1404 or 1800?

[Lovecheese45]

Wanting to purchase an Anno game. Which would you recommend to someone brand new to the series? 1404 or 1800? I dont mind 1800 only being on the epic store.

[Moe]

same for me

[Moe]

dont buy on epic its 50% off on ubi

[Lovecheese45]

Originally posted by Moe:

dont buy on epic its 50% off on ubi

Thats what I meant, Ubisofts gaming platform. I ended up buying 1404 since it was 7 bucks. I'll prob get 1800 too

[Buntkreuz]

I also recommend 1701, its actually the best Anno in my eyes for a specific reason.

Yes its content isnt as much as in the later Annos, but it embraces gameplay freedom much more than any of the later ones.

You have two regions (southern and northern) but they dont have separate buildings and citizen levels such like Anno 1404 or 1800, but their difference lays in the Island layouts, their properties and their resources.


I ever felt like that was the more elegant solution, because it doesnt force me to build a fake civilization like the Orient or the areas in 1800, which only receive a very limited amount of goods, buildings and complexity.
To me all those side areas in the newer games felt like placeholders or gimmicks because they never turn out to be as complex and just end up being "deliverers" to the mainland.
In my eyes they never reached the potential of that idea.
How cool would it have been to be able to completely focus on the Orient in 1404 or the New World in 1800 and declare the other parts as substitutes, in other words, turn it around?


Anno 1701 though, doesnt do that and instead has different regions where you can build as much without any limitation but it allows a lot of experimentation.
You can decide to only settle in southern areas with lots of ore or in the northern areas with lots of food. Or you mix both together, try to get a monopoly on one or whatever.
In that way 1701 had much more freedom in terms of gameplay, where 1404 forced you to build an oriental City or otherwise you couldnt progress.
Anno 1800 at least leaves some of that optional by allowing to buy certain products from traders.
But all of the new regions still feel like lesser substitutes.
I even managed to play 1701 with only a small mining city on one island and simply sell goods to all players.
All the other Anno Games dont allow you to just play a neutral trader role that way and make it actually viable.


So with that explanation, 1701 is a great game and pretty much THE Anno that caused a major step forward.
Its gameplay is less limited and allows for more experimentation, its even possible to settle with several people on one island, while it also looks incredible.
Even the non-history edition looked great when i played it 2 years ago and since there are graphical enhancement softwares it looked even better.

If you are out to get the best Anno Games, then this is one recommendation to pick 1701.
All three (1800, 1404 and 1701) are strong for their very own reasons and play very different or are focussed on different areas.
And all three provide different playstyles and complexity.

[Kozzy]

1404 and 1800 are the best ones imo, played them all and they are all fun but those two I jus tlove. 1800 I have not uninstalled since it came out, it reminds me a ton of 1404 just with newer graphics and some more ideas. As the fellow above me mentioned, 1701 is also very good. 2070 is also the best of the futuristic ones. Enjoy

[James_the_1st]

Honestly either game is great. 1404 was the best, but after all the patches I can 1800 is better now overall. Unfortunately for 1404, it does not have the quality of life things that 1800 has such as mass copy paste, mass upgrade, blue printing and the statistics screen. This doesn't mean 1404 is bad, but these things stick out when I go back to it. I recommend going with which ever setting looks coolest first and just get them all if you like it. It's my favorite game series where I buy all of them anyway.

[Buntkreuz]

Agree, the quality of life things really stick out.
However, 1404 has better maps.
1800 Maps have too few islands and thus a lot of wasted space with water.
Thats mostly due to a change of combat to only naval battles (which feels worse) and having several maps.
But i prefer 1404s map with many islands and a lot of business over many rather empty maps in 1800.
The problem of 1800 remains, it stretches its content too much in quantity but thus never reaches the quality of older titles.
Sure, in 1800 you have more maps to play on, but none of them feel really important to play on or ever reach a stage of business the older games were known for.
1404 meanwhile even on the biggest maps has a lot going on and there are loads of islands to settle and build on.