Found out Anno 1800 actually added a first person camera, allowing you to walk the streets of your city. Not just the low to the ground postcard mode, actual first person, footsteps included lol.

Thanks for the informative review. For most of it I'm thinking "This is just a rehashed Anno 1404, except prettier". And I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER. I love that game so much and did not care for the futuristic water one. Then you delve into some cool new feature, so it's not just rehashed. It's like 1404 plus more, which makes me happy. I guess it's 396 more to be exact! Looks lovely and I will buy it off the back of this review, which has restored my faith that they're back to their winning ways.

A very nice review, I appreciate that you explained your background before starting.

A good, solid review. Thanks for helping me decide if I should buy this game or not, it's downloading right now!

Can’t agree more with the UI design you mentioned. I was having fun even watching those videos.

I love the Anno games. They're consistently great, well polished and fun to play

Imagine if u where king in country, u had to do all of this without seeing from the bird perspective xD

Top notch review. Will wait for a price drop though, still quite expensive here in Australia.

Great review, playin it right now (first city builder) and you nailed the part about UX/UI design that no other reviewer has talked about. My only gripe is how combat feels a bit hit and miss, with your ship A.I sometimes not reacting quickly enough and the whole direction commands of boats is not the best (I wish I could follow them automatically).

I'm really happy to see that they added sandbox mode back into the game. It looks like they've added a lot of fun mechanics as well which I hope will help keep the game interesting. As with all Anno games, it looks gorgeous but I was really hoping they'd add a better snapping/grid system (think Cities Skylines style) to give you more creativity in road and building/city layout. Another thing is combat, it's never been the strong point but even a simple ground based combat even as an option would be a great addition but I understand that has never really been a big selling point of their games. Also, mod support, even in a basic fashion would inject so much replay-ability and longevity into the game. Great review as always PE, much appreciated.

I played the open beta and just had to have it. I've been wanting a new city builder like this for quite some time!

great review. Bought a copy because of the review.

Great review. Professional and informative

I had a ridiculous amount of fun with this game, and I hope that comes across! If nothing else, I hope the review helps you make a call on picking the game up or not. Just a heads up that the Humble Bundle link is no longer active - seems that Anno 1800 has been pulled from the Humble Store, which is too bad!

Its interesting that you chose the same house layout i did. The 3x2 setup seemed optimal to me for a reason i dont really understand because it technically just wastes space as house location is functionally irrelevant.

Very good review, thanks for this. Game looks indeed great.

1701 was my first experience with this series and I've always liked it since (except 2205, which could have been good but tried to change too much imo). It's such a unique game, half city builder, half factory game with the production chains.

not sure if I'm going to buy this but I want some cake now

Hey Party are you getting a copy of the new Warhammer II DLC early for your let’s plays and review? I still haven’t purchased it yet wanted to get your take on it first.

Love your reviews! Will you do one for the new Warhammer total war dlc releasing in a few days?