Anno Online mixes SimCity and Civilization (Beta Keys Inside)

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As we stare at the metropolis of Kaysershaven – created by Anno Online’s fictional character Lord Northburgh, who guides you through the game’s tutorial – we can’t help but feel overwhelmed. His city is a thriving, well-planned sprawl of stone buildings, bustling marketplaces, and grand churches. Our settlement, on the other hand, is a dirty smattering of houses nestled between a forest and a stretch of coastline. We feel like simple country folk, and – even though he’s just a collection of sprites sat in our browser – we swear Northburgh is looking at us with distain.

Such is life at the start of Anno Online, a free-to-play city-builder that you can play inside your browser. We’ve been nurturing our fledgling empire for a few hours now, and the complexity is quite staggering. Not only do you have to carefully plan where you place buildings to make sure they’re all making the most of available resources, but you also have to ensure they’re part of an efficient supply chain. Place a residence too far from a church, for example, and settlers will refuse to move in because you’re not satisfying their spiritual well-being. As you dig deeper into the game, new residents become more and more picky – the price of a more civilized society.

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