Anno (game series)

Anno
developer	Max Design (1998–2004) Related Designs (2004–2012) Blue Byte , Mainz (since 2009)
Publisher	Sunflowers (1998–2007) Ubisoft (since 2007)
First title	Anno 1602 (1998)
Last title	Anno 1800 (2019)
Platform (s)	Windows , NDS , Wii , Android
Genre (s)	Business simulation , building strategy

Anno is the name of a computer game series from the business simulation genre that was initially developed by the Austrian developer Max Design and later by the German studio Related Designs . Sunflowers acted as publisher until 2007 , after which Ubisoft took over the publication.

In Anno games, the player leads an expedition to regions with many islands. Its job is to develop islands and to populate them. The main challenge is to satisfy all the demands of the population for goods.

So far, seven parts have been released for Windows , as well as offshoots for Nintendo DS and Wii .

Gameplay

The games in the Anno series are about building a prosperous city in regions with many islands. The player first starts on one of these islands or in a ship with raw materials and builds a small settlement. In order for the city to grow, the player must produce consumables such as food, clothing or jewelry. In order to get the necessary raw materials, it is necessary to colonize new islands early on. The complexity of these production chains increases significantly during a batch.

As a rule, the player does not settle in regions alone, but competes against up to three competitors. These have individual profiles and are either peaceful or bellicose. It may be necessary for the player to set up an army and a fleet to protect his islands.

Development history

At the beginning of the work on Anno 1602, the developer Studio Max Design was in financial difficulties, which was mainly due to a failed establishment of a sales office in Paderborn. Therefore the developers sought the support of the German publisher Sunflowers for their next game. Max Design presented two games to them in 1996: Tourist and Anno 1602 , which was then only called 1602 . After signing the publishing contract, the four-person team at Max Design continued work on Anno 1602 . The team consisted of Albert Lasser and Wilfried Reiter, who implemented the programming, while Martin Lasser and the newly hired Ulli Koller worked on the graphics for the game. Sunflowers works with the developers and designed scenarios and islands with 20 employees. Anno 1602 was presented at the ECTS trade fair in September 1997 and came onto the market on March 31, 1998, when the release date was planned. The first game in the Anno series sold between 2.2 and 4 million times.

When developing Anno 1503 , Max Design was faced with the question of whether the game world should remain two-dimensional like its predecessor or appear in 3D. Due to the hardware of the time, the team decided against a 3D world. The development team grew to ten people, but development took four years instead of the planned two years until it was released on October 25, 2002. The team had many problems with the previously advertised multiplayer, which was included in the data at the time of release, but did not work properly. In a later patch, the button in the menu was even completely hidden. Shortly after the add-on Treasures, Monsters and Pirates , work on the multiplayer was completely stopped in 2004. Due to the long delays, the relationship between Max Design and Sunflowers was shattered. They ended their collaboration and Max Design had to lay off ten employees in 2004.

Since Sunflowers had the naming rights for Anno, they commissioned the Mainz based studio Related Design to develop the next part of the Anno 1701 game series , which appeared on October 26, 2006. Up until that point, Related Designs was working on Anno War , a real-time strategy offshoot that never appeared. Since the team had no experience with building games, Wilfried Reiter was brought into the team for support, with over 50 employees involved in the development. With Anno 1701 , 3D graphics also became the standard for the game series. With this part, a functional multiplayer found its way into Anno, but the story mode had to wait until the release of the add-on The Curse of the Dragon .

During the development of the successor Anno 1404 , the publisher Sunflowers was taken over by Ubisoft, with the 30 percent share of Related Designs and the naming rights from Anno to Ubisoft.

Main series

Logo from Anno 1602

Logo from Anno 1503

Logo from Anno 1701

Logo from Anno 1404

Logo from Anno 2070

Logo from Anno 2205

Logo from Anno 1800

Anno 1602

→ Main article : Anno 1602

Anno 1602 is the first part of the series, which appeared on March 31, 1998 in German-speaking countries. It was conceived by the Austrian developer Max Design and published by Sunflowers .

The game laid down the basic principles on which the Anno titles are based to this day. Anno 1602 uses an isometric perspective and two-dimensional models for representation.

Anno 1503

→ Main article : Anno 1503

Anno 1503 is the second part of the series and was released on October 31, 2002. Like its predecessor, Anno 1503 was developed by Max Design.

In terms of play, the title builds on its predecessor. The economic cycles, which are now becoming more complex, have been expanded. The graphics engine received a major overhaul. Max Design also announced a multiplayer mode, but this was not implemented due to technical problems.

Anno 1701

→ Main article : Anno 1701

Anno 1701 is the third part of the series that appeared on October 26, 2006 in Germany. It is the first part that was developed by the Mainz based studio Related Designs.

From a technical point of view, Anno 1701 is the first part that breaks away from the isometric perspective and relies on three-dimensionally modeled objects.

Anno 1404

→ Main article : Anno 1404

Anno 1404 is the fourth part of the series and was released on June 25, 2009. Related Designs developed this game under the direction of the Blue Byte company , which is best known for the Settlers series and is responsible for all development projects that Ubisoft Entertainment carries out in Germany .

Anno 2070

→ Main article : Anno 2070

Anno 2070 is the fifth part of the series and was released on November 17, 2011. Related Designs developed this game under the direction of the company Blue Byte, which also developed Anno 1404 . This Anno part is the first to play in the future.

Anno 2205

→ Main article : Anno 2205

With Anno 2205 , Ubisoft announced the sixth part of the series on June 16, 2015, which was published on November 3, 2015. For the first time an Anno plays with the colonization of the moon partly outside the earth.

Anno 1800

→ Main article : Anno 1800

On August 22, 2017, Ubisoft announced the seventh part of the series with Anno 1800 . According to their own statements, developer BlueByte relies on a "community-oriented" development, in the process of which the players can vote on characters and game features and make comments, for example, as the opposite had led to major complications with the predecessor. This is done via the new developer blog ANNO UNION .

Anno 1800 was published on April 16, 2019.

Offshoot

Anno 1701

→ Main article : Anno 1701 (Nintendo DS)

Anno 1701 (in North America Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery ) is a console offshoot based on the title of the same name. It is the first title in the series to be released for the Nintendo DS mobile console. The game was developed by the Frankfurt studio Keen Games and published by Disney Interactive in summer 2007.

The game mechanics are similar to the Windows title Anno 1701 , but it has been made simpler in some places. The game offers a separate campaign for this.

Anno online

→ Main article : Anno Online

At Gamescom 2012, Ubisoft presented Anno Online on August 15, 2012 . With this further development of the Anno series, free-to-play was used for the first time. Closed beta started on October 8, 2012, and open beta started on February 26, 2013. Anno Online was discontinued on January 31, 2018.

Anno - Create a Kingdom

The free Android game Anno: Build an Empire is a continuation of the browser game Anno Online . In terms of appearance and content, it is based very closely on the original "Anno 1602". As in the PC game series, an early modern empire is built in the app and early modern metropolises are created that can be continuously developed.

Anno - create a new world

→ Main article : Anno - Create a new world

Anno - Create a New World was released in May 2009 and is an adaptation of the Anno game principle for the Nintendo DS and Wii , developed by Keen Games and Blue Byte . The average rating according to critify.de is 85/100 with 29 reviews for the Wii version and 84/100 with 19 reviews for the DS version. Metacritic calculated 81 out of 100 points for the English version of the Wii and 82 for the DS version.

reception

Meta-ratings

title	GameRankings	Metacritic
Anno 1602	74.12%	k. A.
Anno 1503	71.59%	74/100
Anno 1701	80.50% (NDS)	78/100 (NDS) 79/100 (Windows)
Anno 1404	82.11%	82/100
Anno 2070	84.77%	83/100
Anno 2205	70.96%	72/100
Anno 1800	78.08%	81/100

Rating in game magazines

Game magazines praised Anno 1602 . Most of the reports on the game appeared in German-speaking countries. GameRankings calculated a meta-rating of 74.12%. Testers wrote that the game concept was simple but fun and versatile. Individual magazines criticized the graphics, which were no longer up to date.

Even Anno 1503 was favorably received by the press. With a meta-rating of 71.59% in GameRankings, the ratings tended to be weaker. Since the game was very similar to its predecessor, the authors also named the same strengths of the game. Many innovations, such as the campaign or the expanded military section, on the other hand, were less successful. Other authors also complained about the lack of innovation.

In Anno 1701 , testers praised the successful further development of the predecessor from both a technical and a playful perspective. The strengths include, among other things, the diverse game options, the well-designed profiles of the computer players and the beautiful graphics. The game only has flaws in the sometimes tough multiplayer mode and in an initial phase that tends to be monotonous. There is also a lack of a coherent campaign.

On the fourth part, Anno 1404 , reporters took a positive view of the fact that the complexity had increased significantly compared to its predecessor. However, the increased demand is well distributed over the various levels of play, so that there is hardly any monotony when playing. However, customers in particular criticized the Tagès copy protection used . This causes technical difficulties on some systems and sometimes prevents the game from starting.

Anno 2070 has, according to the press, increased again in size, which is a hindrance in view of the number of buildings, as these can only be reached via nested menus. Nevertheless, the game is enormously addicting, as it offers a really new scenario for the first time.

Anno 2205 was generally positively received by the press, praised for its appearance and appreciated for the courage to change play elements. The changed game elements include sub-maps for the individual areas of a game (e.g. Arctic, Tundra and Moon), direct opponent contact only in designated battlefield areas, a combination of campaign and endless game, labor and logistics as a resource and the online world market for the sale of goods. The lack of possibility to save individual games and the combat system in general was criticized. Uplay is used as DRM .

Sales figures

In commercial terms, Anno 1602 was successful. With more than two million units sold, it is one of the most sold games in German-speaking countries.

Trivia

The year numbers of the individual Anno titles deliberately all have the cross sum 9 and are therefore multiples of this number.

Web links

• Anno website
• Anno at MobyGames (English)
• ANNO UNION - Anno 1800 Community Dev Blog
• Annowiki knowledge base

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The great Anno encyclopedia: Everything about the German hit series. In: pcgames.de. July 29, 2009, accessed November 10, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Martin Deppe, Benjamin Danneberg, Gloria H. Manderfeld, Nils Kruck, Heike Reiss: GameStar Black Edition "Anno 1800" 02/2019 . In: GameStar / Webedia Gaming GMBH (ed.): GameStar Black Edition . tape 02/2019 . Webedia Gaming GMBH, Munich May 22, 2019, p. 146 .
3. ↑ Anno 2205 - release date, beta info, moon colonization (GameStar, June 16, 2015, accessed on June 16, 2015)
4. ↑ Anno 1800 release date. Ubisoft, August 20, 2018, accessed August 21, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Anno Online builds in the browser . Golem.de . August 15, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
6. ↑ The closed beta tests start…. NOW! . October 8, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
7. ↑ Anno Online starts today in the Open Beta . February 26, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
8. ↑ Blue Byte GmbH: Anno Online. Retrieved January 29, 2018 . 
9. ↑ critify.de: Anno: Create a New World (Wii) , accessed 13 December 2009
10. ↑ critify.de: Anno: Creation of a New World (NDS) , accessed on December 13, 2009
11. ^ Meta-rating “Dawn of Discovery” (Wii). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed March 27, 2015 . 
12. ^ Meta-evaluation “Dawn of Discovery” (DS). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed June 28, 2015 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} meta-evaluation “Anno 1602”. In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed November 6, 2014 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b} meta-evaluation “Anno 1503”. In: GameRankings . CBS Corporation , accessed November 26, 2014 . 
15. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 1701”. In: Metacritic . Retrieved November 26, 2014 . 
16. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 1701” (DS version). In: GameRankings . CBS Corporation , accessed November 26, 2014 . 
17. ^ Meta-evaluation "Anno 1701" (DS). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed December 6, 2014 . 
18. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 1701” (Windows). In: Metacritic . Retrieved November 26, 2014 . 
19. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 1404”. In: GameRankings . CBS Corporation , accessed November 26, 2014 . 
20. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 1404”. In: Metacritic . Retrieved November 26, 2014 . 
21. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 2070”. In: GameRankings . CBS Corporation , accessed November 26, 2014 . 
22. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 2070”. In: Metacritic . Retrieved November 26, 2014 . 
23. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 2205”. In: GameRankings . CBS Corporation , accessed January 6, 2017 . 
24. ↑ Meta-evaluation “Anno 2205”. In: Metacritic . Retrieved January 6, 2017 . 
25. ↑ Meta evaluation “Anno 1800”. In: GameRankings . CBS Corporation , accessed April 24, 2019 . 
26. ↑ Meta evaluation “Anno 1800”. In: Metacritic . Retrieved April 30, 2019 . 
27. ↑ The great Anno history: From Anno 1602 to Anno 2070 - What makes Anno so successful? gamesaktuell.de, April 5, 2011, accessed on November 26, 2014 . 
28. ↑ 1602 AD - A real-time return to the colony building games of yore. IGN Entertainment, February 9, 2000, accessed November 26, 2014 . 
29. ↑ Heiko Klinge: construction sequel that doesn't quite match the original. GameStar, December 1, 2002, accessed November 26, 2014 . 
30. ↑ Bruce Gray: 1503 AD Review. GameSpot, March 25, 2003, accessed November 26, 2014 . 
31. ↑ ^{a b} Marcel Kleffmann: Test: Anno 1701.4players.de, November 2, 2006, accessed on November 26, 2014 . 
32. ↑ ^{a b} Stefan Weiss: Anno 1701. PC Games, accessed on November 17, 2014 . 
33. ↑ Heiko Klinge: Building hit from Ubisoft. GameStar, June 25, 2009, accessed November 17, 2014 . 
34. ↑ Mario Riemann: Anno 1404: From copy protection, TAGES, limited activations and Ubisoft support. PC Games Hardware, July 2, 2009, accessed November 17, 2014 . 
35. ↑ Martin Deppe: Anno dazubald. GameStar, November 16, 2011, accessed November 17, 2014 . 
36. ↑ Heiko Klinge: Anno 2205 - 5 important innovations and our alluded conclusion. GameStar, June 16, 2015, accessed February 25, 2017 . 
37. ↑ Heiko Klinge: The Annomaly. GameStar, November 2, 2015, accessed February 25, 2017 . 
38. ↑ Stefan Weiß: Anno 2205 in the test: The very pretty building strategy game brings us courageous innovations. Does that convince the fans? PC Games, November 4, 2015, accessed February 25, 2017 . 
39. ↑ Anno 1602 - The long-seller par excellence. spieleflut.de, February 12, 2002, accessed November 6, 2014 . 
40. ↑ Interview with Christopher Schmitz on GameStar