Anno 1800 takes place in the 19th century at the dawn of the
Industrial Age. Like other
Anno games,
Anno 1800 is a city-building and strategy game. While it is set in the context of
colonial trade, the featured architecture is
Victorian era and the economic engine is
factory labour. The core gameplay of
Anno 1800 takes place in the Old World, where the needs of the
citizens, workers and
artisans are central to the management of
production and
supply chains. A parallel New World city exists, which produces products that
laborers in the Old World want to purchase, thus
trade routes need to be established. Unlike its colonial 18th century predecessor
Anno 1701, the game has a blueprint feature that helps the player to plan out the city. The game also features a story campaign, a
sandbox mode, and
multiplayer mode. Like
Anno 2205, the game features multisession gameplay, though unlike its predecessor, combat and city-building sessions are not separated.
Anno 1800 integrates into a classic
city-building game featuring randomly generated
maps and
trade routes,
artificial intelligence (AI) opponents that build on the same map as the player, and
naval warfare. The attractiveness rating of
Anno 1800 grapples with the impact of
industrialization on the
population. With every factory the city's attractiveness rating falls and the rating of the area around an emerging
industrial zone is also affected.
Tourists contribute to the city's income and will flock to natural land, local festivities, and various decorative ornaments, but dislike
pollution, local unrest, and noisy or smelly industry. The
blueprint mode of
Anno 1800 is one of the new additions to the series. It helps the player by allowing them to plan out their city with silhouetted blueprint buildings, without immediately spending valuable resources on actually constructing them. If a player has insufficient resources the blueprint building can be placed on the city map for later construction. Once planning is done and the necessary resources are gathered, each blueprint building can be built with a single click. While in
Botanica Botanical Gardens can be built to increase city attractiveness,
The Passage allows the player to
sail the
Northwest Passage on the way to the
Arctic Circle.
Sunken Treasure offers a new map with a huge island on which the player can build a gigantic city, and special items to boost their industry to sustain that city. In 2020, Season 2 introduced a further three DLC packs.
Seat of Power lets the player choose which
policies will influence the
settlements in the vicinity of a
palace. The
Bright Harvest DLC introduces
tractors and
workforce reduction. In
Land of Lions the player travels to a region inspired by the
Horn of Africa, known as Enbesa, navigate
social class and build an
irrigation system to counter
water shortage. In 2021, Season 3 introduced three more DLCs.
Docklands allows the player to turn their city into a global trade hub with a modular
warehouse system and use trade contracts to create a
monopoly on player's favorite goods.
Tourist Season introduces the new Tourist resident tier to city's
hotels and keep them entertained with
restaurants and bus tours of
hotspots.
The High Life implements the construction of the first
skyscrapers helping keep
investors happy with
shopping malls and the construction of the game's biggest monument, the Skyline Tower. In 2022, Season 4 saw the release of a further three DLCs.
Seeds of Change focused on bringing
Haciendas to the
New World,
Empire of the Skies brought rigid airships and mail service to the game.
New World Rising introduced a new tier of population, the Artistas, who require new and changeling production chains, such as
fans and
scooters. These DLCs focused more on the
New World, in contrast to Season 3 which was more focused on the
Old World. In addition, these three DLCs each came with their own custom scenario, each containing new challenges and unique gameplay experiences. In addition to the 4 seasons, Anno 1800 had many minor cosmetic DLC that added new skins for buildings or decorative ornaments. == Distribution ==