In the latest instalment of the award-winning Anno strategy franchise, it’s your destiny to shape the Roman Empire in the year 117AD. As governor, will you encourage economic growth or expand your rule through dominance? Lead with rebellion or unite a diverse culture? The cost of peace is yours to d...
Yeah, I recently played two city builders one after the other, and oh man, did anno ever let me down.
I played this game called Ixion, which is a city builder in an interstellar colony ship hurtling through space in a last ditch effort to save humanity (from a calamity you may have also accidentally caused). This game was epic.
After finishing that I was like "give me more awesome city builder!"
I fired up anno 2205 and proceeded to be bored to tears. Yeah, some aspects of the interface were better (Ixion can be clunky and unforgiving). But all and all anno 2205 doesn't even compare, it was just tedious.
I think I ended up refunding Anno 2205, that's the only Anno installment I disliked and I've played them all. It's not futuristic of course, but try Anno 1800, it is really good. One of those games where I was surprised to find out Ubisoft was still able to release something that doesn't feel like a complete copy-paste of its sequel. The basics are the same of course, but with enough unique twists and QoL improvements that it feels like a genuine step forward.
I'm cautiosly optimistic. On the one hand the ubisoft mainz team ( formerly Related Designs ) have always delivered wrt anno games. On the other corporate Ubi and their tendency to enshittify everything they touch.
As a fan of futuristic annos I'm also not big on the theme, but they did outdo themselves with 1800, so there's hope.
Yeah, the Anno games have been good, but I'm firmly in the wait-for-reviews camp for any Ubisoft games just because they've certainly made some fuckups in the recent past.
Hopeful that Ubisoft management doesn't do anything that's too egregious.