Taso

Anno 1800

The basic goal remains the same: explore an island world with your flagship, set an island starting with a simple warehouse, and develop the land into a metropolis through industry and transportation networks. Similarly to its brethren, The Settlers, you have to slowly expand your territory to make space for increasingly complicated production chains. But while in The Settlers the purpose of such industry is to support a strong army, Anno games focus on a more peaceful approach, that is, to fulfil the increasing needs of citizens in ever-growing cities as well as to trade with fellow governors and industrialists.

Unlike in previous Anno games, the world of Anno 1800 is divided into an old world and a new world, both of which provide different scenery, raw resources, and building options. The interplay between these regions is crucial to develop cities to their highest tier. Another addition to the series is the workforce, which is required for all industrial buildings. Therefore, both the growing of cities and the balancing of different citizen tiers have more vital role than previously. The game adds numerous new ways to optimise production, such as employing specialists, utilising propaganda in regularly published newspapers, and adjusting work hours in factories. Although at easier settings the game can be a soothing town builder, at higher difficulties such micromanagement becomes necessary, providing a very different experience.

With a good number of high-quality expansions available, the game can provide an enormous amount of complex yet smooth gameplay. Being the newcomer to a 20-year old franchise, Anno 1800 is truly exceptional.

RimWorld

Heavily inspired by Dwarf Fortress and other settlement survival games, RimWorld provides an atmospheric if occasionally rather violent experience. The aim of the base game is simple: build a thriving colony in a hostile alien planet, research new technology, and finally escape the dreadful place by a rocket. Hostile fauna, climate, and rival colonies ensure that fulfilling this goal will be a difficult and lengthy journey.

Ensuring the high mood of the colonists is critical to avoid devastating break spirals. This will not be an easy task considering the rich number of events, motives, and social interactions that affect their emotions. On the other hand, the priority mechanism that the colonists follow slavishly can lead to somewhat robotic behaviour. Thankfully, after the slow and nerve-racking early game, managing the individual colonists and the colony in general becomes a lot smoother experience.

However, the more prestigious the colony is, the more it attracts unwanted attention, and in the late game major battles become inevitable. In similar to its precursor, war injuries and other health conditions are described in meticulous detail. It is rare to see a game character with a lung cancer or liver cirrhosis.

The greatest flaw of the game is unfortunately one of its highlights. The so-called “AI storytellers” feel too random in how they select the events that occur during a playthrough, and therefore do not resemble real storytellers. Nevertheless, the game does provide story-rich content for a long time, particularly with its many distinct expansions that cover royalty, ideology, biotechnology, and even horror.