Who doesn’t want to play God? It’s the ultimate power fantasy that allows us to imagine far beyond the limits of our day-to-day lives. Some games give us God by putting us in the role of overpowered heroes in run-n-gun shooters or high fantasy RPGs. There’s more to being a deity than invulnerability and endless lives, however. There’s the invisible man in the sky experience, looking down on your creations with a mix of benevolence, ambition, and curiosity. City builders are perfect for this, giving you control of an entire society with eyes on building an empire.
Ubisoft’s Anno 1800, which just came to Xbox Game Pass on May 1, delivers this kind of omnipotent experience. A detail-oriented city sim set during a Victorian-esque industrial era, players colonize small islands full of resources and turn them into thriving little hubs of commerce. Soaps and sausages give way to steel and shipbuilding as the constant stream of upgrades pull you into that “just one more turn” feeling.
Let’s get one thing out of the way. This is not a “streamlined” port that waters down the experience. The core game is intact. You’re still laying out production chains for soap and schnapps, balancing the needs of your growing population, and building intricate trade networks across multiple islands. The console version includes nearly all the systems PC players enjoy, including the New World expeditions and multi-tiered citizen classes. What’s more impressive is how these systems have been translated to a controller-based interface.
The most remarkable achievement here is the completely redesigned UI. City builders are infamous for their information density, and Anno 1800 is no exception. Yet on console, menus are clean and snapping between categories is easy. Even the tooltips are surprisingly informative. A radial menu system replaces the more traditional drop-downs. It feels surprisingly intuitive. You can quickly flick between the view of buildings, production lines, and the island without ever feeling lost in a sea of menus. While managing large-scale logistics is always going to be a bit easier with a mouse, Ubisoft has minimized the friction to an admirable degree.
Of course, what makes Anno 1800 shine isn’t just the competent port — it’s the game itself. This is one of the most satisfying city-building experiences available on any platform. There’s a steady and rewarding loop of expansion, optimization, and planning. You’re constantly juggling the needs of your citizens, the constraints of space, and the demands of trade. When you finally crack the code on a complex production chain or pull off a successful expedition to the New World, it’s genuinely rewarding.
The console version also makes it easier to kick back and enjoy the ride. There’s a meditative quality to watching your city come to life. The smoke rises from your factories and horses clip-clop in the streets while the ships are sailing in and out of port. For console players who may not have had access to the genre's finer entries, Anno 1800 is a revelation: proof that deep simulation can thrive outside the realm of mouse-and-keyboard.
Anno 1800 runs smoothly, with stable frame rates and crisp visuals. The islands are lush with details that lend the world a living, tactile feel. Zooming in on your city offers a remarkable level of fidelity, even on a TV. Load times are brisk, and save management is seamless, which helps maintain the flow during extended play sessions. Things may slow down a bit as you hit the upper limits of your empire and have multiple islands to manage, but for the most part the experience is good.
Ultimately what it comes down to is whether or not these types of deeply detailed sim games meet your tastes and your schedule. Anno 1800 is not a game that can be meaningfully conquered in thirty minute bursts. If you’re new to the series, and especially the genre, the learning curve will take a few hours before the dopamine rush sets in. There is a campaign mode that will help acclimate more patient players, but if you’re eager to dive in, a few YouTube tutorials about sandbox mode is the quickest path to enjoying what the game has to offer.
