related-designs posts

Sometimes a game announcement sounds like its real when its a fake, like a number of April Fool's jokes that hit the internet. Other times a game announcement comes around that sound totally out there but in fact is totally real.

The latter case is what's happening with today's reveal of Anno 2070, the latest game in the long running strategy-trade sim series from developer Related Designs. If you can figure out that the "2070" in the title means that this series is leaving Middle Ages Europe behind for the future, give yourself a gold star.

Yes this series takes place in an era where the sea water is rising and there's less valuable land to go around. You can take up with the techno faction the Tycoons or the green faction the Ecos in this game which will have a single player campaign, a sandbox mode and unnamed multiplayer modes. Publisher Ubisoft plans to release Anno 2070 sometime in winter 2011.

This is the launch trailer for Dawn of Discovery, the recently released historical strategy game from publisher Ubisoft. While the game is in stores now you can still download a free demo right here at Big Download to see if you like the latest incarnation of the Anno series (as it is know in Europe).

Download the Dawn of Discovery Launch Trailer (206 MB) at Big Download

Last year Ubisoft announced it would be taking over the publishing duties of the long running Anno historical trading sim series. Today the publisher announced that the US release of the next game in the series, Anno 1404, would be given the title Dawn of Discovery for its US release this summer.

As with previous games in the Anno series, Dawn of Discovery is about expanding your Western civilization. The new game, set during the Middle Ages, concentrates on establishing trade with the Orient with other countries and learn about new technologies. In a bit of a departure from previous games in the series, Dawn of Discovery does not appear to deal with any kind of combat. Related Designs is once again handling the development duties.

[Via email press release]

It's one of the longest running historical strategy-building game series and now yet another new title is in the works. Ubisoft announced today that Anno 1404 is under development for release in March 2009. Several months ago Ubisoft announced that it was buying the Anno brand as well as a stake in its long time developer Related Designs.

The new Anno game in the series will break away from the Western world and check out the Orient for the first time. The title will have new customizable elements, along with bigger islands and worlds and a full sandbox gameplay mode. The Anno game series is highly popular in Europe but not as popular in the US. The series has had a variety of publishers in the States over the years and have ditched the "Anno" title in favor of the "A.D." name after the year of the game. There's no word yet if Ubisoft will do the same for Anno 1404.

Way back in October 2006, publisher Aspyr Media shipped 1701 AD to stores in the US. The historical empire building strategy game from German developer Related Designs (where it is known as Anno 1701) got a lot of critical praise at the time. Now Aspyr has officially announced plans to release a new edition of the game to stores this summer that will add some new content.

Via a press release found on Blue's News, Aspyr will release 1701 AD Gold Edition, which will have the full version of the previously released game along with The Sunken Empire, an expansion pack for the game that will make its US debut in this collection. The expansion adds a new single player campaign along with new AI profiles, buildings and a new natural disaster. The new collection will also contain a world editor that will allow folks to make new single and multiplayer maps for the game