Game

The Settlers: New Allies brings a fresh yet familiar experience to the 30-year-old series


The road to debut was a chaotic one especially for Settlers: New Allies. After an 8-year absence, the next installment in Ubisoft’s beloved city-building series is finally revealed in 2018just to be indefinitely delayed two years later. The game after that reappeared in a new form in 2022, but the not-so-favorable reception from longtime fans of its closed beta made the game indefinitely postponed again.

12 months later, The Settlers: New Allies is even better for it. A lengthy delay is never an easy decision, however the team at Ubisoft Düsseldorf (formerly Blue Byte) saw this additional development time as an opportunity to reach those most familiar with the series story. “We learned [more] than what’s needed for the game,” creative director Christian Hagerdorn told me during a recent preview event. “One of our biggest focuses is being completely transparent with players. Not only about where we are, but also about where we are going. We gathered feedback as we were developing.”

It shows. The Settlers New Allies is in a more polished and focused state than the beta I played last year. Pay special attention to the economy of the game. The research tree has been overhauled from the ground up. Returning buildings, such as the jungler, add the extra depth needed for settlement management. And the addition of bandits, strategically placed on multiplayer maps, prevents players from resorting to hasty tactics to finish PvP games in a matter of minutes, an issue that has plagued players. beta last year.

The result is a faster, streamlined version of The Settlers, one that is both based on its past and forward-looking. This is shaped largely the same settlement management game you remember, but modernized and refreshed.


Mines in Settlers: New Allies
Discovering coal and iron sources is essential to equipping your soldiers.

This is most evident in the game’s campaign. I’ve played through the two opening missions as well as a late game scenario and (ignoring the confusing dub) it’s actually shaping up really well. The initial levels revolve around building a working settlement, tasking you with setting up efficient production lines. Woodcutters cut trees, sawmills turn them into planks, stonemasons provide bricks, and toolmakers combine them all into the – surprise tool – surprise, a vital resource needed to build buildings. more complex structure. Set on a lush tropical island surrounded by a jade-green ocean, these original missions offer a relaxing introduction to the game’s most important economy. There’s plenty of time to plan your next move, and I’ve spent most of my time zooming in to watch the Settlers in my name go about their day. Every resource is displayed individually, allowing you to track the trunk from the moment it’s cut down until it’s converted into an all-important tool. Everything is meticulously animated and satisfying to watch, your elves farming the land, pulling coal out of its depths and venturing into the unknown to uncover the unknown. unique point of interest.

If mission 2 is a pool break in Barbados, mission 9 is being tricked behind a Birmingham revel. Attacked at the end of the campaign, I was immediately attacked from both sides of my highly exposed starting position. Panicking, I was thrashed before I had a chance to react and was forced to restart. Thankfully, the second time around I was better prepared. I got to work setting up my defenses as soon as my second mission was up, the combination of bait and turrets helped me survive the initial onslaught. With the threat of attack hanging over my head, I rushed to set up optimized production processes to recruit more soldiers. It was an intense test of efficiency, forcing me to interact with familiar systems in a more interesting way. Those bandits were quick, often burning down my mines and farm before I could turn the iron into a weapon, but I was determined to persevere. Sadly, my time ran out before I could directly fight the bandits, but I was hooked. The campaign isn’t messy and I’m happy to watch it through.


Combat is familiar to other real-time strategy games like Age of Empires and includes all the unit management mechanics you’d expect from a game of that genre.

Of the three missions available, I have controlled two factions in the game: Elari and Jorn. Both are visually distinct (the Jorns are a Viking-like person, while Elari’s buildings and clothing resemble those of Western Europe) and also boast unique abilities and characteristics that make them becomes more and more different. Hagerdorn explains: “The Jorns are more adept at certain machines that help them fight faster. “The Elari are much better at building houses and bakeries so they can produce a faster population and a higher population cap. And the Maru are well versed in defense.”

I was also intrigued by the way New Allies’ approached the idea of ​​a foreign culture settling on lands that weren’t theirs. The shadow of colonialism hangs over the opening moments of the game (after all, you start when a faction inspired by Western Europe rushes to find resources to help you boost your military power) ) but the new Allies are not attacking the people who already live here. Instead, the campaign focuses on cooperation, bringing together an opposing force that threatens everyone. “We came to the conclusion that we didn’t want to be seen as the side that brought war into new lands,” Hagerdorn told me. “It’s about hope. It’s about finding common ground. It’s about working together despite our differences and not fighting over them.”

Before we wrap up, Hagerdorn introduced me to the game’s recently revealed hardcore mode. Here, the player is presented with three challenges of increasing difficulty, each using one of the game’s skirmish maps as a base. Each task has a different goal and a set of modifiers that change things up dramatically. Defeat enemies in 45 minutes. Producing a large quantity of a particular item. Maybe the map doesn’t have any coal, instead forcing you to buy resources through trading. It was a great exploration of the more subtle nuances of the new Allied mechanics, and I had fun scrambling to conquer my opponents in a tight time limit. Even playing the easiest scenario, the difficulty mode tested me significantly more than the later levels of the campaign. The quests are not randomly arranged but manually generated, and more will come after the game’s launch.


Tower repels invaders in The Settlers: New Allies
Towers are a lifeline against invading forces, especially during the campaign. No pictures: I’m sweating more and more as gangs of bandits relentlessly try to burn my coal mines to the ground.

“It is very important to us to deliver an experience that [allows] Hagerdorn said: “Hardcore was born from the idea of ​​’What if we gave them a manual experience that greatly increased the challenge, but it was made for fun?’. It’s great to see the opportunities that lie behind changing one of the rules or adding a little bit of pressure.” While other games of the same genre see increasing difficulty as making enemy AI faster and stronger, the hardcore mode instead enhances the player’s knowledge of the game. play. Thankfully, quests can be played as many times as you like and support both save states and the ability to tackle them with friends. “Almost [hardcore mode] Hagerdorn explains: “It’s about figuring out how I can do this better? It’s not about how I got hit, but how can I prevent this from happening? how can i do better next time?and then something flashes inside you and you have the solution and you move on, or you load your saved game and you say ‘this time I see. I’ll do this, this.’ It all works out and you feel much better about yourself.

One detail of the hardcore mode causes a slight concern. Your quests are refreshed every seven days, but can be redone soon using shards, a currency that is rewarded for completing various in-game activities. Shards are one of two in-game currencies, with Hagerdorn assuring me that both are only used for cosmetic items such as trophies, avatars, and skins that can be applied to buildings house and unit. It’s relatively inconsequential, therefore, but what’s worrisome is how this aspect of the game will reach fans who have decided on how the New Allies counter their favorites in the past. past.


Hardcore mode is very interesting. Here’s me trying – and failing – to burn down an enemy warehouse with only three units and 26 seconds left on the clock.

For what it’s worth, as a longtime fan, I really enjoyed what I played in New Allies. In its pre-release form, it’s a sleek and modern take on the classic Settlers recipe, and the Hardcore mode is a fun addition that I can see myself spending a lot of time on. It seems, at least at this stage, to strike a pleasant balance between relaxed city builder and fast-paced RTS. It’s a unique way, and I’d love to explore more once the game comes out in a few weeks.

There is a sense of discomfort around many of the delays that have affected the new Allies. Currently set for a 2023 release, this year marks the 30th anniversary of The Settlers’ original debut. It’s been a big year for the series, and as a longtime fan of all things Settlers, Hagerdorn is proud to find himself working on the game’s newest entry at the landmark. this importance in its long history. “There is something quite unique about the settlers that really left their mark on strategy games,” he told me. “It’s always been a topic people want to see more of, and we’re happy to be here to deliver that theme again. Capturing that spirit and bringing it to the modern age is a huge satisfaction.”


A group of Ubisoft employees under the name ABetterUbisoft are still active for the company to do more work after the summer of 2020 allegation and disclosure Harassment and discrimination are common. More than 1,000 current and former Ubisoft employees signed an open letter demanding reform. Finish 200 days laterthe team still says “None of our requests have been met and management refuses to participate.”

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