While Anno 2070 and Anno 2205 are nice games, I welcome the return to the past. I just works better for this series in my opinion and I can finally make out what building does what again and just looks more "friendly". I'm a huge fan since the first one and I loved the beta and earlier tests, it's shaping up to be a great game. I'm so looking forward to the 4th and 5th stage of development with Electricity, Oil, Trains, etc.

Sadly it's more a German genre and series, and it tends to get clear, if you reat some US magazine previews and reviews, if they write about it at all ;)

Settlers though, I really hope they return to the basics (which it seems like), sometimes it looks like that Settlers is more internationally known then Anno. Also Settlers and Anno are different teams / studies. While they both belong to Ubisoft Blue Byte by now. Also great to see, that the original creator is back with the team for the new Settlers.

Pingal Pratyush · Feb 5, 2019

Nerun said:
While Anno 2070 and Anno 2205 are nice games, I welcome the return to the past. I just works better for this series in my opinion and I can finally make out what building does what again and just looks more "friendly". I'm a huge fan since the first one and I loved the beta and earlier tests, it's shaping up to be a great game. I'm so looking forward to the 4th and 5th stage of development with Electricity, Oil, Trains, etc.

Sadly it's more a German genre and series, and it tends to get clear, if you reat some US magazine previews and reviews, if they write about it at all ;)

Settlers though, I really hope they return to the basics (which it seems like), sometimes it looks like that Settlers is more internationally known then Anno. Also Settlers and Anno are different teams / studies. While they both belong to Ubisoft Blue Byte by now. Also great to see, that the original creator is back with the team for the new Settlers.

Haven't played Settlers but am definitely interested in it now that many have mentioned it. So, what's so great about it?

Deleted member 37233 · Feb 5, 2019

I played the Closed Beta of 1800 and I have to say that this new Anno is the first that really grabbed me since 1602! I'm excited for the full-release!

Hanbei · Feb 6, 2019

Will I enjoy it if the last game in the series I played was Anno 1602 (entitled 1602 A.D. in North America and Australia)?

Valdega · Feb 6, 2019

1.21Gigawatts said:
Not supporting consoles severely limits you audience. But I guess these kinds of games just require mouse and keyboard.

I don't think these kinds of games have much of an audience on consoles regardless of inputs. 2K tried putting Civilization on consoles and it never really caught on. Same applies to all strategy games, really.

Com_Raven · Feb 6, 2019

Thank you all so much! Seeing such nice words about our baby on the only gaming forum I use these days is awesome <3

Astandahl · Feb 6, 2019

Saw a few streams and indeed the game looks phenomenal.

Pingal Pratyush · Feb 6, 2019

Com_Raven said:
Thank you all so much! Seeing such nice words about our baby on the only gaming forum I use these days is awesome <3

Hey Com_Raven. Check pm.

Mr Swine · Feb 6, 2019

It doesn't come out until May right? I want it now :(

m_dorian · Feb 6, 2019

^This.

I hear a lot of praise and from what I saw of this game i am already sold.
Many thanks to Com_raven.

GrrImAFridge · Feb 6, 2019

Mr Swine said:
It doesn't come out until May right? I want it now :(

Mid-April.

ThreepQuest64 · Feb 6, 2019

I'm not sure if I like the new mechanic of taking over islands. I'm also not entirely sure about the setting for city building, but that could just be me sticking to nostalgia of Anno 1602 and 1503. Apart from that, I'm highly interested in that new one, because I completely ignored all the Future-Anno games and I'm ready for a new one (although it'll be hard to beat 1404, which I do play these days and is the best of all).

SuikerBrood said:
It's a shame games like these don't get any attention on resetera. It is what it is, I guess.

The great F1 2018 didn't get any love and attention here, either :( No OT thread.

deadfolk · Feb 6, 2019

Anyone play it on a crappy laptop? I had a chance to play for just a few minutes on my desktop, but if I'm going to get into the real game, it will have to be on my non-gaming laptop with only a MX-150 gpu, which I didn't get a chance to try on. I also failed to find any required specs.

tyfon · Feb 6, 2019

Anyone know when the linux version releases? I can't really find anything online about it.
This is right up my alley otherwise.

Turin Turambar · Feb 6, 2019

Well, this sounds less about the current game being super great, and more you not knowing this series and just supposing it was some average thing.
The ones I tried, Anno 1404 and Anno 1602 were already very good games.

SuikerBrood · Feb 6, 2019

tyfon said:
Anyone know when the linux version releases? I can't really find anything online about it.
This is right up my alley otherwise.

Will the game be released on Mac/Linux?
Currently there are no plans to release on platforms other than Windows

https://forums.ubi.com/showthread.p...-and-Already-Answered-Questions-For-Anno-1800

Shelbyville Milhouse · Feb 6, 2019

Don't you tease me like this

tyfon · Feb 6, 2019

SuikerBrood said:
https://forums.ubi.com/showthread.p...-and-Already-Answered-Questions-For-Anno-1800

Gah.. Oh well
Hopefully it will run well in proton.

Serious Sam · Feb 6, 2019

Why do shadows in Anno games always rotate along with camera? I've never seen this quirk in any other game. Is this engine limitation or design choice?

Stiler · Feb 6, 2019

Serious Sam said:
Why do shadows in Anno games always rotate along with camera? I've never seen this quirk in any other game. Is this engine limitation or design choice?

This isn't a bug, it's an option. You should see "fix sun position" in the options somehwere and if you toggle it on the position of the shadows will stay the same, at least in past Anno games it did.

Serious Sam · Feb 6, 2019

Stiler said:
This isn't a bug, it's an option. You should see "fix sun position" in the options somehwere and if you toggle it on the position of the shadows will stay the same, at least in past Anno games it did.

Ah interesting. It's been a while since I played Anno game, but last one I played I don't remember that option. I'll definitely look out for this option in the new game.

Com_Raven · Feb 6, 2019

Yes, the sun being fixed to the camera is an option you can toggle on and off. Some players prefer to always be on the sunny side of Anno, so to speak :p

Lausebub · Feb 6, 2019

Just bought Anno 1404 and the Settlers 4. If you also want to get your Anno fix before April, Anno 1404 Gold is just 4€ right now.

Odesu · Feb 6, 2019

DocSeuss said:
Anno 1800 is like... fuck, how do you make a game so much better than all the great games that came before? This is what happens when people who know what they're doing keep honing their craft. These guys are the kung fu masters of city building games.

And to think... Anno isn't even their best series. Settlers is. AND WE'RE GETTING ONE OF THOSE TOO!!!! IM SO HYPE

I hope it stays this good, because, like, hot damn. I need more.

Worth noting: Anno comes from Related Designs, Settlers is a Blue Byte game, different developers but both obviously coming from Ubi.

EDIT: Welp, just rechecked and I completely forgot that Blue Byte absorbed Related Designs some time ago. Disregard all that, then^^

What I saw of Settlers during Gamescom was amazing and I am really, really looking forward to it. What I played of Anno 1800 during the Beta was equally amazing (although the performance left a bit to be desired, but there's more than enough time to optimise the game until release). It's a good time for the genre.

Rosur · Feb 6, 2019

HumanSmoke said:
You should play Anno 2205 I liked it a lot

Going from the grassy area to Antartica to the moon was fun

I've been thinking of playing Anno 2205 again as never did play all the dlc areas.

Tomasdk · Feb 6, 2019

I agree, the beta was amazing even though I couldn't spend as much time with it as I wanted.
But what is this talk about a new Settlers game (Settlers 8?) I missed any news on this, Settlers was always my go to game series, loved 2 and the remake of 2 the most.

glaurung · Feb 6, 2019

I did not get to spend too much time withe the beta, but the overall impression was stellar. The game looks gorgeous and ran surprisingly well on my 4K setup with everything cranked to eleven.

Will most likely get it at launch.

TeenageFBI · Feb 6, 2019

Is 1800 better than other Anno games or is this thread more about people discovering the series for the first time? If it's better than the other games, I'd love to hear some reasons why!

Nerun · Feb 6, 2019

Tomasdk said:
I agree, the beta was amazing even though I couldn't spend as much time with it as I wanted.
But what is this talk about a new Settlers game (Settlers 8?) I missed any news on this, Settlers was always my go to game series, loved 2 and the remake of 2 the most.

New Settlers game (announced alongside the History Collection and 25th Anniversary of the series):

Some more gameplay material (though the voice over / interview is in German only, with the old/new creator of "The Settlers"):

Very early footage, if you need some translations, just tell me ;)

Nerun · Feb 6, 2019

Pingal Pratyush said:
Haven't played Settlers but am definitely interested in it now that many have mentioned it. So, what's so great about it?

Well, I linked the first Trailer and Gameplay above. I just like the series, as it has been around and big for me since my Amiga days, where you could actually connect two mouses to your computer and play in split-screen.

I Germany we call it the "Wuselfaktor", because of the tiny people and how cute they walk around and do their stuff ;)

It's more about building up one lovely city and some ground wars after/during that, rather than huge cities. Usually it takes time to build a house or wood cutter and you can and should watch that process. It's also about building city walls, siege other cities and stuff like that.

Tim · Feb 6, 2019

Didn't care for the futuristic versions of the game, but 1602 was my jam. Can't wait for this.

stoff · Feb 6, 2019

Pingal Pratyush said:
Haven't played Settlers but am definitely interested in it now that many have mentioned it. So, what's so great about it?

Settlers is basically WYSIWYG gone mad. It also has Anno's Production Chain management but visualises everything a lot more. You can always see how many Goods of each type you have, just by observing the Game World. Also it is much more 50/50 in the economy/military focus, whereas Anno is basically 90% economy. Bascially, Anno is closer to city builders while Settlers is closer to RTS games.

EloKa · Feb 6, 2019

It feels like the Anno series is usually a hit or miss for me.
Loved 1602, disliked 1503, loved 1701, somehow didn't play 1404, didn't like 2070 and 2250. Guess futuristic Anno games aren't my thing for various reasons.

But the end of the 1800 beta made me instantly buy 1404 (which turns out to be as amazing as ppl say) and 1800 will definately be day1. There were few design details in the beta that I didn't like but the overall feeling is that 1800 will be one of the biggest games this year.

Edit: as Anno 19xx seems unlikely (quick maths!) could we get something like 0702 as the next iteration instead of something starting with a 2 please?

Herne · Feb 6, 2019

Been very excited about Anno 1800 for a while now, definitely will look into it.

DocSeuss said:
And to think... Anno isn't even their best series. Settlers is. AND WE'RE GETTING ONE OF THOSE TOO!!!! IM SO HYPE

Anno is made by Blue Byte? I didn't know that. Interest level multiplied!

Com_Raven · Feb 6, 2019

Herne said:
Been very excited about Anno 1800 for a while now, definitely will look into it.

Anno is made by Blue Byte? I didn't know that. Interest level multiplied!

Depending on how you want to count, there are 2-3 Blue Byte studios!

Düsseldorf - original Blue Byte, working on Settlers (as well as co-development on RS Siege, For Honor and Avatar)

Mainz - formerly Related Designs, working on Anno (and co-development on RS Siege and Beyond Good and Evil 2)

Ubisoft Berlin - co-development on the Far Cry franchise

Tomasdk · Feb 6, 2019

Nerun said:
New Settlers game (announced alongside the History Collection and 25th Anniversary of the series):

Some more gameplay material (though the voice over / interview is in German only, with the old/new creator of "The Settlers"):

Very early footage, if you need some translations, just tell me ;)

Thanks, I understand German so it's no problem. :)
Looks good, looking forward to it. Didn't quite catch whether road building is in or if it's like in 3 and 4 for example. Only thing that annoys me is that they are calling it just Settlers from the looks of things, that will be a mess again later. :/

Deleted member 21 · Feb 6, 2019

Yup, still addicting as hell, too. Wanted to try out the CB for like an hour or two and played like 6 hours until way past midnight

Hope they will fix the multiplayer/desync issues, but other than that: it's a fantastic sequel

Windu · Feb 6, 2019

I loved 1404. Can't wait for 1800. Although I don't have a desktop pc atm, only a laptop which probably won't play it.

Arex · Feb 6, 2019

I also loved 1404, waiting for 1800 =) just undecided whether to get the standard or the deluxe lol

Anno 1800 - A masterpiece of a game! (so far)

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