Anno 1800

Creating a Ubisoft account to play this game is a pain.
On top of that, the first time you try to launch the game it asks for a CD key activation which doesn't exist.
The way to solve this issue is to close Ubisoft using the task manager and then relaunch the game...

If you read the negative reviews you might get an impression the only problem with this game is the annoying Ubisoft Connect app. Well, that's not true. There are much bigger problems, but to explain them, I'm gonna have to do a bit of background first.

Early Anno games like 1701 and 1404 established the franchise as a city-builder/management game with an emphasis on dealing with your competitors - diplomacy, (economic) warfare, espionage. And since Anno has always been primarily a single-player game, this means the emphasis was on dealing with the AI. Even though AI did mildly cheat, it overall played the same game as the player and was bound by the same rules. As such, it was entirely possible to cripple an AI competitor by harrassing its supply routes or denying critical resources, needed for progression.

However, for the last 10 years Anno has taken a new direction - that of a builder of a massive business empire that spans over multiple sessions or biomes, each often with its own distinct mechanics. Developers really liked this approach as it made Anno game very conducive to DLC and essentially turned it into a platform to be updated many years after release. The first true representative of this direction was 2205 and many Anno fans didn't like it for its radical departure from what made up the identity of the franchise.

1800 is a game that tried to please everyone by bringing back expanding AI competitors, diplomacy, warfare - while maintaining the game's overall identity as that of an empire builder. The outcome? Features that are nominally there, but are frustrating to engage with. You see, the AI in 1800 is not playing the same game as you. It's not bound by the same rules. It builds flamethrower towers in its harbours that shut down any attempt to defeat them by force long before it'd realistically have access to them. It settles biomes that have not even been discovered before. Disrupting its supply routes does nothing as there are no supply routes to begin with, so the only point to sinking ships becomes a chance of getting a piece of loot associated with this or that competitor.

As such, you are stuck between two disappointing choices - either play with AI competitors and embrace all the frustration and tedium that comes with that; or disable it and miss out on all the narrative, questlines, items and get the feeling of playing an empty, lifeless game.

The second major issue I'd like to tell you about is bloat. Over the years and 4 season passes 1800 has become a game about everything. A game about everything is a game about nothing, inferior in that regard to any "specialized" game with a distinct identity, one that knows what it is, and, more importantly, what it is not. But that's only part of the problem. 1800 overwhelms you with its mechanics and bombards you with notifications. NPC constantly want you to go on expeditions, build tractors barns for your fields, build a giant dockyard and do many other things, while you're trying to explore the game at your pace and figure out how it works.

Normally, when some systems is shown to be flawed, what developers do is a balance patch, sometimes a redesign. What Ubi Mainz does, however, is this approach where it slaps an entire DLC over the problem, providing a complete overkill of a solution and redefining how the game works. Some examples. Your ability to grow crops is limited by what kind of fertility your island has, encouraging you to expand, go to war with the AI for islands etc. Or you could just build a Hacienda that allows you to build magic farms that are better than normal one and grow anything with no regard for fertility. Perhaps you don't like having to juggle many production chains and supply routes to keep your population happy - and are disappointed with how limited and unreliable trading with AI is? Well, there's a DLC allows you to mass-produce one resource and then have a ship come and exchange it for other goods for you. Neat, isn't it?

Or, let's talk about the most cheaty DLC of them all. The most powerful thing in the game are specialists - they come in different tiers of quality, you put them into certain builds and they augment and/or change the rules of how respective production chains work. Some of those specialists are truly gamebreaking, allowing you to make half a dozen luxury goods from a chunk of iron ore. These are normally balanced out by having like a 0.093% chance to drop from an enemy ship, as a quest reward, as a random visitor to your island provided you went out of your way to make it a prime tourist attraction with museums, zoos and such. But what if there was a DLC that allowed you to get any specialist you want, guaranteed? Naturally, there is one.

All this bloat led to a game that is constantly at odds with itself. Originally it wanted you to earn money by supplying your people with goods. This days you can just buy goods at point A, ship them to point B and make millions, trivializing the money. There are also "scenarios" - basically a game within a game, with largely modified rules - which you can grind to earn currency you can spend in the shop called "grand gallery" which contains some overpowered specialists that you'll have access to every single game from the very beginning.

I could go on and exceed the character limit, but you hopefully get the point. Over the years 1800 has become everything from city builder to a pixel-hunting adventure to a visual novel. As a result, it's an incredibly exhausting game to play. The fact that I barely managed to get some 100 hours over 5 years as opposed to thousands speaks for itself.

Naturally, this makes me concerned about the next Anno game 117 as well. As much as I'd like to ask Ubi Mainz to make less ambitious, more focused games with greater emphasis on AI, I might as well ask them to stop making money - so I appreciate they'd probably refuse.

The game itself is not bad, mind, it's pretty and the impact of second industrial revolution with electricity and such on your towns is very impressive. So if you're eyeing this one right now, my best advice would be to stick to the base game and skip the DLC, as they mostly just bloat the game without meaningfully improving on it.

played the game awhile back, tried to reinstall and the game wont launch.

One of best Anno games i play, From late 1890 to early 1900 one of best setting of dath era. Waiting for Pax Romana

If you went into this game thinking it's a city building strategy (like me), you might be disappointed.

The game leans heavily into the resource management aspect and it's kind of difficult to make your city look pretty or realistic because everything has to fall into a functional square grid pattern.

Anno 1800 is a resource management game, not a strategy. Your only strategy is with whom to trade for resources and what island to colonize. There is a set build order for every resource and you have to have all the resources.

The campaign is okay but not great.

Anno IS the classic island discovery/colony builder game, I've have loved since the the 90's.

Game won't even start, asks for a non-existent CD key even with Ubisoft Connect. Garbage company, I will never buy another Ubisoft game again, I will just pirate them from now on.

I played for a bit and quickly lost interest. I gave it another try a month later and became obsessed. its become one of my favorite games.

TLDR; This is a very strong city builder and in my opinion the best entry in the ANNO Series, it is however attached to a crummy publisher.

the base game is quite good on its own but the core DLC's really do make it much better.

positives:
- Its Gorgeous to look at, excellent close detail and a first person mode the game dosnt tell you about. being able to hot-swap skins on your ships is also a excellent for variety.
- music and audio feedback is on point, this is true of most anno titles and 1800 lives up to its expectations
- its mechanically deep yet understandable. with endless things to do, especially with the all the DLC
- influence is a great mechanic it controls spamming.
- data screens are excellent, you can compare consumption and production rates between islands which take into effect all specialist bonuses.
- while it tends to be a net zero in terms of speed wind is a great mechanic.
- AI is relatively intelligent.
- it has a decent campaign

cons:
- the easy difficulty contains one medium AI which hits much harder them you would expect, she is known as a noob killer and can throw you off if you are trying to learn the game.
- combat, while present is fairly shallow.
- the burning status effect sticks around way to long on your units.
- you have to run this off Uplay with all the cons that brings, have fun with Uplay DRM.
- DLC pricing and the sheer number of them feels deeply predatory, if there is no sale you can pick everything up at time of this review for 500$ Canadian, there are some free promotions offered, and sales do happen but you have to be patient if you want everything while being able to make rent.

Ubisoft Connect logged me out without any reason. Stupid 3rd party service. Ubisoft sucks, they're a failing gaming company.

I can't play the game anymore. It's trying to login to some ubisoft crap that just crashes and the game I paid ALOT ofr with all the season passes and DLC I now cannot play... Ubisoft is the worst company ever to exist. I have same problem with all their games nowdays.. =(

Anno 1800 is a real-time city-building strategy game that marks a return to the historical roots of the Anno series after the futuristic detour of Anno 2070 and Anno 2205. Set during the dawn of the Industrial Age, it blends deep economic simulation, beautiful cityscapes, and intricate logistics systems to create a compelling strategy experience.

The core of Anno 1800 lies in its complex production chains, which require thoughtful planning and layout. From farming potatoes for schnapps to creating multistage chains for steam engines and canned food, managing resources across islands is both challenging and satisfying. You start in the Old World, but expanding to the New World is crucial for exotic goods like cotton, chocolate, and rum. Managing multiple regions with different climates and production needs adds strategic depth. City layout and beauty play a role beyond aesthetics, affecting attractiveness and tourism.

The game is visually gorgeous. Watching your city evolve from a muddy village into a bustling industrial metropolis is both relaxing and impressive. The ambient sounds and musical score beautifully support the 19th-century industrial vibe. Lightly narrative-driven, the campaign acts as a tutorial, guiding you through the basics while slowly unfolding a tale of family rivalry and empire building. The heart of the game — flexible, replayable, and endlessly engaging with random maps, AI factions, and customizable settings.

Anno 1800 is a masterclass in city-building and economic strategy. It successfully combines the charm of classic Anno titles with modern quality-of-life improvements and graphical fidelity. For fans of deep simulation and strategic planning, it's one of the best in the genre — and arguably the crown jewel of the Anno series.

9/10

Ever since I installed Ubisoft Connect snakes have begun manifesting themselves in my home physically.

The game is fine, but it isn't worth installing Ubisoft's platform to play it.

Ubisoft ruins their own games with their Ubisoft Connect crap. cannot start the game anymore, crashes out before it even opens.

Can't even launch the game. After working around the fact that the Ubisoft launcher that comes with the game is out of date by uninstalling/reinstalling Ubisoft Connect separately, and setting both the game and Ubisoft to launch as admin, I am now being told that I need an activation key, which Steam has never given me.

I've heard fantastic things about this game and would love to play it. I might come back if this ever gets fixed.

I would love to recommend this game... However;
- It is NOT cheap and neither are it's DLC.
- UBISOFT REQUIRES that you have downloaded UBISOFT Connect. Unfortunately, UBISOFT Connect has a horrendous problem with breaking and then the UBISOFT website is so dysfunctional that you can't download updates or reinstall it with the websites link to UBISOFT Connect... refreshing the page.
- Report these issues to UBISOFT including the issues with their own website... and nothing will happen.

This is an absolutely unacceptable and is a perfect example of paying for things you don't own, and ultimately won't even be able to use despite the money/time/investment you put into it.

I love this game. I purchased the Annoversary edition and as far as the game itself goes, I love it. I would never recommend it to anyone however, as having to deal with Ubisoft Connect isn't worth the money you pay. You get banned because the game runs Ubisoft Connect before loading the game, everytime you want to play, and then tries to log you in. If it fails, well, that counts as a failed connection. Start the game enough times and suddenly your account is Locked. They should have left well enough alone and let steam workshop handle the mods. It's just another way to try to inject ads. This is a really spendy game. Save your money.

Remember, your Ubisoft account can be easily hacked even with 2FA enabled. Support will not try to recover it, will not try to communicate with you, or explain anything, even when you're ready to provide all the proof that you have. They just say, "We can't recover your account, goodbye".

The game is overly complicated with too much delicate balancing spread across at least 2 maps. When you finally conquer an island by either economic or military power you get an empty island -- everything you thought you were fighting to capture just gets wiped away. Too dumb.

Cant stop building, always something new to do. Endless battle between efficiency and beautifacation.

Ubisoft is garbage i dont want your app on my computer i just want to play a game i pay for i wont be purchasing anything from ubisoft in the future

Pretty dumb so far... it's just like any other city builder. Fortunately I bought this at a crazy discount that costs me less than a coffee.

Because of the difficulties with Ubisoft, I have deleted this game from my computer and will never buy anothe product from Steam. You should give me a refund, but I know you won't.

Best city builder/resource management game. Runs smoothly on my non-gaming laptop, and is very replayable. Love the art!!

Love the fact that ubisoft activated the main game on my current uplay account and all my dlc's on an account I have not used in a decade.
Thanks Ubisoft I will be pirating your next game to make up for the loss.

Makes me go through Ubisoft connect, bought the game without looking at who made it, my bad. Can't get through the tutorial, it just won't let me build a building I need. Looked up, lots of people having the same problem, nobody seems to have the fix. Garbage game from a garbage company, refunding it.

It immediately installed Ubisoft malware on my computer when trying to only run the game. The Ubisoft malware would repeatedly demand permission to change my computer, sometimes four times in a row as I searched for ways to play without submitting my system to their ravenous software.

I eventually got into the actual game and was faced with unskippable screens :( The game started without WASD movement on the map which is a strange choice and a really boring campaign.

There are other strange choices, like how in most games of this nature, spacebar pauses the game. In this game, it brings up a map that was of no use early in the game. When I use my mouse to pause the game, instead of allowing us to examine the situation and make choices without time pressure, it just stops everything in the game, hiding dialog. Maybe casual gamers enjoy this trash?

You can tell modern Ubisoft developed this game by the way it plays. It wants you to play forever and at best play nothing else. At best you study 3 years in Ubisoft University, then you play Ubisoft Games as a Full-Time Job until you retire, although you obviously don't earn money playing them, you just pay.
I played for 16.8 hours and I probably wasn't even 5% into the game at this point. Maybe I just play it wrong. That was my experience anyway. It is fun, but I don't have the time to play it.

Frustrating Experience with Mandatory Malware-like Launcher!

This game forces you to install Ubisoft Connect, a Trojan-like launcher that fails antivirus checks and constantly crashes, preventing the game from launching. On top of that, the login process takes an absurd 5 minutes—unacceptable for 2025.

If I had known how poorly Ubisoft treats its customers, I would never have bought this product. Avoid unless you enjoy pointless technical headaches.

Overall a great game, but entirely ruined by the awful menu system and selection mechanics

Game looks good, but Ubisoft Connect is nightmare. Everytime you start a game you have to login... or, like now it doesnt start at all and I have to restart my PC.

i wanted to like this game but as a single-player i do NOT recommend. The AI just straight up cheats (they have no economy! in a game about economy and trading....) with zero attempt to hide it, makes single player feel pointless

Remember, every game that Ubisoft requires you to use their online services and have an internet connection to play, runs the risk of being removed and made permanently inaccessible in the future. They don't care about their games or gamers as a whole so why should you care about them and their products?

Avoid even in a deep sale.

You should't need a third party launcher to be able to play games sold on steam. Ubisoft Connect is a cancer.

Once I would love to play this game. I was just trying to bypass next NON STEAM login screen.
After buying this game developer or reseller wants me to use another login... is this a bank volt?

At first glance, a fascinating take on a RTS. Enjoyed playing for a few hours then quickly realized that it is completely unrealistic and a rat-treadmill kind of game. Initially, I noticed the AI go full Godmode, and figured I just sucked at the game, but eventually I realized the AI either has no resource constraints or straight up cheats. Then I struggled to figure out why with tons of people, I wasn't making any money; you are only paid taxes by unemployed citizens, rather than citizens you already have. As soon as a worker finds a job, they stop paying you. Eventually, you just have to have tons of unemployment in order to be in the black, which in turn raises the amount of industry needed. I get it, you need some mechanic to move forward in the game, but this one just made me frustrated. All citizens should pay you, not just unemployed ones.

You have to be loged in Ubisoft to be able to play this game. I cant start it offline and Ubisoft is not able to remember my log in dates. In other words I have to write them down manually everytime.

Too many things to manage, making it unplayable. Steep learning curve, crappy tutorial.

playing this game through the ubisoft connect launcher is like crawling through a mile of barbed wire to get to a steak dinner. it's just not worth it at all

Ubisoft Connect is a disaster. Quite often, with this game, or any other Ubisoft game, I must try to start the game a dozen times, before it finally starts. Even launching the game directly from the Ubisoft Connect app fails. Steam/Valve NEEDS to contract with Ubisoft to remove Ubisoft Connect as a requirement. No other publisher has this problem when launching. I PAID for the game. I expect to PLAY the game.

Amazing game, but because it requires Ubisoft Connect in order to launch a game I own, then I must downvote this game. Fuck ubisoft

This game is like baby's first factory game and city builder combined. it's extremely good for a ubisoft game.

Anno 1800 is timeless and I wholeheartedly support Ubisoft behind this franchise.

The game is dynamic, the characters are very individual and have their own personalities and strategies. Each play through is unique, enjoyable, and difficulty can be tailored to your play style.

This is a game you can easily get addicted to and spend 4-8 hours at a time enjoying.

Ubisoft has also incorporated a wonderful mod-friendly browser into the base game! You literally click a few buttons to install free mods to the game. Its wonderful! No micro-transactions! The mods mostly incorporate either new features or entirely new building skins. What a wonderful community for people to develop and share their creative ideas!

I would really like to see Ubisoft incorporate (Optional) donation transactions into the mod download process. I would love to give $2 -$10 for a mod creator that has obviously put countless hours and creativity into their work. The mod creators deserve a user friendly method for donation, and I imagine this would greatly increase the followers and strength of the Anno 1800 community.

Your help request: Refund Request - The game doesn't start when I try to launch it

I can't get Ubisoft Connect and Steam to work together and thus the game won't open from Steam. I bought the Steam version because I hate Ubisoft Connect hoping to get around it, but it's pointless because I can't play it on Steam without connecting to Ubisoft. But even knowing that now, it still won't work for some reason. Please just refund me.

Doesn't work without an active internet connection

You can't change binding for moving camera freely which by default is mouse scroll wheel

Might be the best game I ever played, but that is just current high. Definitely the best I have played in the last 5 years. So much content atm and so much fun!

DO NOT BUY - UBISOFT is a garbage company, It was nothing but headache attempting to play this. If you like the game buy if from UBISOFT's own launcher.

this game is so bloody good its like tropico, kingdoms reborn, and economics all in one. you can easily kill like 6 hours in one sitting and the game even acknowledges this, saying things like "you've played for 6 hours straight, you should go eat some food" which is a pretty neat touch. absolutely worth it on discount (i mean why would you not buy a game going for $8 if its normally priced $90??)

edit: just found out theres a 10 hour straight one "time flies, (something about suggesting to take a nap), there is no time based achievement here"

Difficult, but fun. Combining many themes of the Victorian era with Steampunk across a number of locales from the Old World to the New (Americas / Africa).