Anno 1800

WayTooManyGamesThomas Medina

9.5/10

After Anno 2070 and Anno 2205, the general consensus was that the series had run its course. Both games had some interesting ideas, but they were forgotten among the uncalled for removal of the series’ staple features and the unnecessary streamlining of what was left. The sudden futuristic turn for a series that prided itself on its historical settings didn’t do the games any favors either.

Anno’s core strength is the cities that it allows you to create. Sometimes it does feel more like a puzzle game than a simulator, as you desperately try to figure out how to give your most demanding residents access to everything they crave. However, the satisfaction of doing it well is almost incomparable for the genre. I am a firm believer that simulation games, at their best, teach you about real-world jobs, processes, and social/cultural/environmental dynamics, whether that be flying a plane, driving a train, running a hotel or building a city. Anno does that, and it presents players wit…

Playstation UniverseNeil Bolt

8.5/10

Anno 1800 is a fine addition to PS5’s roster of city builders. It takes aspects of several prominent sim titles and mixes them together to make something fresh and exciting. Fittingly, Anno 1800 rules.

IGNCharles Singletary Jr

8.1/10

Anno 1800 is a grind at times, but those moments of “eureka” when I’d figure out production rhythms and layouts that kept me operating in the green were delightful. It toes a difficult line of welcoming strategy gaming novices while also providing gameplay that experienced tacticians can maximize, with a well-crafted story-based campaign adding on to an already tried-and-true sandbox formula. It’s a beautiful game to look at as well with only one minor issue that you have to really focus in on to see. Outright newcomers to this type of game will have a tough go at it, as important elements of ...

WCCFtechChris Wray

8/10

There seems to be a trend now that games have expanded a little too far, seemingly can't look any further outwards and they're going back to their roots. They're polishing these up and making them the best, most absorbent, roots in the history of roots. It's with these roots that series are hoping to capture the past glories that made them fan-favourites, that brought them the fame and success and essentially made them the series' we know today. I'm not talking about a forest of trees, but there's certainly some sort of analogy to be found in the spreading of roots to the spreading of your set...

DestructoidJosh Tolentino

8/10

This leaves us with Anno 1800, a refined city-building game with a delectably savory approach to logistics optimization, a lovely core aesthetic, and a time-devouring rhythm. For me, that’s worth the cost of a historical anachronism or two.

ShackNewsSam Chandler

8/10

Despite the constant stress of trying to balance my reach against the happiness and budget of my city, I found a beautiful experience in Anno 1800. It has a real soul to it, as it demands the player care about not only the raw efficiency of a city layout, but the health and wellbeing of a population that wants more out of life.

GameWatcherBogdan Robert Mateș

8/10

Increasingly complex yet approachable, Anno 1800 is an excellent entry in the long-running city building series that both challenges but also leaves space to admire one’s handiwork.

COGConnectedAlexander Thomas

79/100

Developed by Blue Byte, Anno 1800 is the seventh entry into the Anno series and returns to a simpler time in history at the beginning of the industrial age. You’ve probably played many real-time strategy city builders in the past, but Anno 1800 sets itself apart from the pack with mechanical tweaks that give it a fresh new face and a logical series of developments and expanding tech trees to help build your empire.

VG247Mike Williams

Gotta get back in time.

Checkpoint GamingOmi Koulas

Unscored

Anno 1800 returns the prestigious strategy and city-management series to its incredibly addictive historical roots. After two mediocre Sci-Fi iterations, Blue Byte’s newest edition is set within the romanticised 19th Century Industrial Revolution. Staple city-building, trading, naval mechanics and new tourism, propaganda, and quest features craft what may be the best Anno title of all-time.

Rock Paper ShotgunNate Crowley

Unscored

Ultimately, I wouldn’t go into criticism this detailed if I didn’t think this was a game worthy of it. Anno 1800 could have been any one of a hundred shades of mediocre, and I would have had a much lighter, breezier time talking about it. But whether I end up adding it to my list of perennial must-plays, or retiring it in despair at the whimsical capering of Captain Bumeggs, it’s an undisputed heavyweight, and an experience I’d recommend to anyone.