Anno 1800 By Ubisoft
The Anno franchise is something that I'm a bit or a novice at, and back in December in 2020 during Ubisoft happy holidays event. I managed to get a copy of Anno 1701 and my journey into Anno began. And after trying 1701 I quickly fell in love with this real time city builder, and when I saw 1800 was coming to console I was really excited as console is my main platform.
For the past few days i've been playing Anno 1800 as much as I can, I have played roughly 20 hrs in 3 save files, 2 that i messed up by mass building and not paying attention to resources, and one that I'm taking my time with, to try and learn the game better. In my playtime the biggest thing that has stood out to me is the transition from PC to console. It feels smooth in terms of controls. PCs may be easier to play with keyboard and mouse, but I haven't had any issues with the control layout. The analogue sticks, helo you move around the mouse at a great pace, and moving buildings feel smooth.
There is a handy controller guide in the menu that shows all button placements and it comes real handy when you first play, as there are a lot of radial menus for buildings. But thankfully the games Ui dies have some keybinds shown. And I also enjoy how the Ui is designed, it shows you all the necessary information you need, like resources and quests, but it doesn't feel cluttered and still lets you see the game's best feature. And that's the details of the buildings, the roads and my personal favourite all the little people milling about their daily lives. I may have spent a few minutes watching someone cart lumber to the warehouse.
One recommendation I would give new players is always choose a story, for it has a good story about trying to return to the new world. The biggest factor to playing this over sandbox, is it acts as a sorta tutorial and helps you gain an understanding of how to build a working city. After I completed the story I will spend more time in the sandbox using the skills the story gave me. And some of the biggest lessons I've learned in the story is that resource management is key. Even though there is a ton of freedom In how you design your city and its layout, keeping an eye on resources and economy is key to making sure your city thrives. This is something I failed on my first tries as I was over eager to build the biggest city I could.
Overall this is a fully enjoyable game that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys city builder based games. As Anno 1800 is stunning to look at with comfortable controls and a good Ui, and a lot of little details that bring life to the game.
My Current City
