It's mind blowing that the managers really directed their team to make this travesty. Can you imagine being so arrogant that they thought it would work? They could have just made the game we actually wanted and taken the mickey with the monetisation and we'd have taken it just to get a good game.
At this point people would be happy if they just remake 3 or 4 with this engine. After that they could "experiement" with new ideas (turn in to a console game) if they want if that is thier agenda.
A few things I missed from the review due to the list of bad things being so damn long... The annoying tannoy voice you get all the time during the game, every time you spot an enemy you get this tannoy saying "Enemy in sight" if you watch the last 60 seconds of the video you can here it spamming all the time in the background. Also you don't get the control over your supply chain that you used to get, for example set percentages of things you need crafting or set specific numbers, things like geologists and pioneers are now gone and replaced by engineers. You also don't need to craft tools for the different trades, they are now born with the correct tools in their hands. It's all dumbed down, am so peed off :(
You said you loved settlers 3 and 4, have you tried them with "Settlers United" they added a few things to make it a better playing experience, and HD patch for settlers 4 that looks beautiful! and also easy multiplayer, I see people playing all the time. you should check it out. PS I love your reviews!
You mean that they unlearnt the lesson that they learned when they dumbed down Anno 2205 from Anno 2070, so much so that the brought back the complexity in Anno 1800.
It seems that gaming diversifies, there are plenty of ultra complex games out there, and people actual dont want games like this, so the blame tis more in Ubisoft
The director of the game said early last year that they had to redesign the game as the gameplay systems they originally designed were overcomplicated. Everything nowadays has to be made so even an infant can solve it, having to engage in critical thinking is too hard for everyone's feeble little brain meats.
@@MarekSurman Because even though action games(Souls style and similar games) that are hard to play can actually sell well, strategy games specifically are not selling for massive money for various reasons. One of those reasons, it's because they are hard to play. If companies don't see huge numbers like in their other games, they don't put more money/effort.
It's just so damn frustrating to live in what I would argue is a golden age of enthusiast hardware(yea, prices aren't great; but we have an ABSURD amount of horsepower available to us now) - while the game devs are putting out straight TRASH. I don't give a damn about how "pretty" the new game looks with insane FPS, because it's a trash game, come the hell on.
@@RyTrapp0 I was ready to click buy for an insane price of $59.99, then while watching a guy on Twitch getting constantly frustrated with clogged up roads. That was a major deal breaker for me. His people were running congested conga lines going nowhere, and couldn't create a second road lane as it wanted to merge together. This is a definite hard pass.
There was passion then. The fall happens in every industry. The capitalists/money men eventually take over the company, and all the people who made it great either cash out, get pushed out or join them. Now their only purpose is to extract as much money in as short of time as possible from their customers. Nothing more. It's no wonder this game was set up to be like Clash of Clans with that fake currency store.
I played this game in beta and the responses from the testers where along the same lines as you have said. It seems to have been made with a focus on pvp battles and ranked battles ie build and army quick and attack the other guy. It was delayed after the beta because of the bad reception and it looks like nothing has changed.
because if you want change you have to fire the idiot managers who decided what this game should be first , i always wonder how the hell they get their jobs
The irony of it all is that the multiplayer doesnt even work properly as of now and that was their main reason to change the 2019 version to this garbage of a game
saw some streamers the other day, it seems that the only thing that changed is that they placed more AI camps in between players so it will interrupt your ability to early game rush your opponent.. I played the beta too, was so disappointed, surprised after cancelling a dozen games, they thought this might still work..
I have fond memories of The Settlers on the Amiga back in the day and was hoping to revisit the glory days in this latest version. Sadly not to be. Thank you for saving us the trouble and the coin of finding out how far this franchise has fallen. So disappointed.
The Settlers creator, Volker Wertich, has formed his own studio and is making the game this pile of garbage was initially intended to be. Look up Pioneers of Pagonia.
Settlers 7, which is quite old and probably cheap, is good and will bring back memories. I payed 500 SEK ($50) around 94-95 for Settlers 1 when I was 13 or so and played it to bits. My save game name is still used as my wifi password at home. :D
@@Swwatter Settlers 2 is great. Anniversary edition is great also. My favorites are 2 and 3. So different, yet so good. 7 was great also, although i was not a fan at first. Visual design is amazing though.
@@Swwatter i think it was the greatest, but this is just down to style of play - 3 & 4 were good too but i liked the "non click move" soldiers style of play in settlers 2, was more of a chess game than an RTS
@@Swwatter If you ignore any nostalgic feelings from a technical standpoint settler 7 was objectively the best. It was the first settler to introduce multiple ways to win the game, through, military, economy, trading, religion etc it was just a great game.
I only played settlers 3 and I remember vividly the moment I figure out how to get my first fish out of the river/sea. I was so so excited, because I think my miners weren't working. I didn't know I had to actually target a fish in the sea tile to get it to pull out a fish, the fish was so fat and plump, it was beautiful.
I tried the beta for this.. I gave detailed feedback on how it could improve but it looks like that fell on deaf eyes. An absolute shame in every sense of the word.
My first intro to the Settlers series was the 2nd game. Friend and myself played it so much we used to frequently have dreams of still playing the game, seeing the settlers moving about the resources. I later got my hands on the 4th game, it was pretty good. Then i later played 6 some, it was eh. But 7 was decent. It took a lot i liked and made it work. But it also lacked some of the fun of older games. I was really looking for a new good Settlers game, but i doubt its going to happen now. As they seem set on killing the franchise.
Did you know The Settlers II Gold Edition (DOS) included around 300 custom fan made levels (without any of their permission) with many of them unwinnable in the Gold Edition because Blue byte disabled the ability to build big transport ships in the Gold Edition? This is also why some of the original campaigns missions were replaced with different, inferior levels... They should work fine in the original The Settlers 2 (DOS) though. To play them you had to replace the campaign level files with the fan made levels. I don't know if digital distributions of the Gold Edition game include the 300~ fan made levels.
The Settlers creator, Volker Wertich, has formed his own studio and is making the game this pile of garbage was initially intended to be. Look up Pioneers of Pagonia.
They really need to remaster the old ones (actually.. let them rest in peace, away from AAA torment) , never played Settlers, but I made a comment last night in your stream Mac about the tropico franchise. It prioritises on Trade, economy and politics it might be right up your street .. it’s nice to be a little prck and imprison everyone who disagrees with El Presidente.. it’s really nice to do that. We aren’t too far off ;)
Been waiting for a very long time for this game. I loved the settlers 3 and i remember playing it as a 10y old and having a blast even tho it had hard systems i needed to learn. I can't put into words how disapointed i am to see this game. guess i'll have to wait another 20 years or so before i get to live those moments again in the settlers. Cheers for the review guys, well done.
Dude your reviewa are absolutely hilarious, precise, direct to the point, I love'em... When you said "you can watch the ENTIRE Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and never get attacked..." made laugh real loud
So much opportunity wasted. I've been dying so see more features, more unique visuals. SEASON CHANGES!!!. Damn, i want it so bad. Imagine having different temperature regions, different pack animals and so on. God damn, i'm so heartbroken. Thank you for the video D..:
Settlers 1 on Amiga 500 was one of the first strategy games I ever played. It's so sad to see what happened to it over the years / decades... and now this? I'm lost for words... all this waiting, hoping and then this... oof.
Thanks! Was really interested in this one since I'm a massive settlers 3 fan but after your review all my fears were confirmed. Still interested in it even though this dumbing-down is annoying, but now I'll just wait for a massive discount or if they'll give it away for free someday, like epic does.
I was late to Settlers, but even Settlers 7 had a complex economy and considerable challenge. You had to start with food, plan for tools, and when you got to gold bars had to choose whether to spend them on clergy, soldiers or traders. Either of those choices required other goods as well (books, weapons, horses, wheels, clothing, etc) with their own production lines. If you expanded too fast the AI would take your undefended land, but if you expanded too slowly you'd run out of resources. The story was decent and the campaign (esp the 2nd one) could be quite difficult when set to harder difficulties. Then the skirmish mode presented tons of options to play vs. AI. I will never buy this 2023 dumbed down garbage.
I play Settlers 7 more than any of the others, simply because I can finish a game in a few hours. It may not be the best Settlers, but it is infinitely better than this dross.
I played Settlers on Amiga 500 about 30 years ago. Nowadays the games are made for infants. Remember Ufo: Enemy Unknown on Amiga 500? When there was large Ufo landed, or shot down ( 3 story ufo ) I had sometimes wait about 40 minutes for my next turn, when I clicked "end of turn" That game ( Ufo: Enemy Unknown ) was so demanding on this small computer. Oh yeah, I forget to mention, this game was played from floppies ( 3,5" inch floppy disc ). I miss old days of great games.
How do developers not see we don't want *massive* changes, especially in beloved franchises, just create the same game you did 15 years ago - new setting, better graphics, more campaign, and changes around the edges, not huge changes to the *core* features. I blame kids nowadays, games have been constantly dumbed down, extensive tutorials explaining absolutely everything and holding your hand throughout. Sickening.
In case anybody needs more Settlers: "Knights and Merchants" is currently on offer over at gog for less than 2 €. It was made by some of the lead developers on Settlers II. It's more militarily focussed and the campaign eventually turns into a military grind, but until then it was quite enjoyable.
I can only imagine the game is this dumbed down because it's coming to console in March which annoys me. It's as if the devs think console users are too stupid for in depth RTS games.
question would u recommend it for someone whos never played settlers game? like ik u got alot of con's about it but thats cause its from your own experience which i get but as for some one who's never played it or experienced the franchise would u recommend it?
If the rumors are anything to go by, this game has been through some kind of development hell, so it's no wonder the end result is disappointing. Probably a case of the publisher meddling, wanting some kind of live service garbage and a cash shop. IMO the best "settlerslike" of today is called Foundation. It's early access and still comes up short feature wise, but it has good potential to be a spiritual successor to Settlers 1.
I loved the original Settlers series, for me the joy was building a working village, getting chains of resources fuelling the other. Then you upgraded and expanded, and if anything the actual fighting was a smaller part of the whole game. It was so chilled, so relaxing and so fun. How do you fuck that up?
They have gone down the same road that EA did with C&C. In the development stage of a game they ask gamers (potential customers) whether they play this type of game, if the answer is no, they then give them multiple options as to why they don't, one being... it's too complicated! They then go about simplifying the game mechanics for these people(potential customers) this does one of two things, it alienates fans of this type of game because the deep game mechanics are what draws them to this genre in the first place, and secondly those gamers that chose the option 'it's too complicated' still don't buy the game because it's just not their thing.... end result... a game that nobody likes!
We went from having small teams of artists (in every sense) who made games they themselves would enjoy.. to vast studios with thousands of (probably still very talented) employees - but the latter were/are merely employees whose bosses (and decision makers) value nothing but dollars. There is no art for art's sake today. Maybe there never truly was - everybody needs to eat - but the change from labour of love to "most valuable franchise/revenue stream" is obvious for all to see. The studios are too big. The games are too bland. The hunt is always for most bums on seats, and anything that doesn't generate more sales is cast off. But the solution is entirely in our hands. Just don't buy pap (like this).
I played most of the early Settlers. I am old, but games were so much better back then. We never had fancy graphics. The golden age of gaming is 1989 to 1995.
100% TRUE. Remember Point & Click games? The Day of Tentacle, Maniac Manson, Monkey island. Or RTS Command & Conquer, Dune 2. space adventure Wing Commander. Best time ever
Majority of players: We want excellent graphics Devs: Ok. Majority of players: Complain because the game is shit but have excellent graphics Devs: But.... you asked for it... Me: Graphics don't matter... rather play a game with a good storyline.
This game isn't for gamers. As you've said in regards to all AAA games these days - they're holding your hand. The graphics and animations are the selling point.
Everyone knows Settlers 2 was the best of the bunch, supply chain focussed to mobilize your military. It seems this game forgot what settlers was all about, creating the optimal supply chains to outperform the enemy
Weirdly I've been replaying Settlers 2 recently, an awesome game from my childhood. My son was asking about it and surprised how good the graphics were especially since it was made in the 90's.
There are three great The Settlers 2 remakes: 1) The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary 2) The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary - Vikings (12 new missions) 3) The Settlers: Rise of Cultures (3 different tribes having different economy)
Yes the anniversary version was great. Funny thing is you can't buy it from ubi soft but only from gog. It's like ubisoft just doesn't want good games on their store
Oh, you must be new here then. Welcome to Mack's Worth a Buy shack then! If you want to have a riot on a nice weekend, just open up the thumbs down playlist. You will laugh with tears at some of them. I can recommend my fav tho, which is Death Stranding. I LMAO every time at that one. XD Mack is pure gold because he is brutally honest and he curses like a pirate when he doenst like a game.
I was so excited to play this but i wanted to wait for some reviews. After seeing this all i can say is Ubisoft did a great job of destroying one of my most favorite games i grew up playing. Well done!
how did you find out were to place mines for ores? if that wasn't just a overlay you can turn on or whatever id add another + to the game + 'It Doesn't have X-ray vision'
Showing your age with this one, my favourite game as a 9yo was the Settlers on Amiga, so many great memories of that game. I miss making my own roads haha This game has lost it's soul trying to be other games when it just had to be itself.
I loved in the first games the miners would go on strike if they did not get any food. Thanks for your thoughts on this game. How hard can it be to recapture the magic of the first games? Oh well.
Mac, i'm from the Amiga days also and this... This just makes me sad. You've been telling for quite some time now that this would eventually happen. They just don't care anymore, devs, artists, publishers, the f.... industry! Ruined one of my all time favourite games.
i suggest that you revisit northgard in order to play a more than worthy successor to settlers. you did not appreciate what it was 2 years ago and the game was vastly improved since then.
@ALCLCF well... imagine a properly streamlined settlers with actually appealing pvp, exploration, straategic decisionmaking, multiple & different faction unique victory conditions in every single game, upgrades, light diplomacy and much much more. sure you do not have complex logistics trees anymore but honestly if you can only get your "settlers" out of big logistics you should play s2 and stronghold since only they do this, not even s4
this is what happens when uni's dont train people to be creative anymore they train them to take orders and wait to be given the answers instead of work it out for themselves. i have so many friends with masters and docs and non of them can tell you how do something or even work it out for them selfs out side of what that bit of paper tells them they are good at.
Haven't played the Settlers since my friend and me were addicted to the Amiga version. Skirmish was great and I remember tat feeling when a Knight comes walking out of your barracks, like "YES! We got this."
I remember trying to play the Settlers as like a 7 or 8 year old and not understanding it at all because I was used to AOE point and click on easy mode lol. what's the best settlers out of all of them?
Reminds of the Settles rise of an empire or whatever it was called. Some scenarios had you paying tribute to a more powerful faction, and if you decided not to pay then they'd tell you they're going to 'teach you a lesson'... And then they never attack, even if you attack them and destroy their army, they'll rebuild their army but never attack back.
Why do game devs keep making games for established series that come across like they absolutely detest the series itself? Battlfield did it with 2042, Saints Row reboot of course, loads of other examples like Spacebase Startopia etc. and now this. It's not that they're bad; it's that they just actually seemingly HATE their own game series and audience. It's absolutely baffling.
The funny thing is, THIS WAS a The Settlers game back in 2019. They had a pretty decent game back then because back then it was made by the guy who invented The Settler. Management didnt like it (they wanted something monetizeable), so they took everything they had, threw it in the garbage, made the guy (the inventor) leave the project, stoped communicating with the community and threw out the Beta last year about a month prior to the planned release. They got told its sh*t, so they took it pretended to work on it for another year, then thought "f*ck you anyway and released it with minor changes.
Which makes absolutely no sense to anyone except Ubisoft's management. They could have finished the Volker Wertich "Settlers" game, apparently fairly far along in development anyhow, then churned this pile out afterwards under a different name, perhaps "HerpDerp: The Gaim".
I would recommend trying JSettlers for Settlers 3, makes the AI better and quality of life fixes while keeping the same game. Gives me that nostalgia itch more than any of these new games can.
This is so depressing. I used to love The Settlers. Every Saturday my best mate would come around and we played through 1 and 2 in co-op. He’d always try and mass produce pigs. When we got a Captain we’d race to find the hut he was in and send him off to war. We’d spend time optimising roads and production until we had a great little kingdom. Love it so much. I’ve been playing a bit of Manor Lords which captures some of the resource chain feel but has an overall different feel. It’s very promising, but it’s not classic Settlers with the slowing expanding borders and oozes of charm in the visuals. Maybe one day there will be another proper Settlers game...
we have a new meme and a potential song for the RTS genre. ''build an army and attack''. Pretty much all we gonna get from double and tripple A developers
First Settlers game I played was Settlers 7, The Farm, Mountain Shelter, Lodge and Residence do not require any food in that game to run either. Only if you wanted an advanced economy did it require having the nobility around whom required plain food to work. In that game I'd do whatever I could to keep the "colonies" primitive so I wouldn't have to feed them, so every inch of their land would be used to support the Capital with raw materials.
Thank you so much for this review, because as a longtime Settlers fan I seriously was about to buy this game for my PS5. Also sorry for not (yet) watching the whole review to the end: for me your point was clear around 4:48. I instantly closed my browser's Playstation Store tab for Settlers New Allies and started playing Settlers 2 Gold (1996) for a bit...
worst part is that on gamescom or E3 they had a preview back in the day about New Allies was called differant and some even play testet it and it was great but in some point they scratched it all and made this crap like wtf why Ubisoft never undstand Setterls 3 or 4 and maybe they want it gone becosue they love anno more but idk what happent here.
Thats not map selection tbh, that just lets you select maps you prefer to play and if you host a coop game and the other players have different preferences the game will make a educated guess on what maps you all want to use, thats hardly map selection.
During Feb and March there are about 10 games that I have been looking forward to. Here is hoping that at least 2 of them will be worth buying, but won't hold my breath.
Just another Ubisoft Ingame Shop setup. :( Settlers was this great series that got ripped apart again. But the man behind the old settlers is developing his own title. Lets hope that will be good.
The developers have made everything so simple in this game that I think that the number in 10+ age limit is not since what age you can play, but up to what.
So wait, do we build an army... and attack? Another great review. I almost picked it up over the weekend - glad I didn't. Instead, I picked up Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society. Strongly recommend this game if you like dungeon crawling RPGs.
Thanks for your review. What a shame, I've been waiting for this game for ages. As a teenager of the 90s there were two games that we played over and over, Transport Tycoon and Settlers 2 and 3. I still play them every few years. All they had to do was create settlers 3 with modern graphics and a wicked pvp world and I would be all over it. Maybe in another 10 to 20 years.
FYI any messages that tell you to go to Telegram for a free gift using my name are fake, there are no free prizes, it's a scam bot.
We wouldn't need free prizes anyway. Your channel is already a gift that keeps on giving.
@@ElephoontOfTheShapes lol... brown nose :D but true.
I demand more free stuff! Excellent videos for free on the CZcams isn't enough free stuff!
@@ElephoontOfTheShapes 🤣🤣🤣🤣
sounds like someone wants to keep the goods for himself...
Positives: "It uninstalls easy"
LMFAO
😂
Bro 80€
It's mind blowing that the managers really directed their team to make this travesty. Can you imagine being so arrogant that they thought it would work? They could have just made the game we actually wanted and taken the mickey with the monetisation and we'd have taken it just to get a good game.
There is no need to make a better game. People will buy it anyway.
This is the reason I've delved into board gaming.
They measure success in moneys not quality.
Well CDPR thought vanilla cyberpunk will work so this is not THAT mind blowing.
At this point people would be happy if they just remake 3 or 4 with this engine. After that they could "experiement" with new ideas (turn in to a console game) if they want if that is thier agenda.
A few things I missed from the review due to the list of bad things being so damn long... The annoying tannoy voice you get all the time during the game, every time you spot an enemy you get this tannoy saying "Enemy in sight" if you watch the last 60 seconds of the video you can here it spamming all the time in the background. Also you don't get the control over your supply chain that you used to get, for example set percentages of things you need crafting or set specific numbers, things like geologists and pioneers are now gone and replaced by engineers. You also don't need to craft tools for the different trades, they are now born with the correct tools in their hands. It's all dumbed down, am so peed off :(
@@MichaelJ44 You mean 2042, Battlefield 1942 was the creative bastion of the OG Battlefield devs.
You said you loved settlers 3 and 4, have you tried them with "Settlers United" they added a few things to make it a better playing experience, and HD patch for settlers 4 that looks beautiful! and also easy multiplayer, I see people playing all the time. you should check it out. PS I love your reviews!
im staying clear of ubisoft from now on based on the fact they are working with UK police to police in game behaviour in their games
You mean that they unlearnt the lesson that they learned when they dumbed down Anno 2205 from Anno 2070, so much so that the brought back the complexity in Anno 1800.
I love the settlers the classic settlers 2 gold edition. To bad games are not the same anymore miss the old days with gaming
Love the 'It uninstalls easy' plus point!
Ubisoft knows they don't have to try when society as a whole doesn't care anymore and is being dumbed down
They don't fool me with their shit games. Though most people do just consume, which sucks.
Yep. I'm only one person, but I stopped buying "AAA" games years ago. Kinda wish more people would say goodbye to these lazy greedmongers.
@@db8658 same pretty much!
People born in 2000+ are so damn stupid.
It seems that gaming diversifies, there are plenty of ultra complex games out there, and people actual dont want games like this, so the blame tis more in Ubisoft
The director of the game said early last year that they had to redesign the game as the gameplay systems they originally designed were overcomplicated. Everything nowadays has to be made so even an infant can solve it, having to engage in critical thinking is too hard for everyone's feeble little brain meats.
So they pretty much decided to make it a shit game then and there
@@Cenot4ph More or less, yeah.
I think they IQ tested whales and realized they are idiots. So they trying too catch whales by making games for idiots.
There is still load of games coming out that are challenging and deep and very successfull...not sure why some publishers think gamers dont want it.
@@MarekSurman Because even though action games(Souls style and similar games) that are hard to play can actually sell well, strategy games specifically are not selling for massive money for various reasons. One of those reasons, it's because they are hard to play. If companies don't see huge numbers like in their other games, they don't put more money/effort.
This makes me appreceate old games even more
Settlers 3and 4, Knights and merchants, anno 1503 are pure gold compared to this
ubisoft can amazingly turn any game bad with 0 creativity and dulling it down
It's just so damn frustrating to live in what I would argue is a golden age of enthusiast hardware(yea, prices aren't great; but we have an ABSURD amount of horsepower available to us now) - while the game devs are putting out straight TRASH. I don't give a damn about how "pretty" the new game looks with insane FPS, because it's a trash game, come the hell on.
@@RyTrapp0 I was ready to click buy for an insane price of $59.99, then while watching a guy on Twitch getting constantly frustrated with clogged up roads. That was a major deal breaker for me. His people were running congested conga lines going nowhere, and couldn't create a second road lane as it wanted to merge together. This is a definite hard pass.
There was passion then. The fall happens in every industry. The capitalists/money men eventually take over the company, and all the people who made it great either cash out, get pushed out or join them. Now their only purpose is to extract as much money in as short of time as possible from their customers. Nothing more. It's no wonder this game was set up to be like Clash of Clans with that fake currency store.
Its ubisoft, so I didn't think they would try
The miners don't need farms because they are eating ze bugs, and that's all you need to be happy. Eat ze bugs Mac!
Anything is possible in the 15 minute city
He will own no bugs, and he will be happy
Yeah I was going to say - Our PM is trying to shut down all our farmers up here in Canada
Own nothing and be happy mac!!!
Good to see enlightened people here.
"How does it feel to have lived long enough to see all your favorite franchises go down in flames?"
-RedLetterMedia
I played this game in beta and the responses from the testers where along the same lines as you have said. It seems to have been made with a focus on pvp battles and ranked battles ie build and army quick and attack the other guy. It was delayed after the beta because of the bad reception and it looks like nothing has changed.
because if you want change you have to fire the idiot managers who decided what this game should be first , i always wonder how the hell they get their jobs
The irony of it all is that the multiplayer doesnt even work properly as of now and that was their main reason to change the 2019 version to this garbage of a game
And dumbed down for console players....
saw some streamers the other day, it seems that the only thing that changed is that they placed more AI camps in between players so it will interrupt your ability to early game rush your opponent..
I played the beta too, was so disappointed, surprised after cancelling a dozen games, they thought this might still work..
@sanderartable oh STFU, platform being played doesn't determine intelligence ffs. Civilization isn't changes for console.
I have fond memories of The Settlers on the Amiga back in the day and was hoping to revisit the glory days in this latest version. Sadly not to be. Thank you for saving us the trouble and the coin of finding out how far this franchise has fallen. So disappointed.
The Settlers creator, Volker Wertich, has formed his own studio and is making the game this pile of garbage was initially intended to be.
Look up Pioneers of Pagonia.
Settlers 7, which is quite old and probably cheap, is good and will bring back memories. I payed 500 SEK ($50) around 94-95 for Settlers 1 when I was 13 or so and played it to bits. My save game name is still used as my wifi password at home. :D
Damn.. I still remember settlers 2 and I think I will re-play it. That was the best settlers. Period.
No it wasn't. Period.
@@Swwatter Settlers 2 is great. Anniversary edition is great also. My favorites are 2 and 3. So different, yet so good. 7 was great also, although i was not a fan at first. Visual design is amazing though.
@@Monstrick1 definitely not arguing that 2 wasn't great. Just that it wasn't the greatest.
@@Swwatter i think it was the greatest, but this is just down to style of play - 3 & 4 were good too but i liked the "non click move" soldiers style of play in settlers 2, was more of a chess game than an RTS
@@Swwatter If you ignore any nostalgic feelings from a technical standpoint settler 7 was objectively the best. It was the first settler to introduce multiple ways to win the game, through, military, economy, trading, religion etc it was just a great game.
It’s called The Settlers because they settled for less. Much much less.
I only played settlers 3 and I remember vividly the moment I figure out how to get my first fish out of the river/sea. I was so so excited, because I think my miners weren't working. I didn't know I had to actually target a fish in the sea tile to get it to pull out a fish, the fish was so fat and plump, it was beautiful.
If they had spent half the time developing the depth and complexity as they have on the animations, this could have been a great game. Such a shame
I tried the beta for this.. I gave detailed feedback on how it could improve but it looks like that fell on deaf eyes. An absolute shame in every sense of the word.
Thanks for reviewing this Mack, and so soon after release. Shame that blue byte missed the mark with this after Anno 1800.
My first intro to the Settlers series was the 2nd game. Friend and myself played it so much we used to frequently have dreams of still playing the game, seeing the settlers moving about the resources. I later got my hands on the 4th game, it was pretty good. Then i later played 6 some, it was eh. But 7 was decent. It took a lot i liked and made it work. But it also lacked some of the fun of older games. I was really looking for a new good Settlers game, but i doubt its going to happen now. As they seem set on killing the franchise.
Please check out Farthest Frontier. It reminded me of S2. WAB has a review.
Did you know The Settlers II Gold Edition (DOS) included around 300 custom fan made levels (without any of their permission) with many of them unwinnable in the Gold Edition because Blue byte disabled the ability to build big transport ships in the Gold Edition? This is also why some of the original campaigns missions were replaced with different, inferior levels...
They should work fine in the original The Settlers 2 (DOS) though. To play them you had to replace the campaign level files with the fan made levels.
I don't know if digital distributions of the Gold Edition game include the 300~ fan made levels.
The Settlers creator, Volker Wertich, has formed his own studio and is making the game this pile of garbage was initially intended to be.
Look up Pioneers of Pagonia.
@@georgerubypoppy1063 so far the art looks so cartoony :(
@@Nicholas_Steel loved settlers two. I love that it had multiplayer as a split screen on PC and you needed to mice to play!
They really need to remaster the old ones (actually.. let them rest in peace, away from AAA torment) , never played Settlers, but I made a comment last night in your stream Mac about the tropico franchise. It prioritises on Trade, economy and politics it might be right up your street .. it’s nice to be a little prck and imprison everyone who disagrees with El Presidente.. it’s really nice to do that. We aren’t too far off ;)
They did remaster all of the old Settlers games, what are you talking about?
@@cyberangel82 wrong
Nothing is challenging in modern games. They don't require you to think and pretty much make it impossible for you to lose.
That’s because kids these days can’t bare challenging things. Participation medals
Settlers one was always my favourite back on the Amiga.
Been waiting for a very long time for this game. I loved the settlers 3 and i remember playing it as a 10y old and having a blast even tho it had hard systems i needed to learn. I can't put into words how disapointed i am to see this game. guess i'll have to wait another 20 years or so before i get to live those moments again in the settlers. Cheers for the review guys, well done.
As a miner irl, that's pretty much how our owners act. 👌
"It uninstalls easy" - that hit hard in the very last moment hahaha! Love Ya Mack Mack:D
Settlers 3 captured my imagination as a grade schooler. I drew pages of battles and tried to copy the art style... so sad that games suck so bad now.
Dude your reviewa are absolutely hilarious, precise, direct to the point, I love'em... When you said "you can watch the ENTIRE Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and never get attacked..." made laugh real loud
I feel like it was almost worth it that the game was so bad, it made this review possible. Best review I ever saw
So much opportunity wasted. I've been dying so see more features, more unique visuals. SEASON CHANGES!!!. Damn, i want it so bad. Imagine having different temperature regions, different pack animals and so on. God damn, i'm so heartbroken. Thank you for the video D..:
Settlers 1 on Amiga 500 was one of the first strategy games I ever played. It's so sad to see what happened to it over the years / decades... and now this? I'm lost for words... all this waiting, hoping and then this... oof.
WorthABuy never fails me. I was probably going to buy this new settlers, but you saved me lol. I appreciate it as always
Thanks! Was really interested in this one since I'm a massive settlers 3 fan but after your review all my fears were confirmed. Still interested in it even though this dumbing-down is annoying, but now I'll just wait for a massive discount or if they'll give it away for free someday, like epic does.
Love your reviews.. one of the very very few i trust.
I was late to Settlers, but even Settlers 7 had a complex economy and considerable challenge. You had to start with food, plan for tools, and when you got to gold bars had to choose whether to spend them on clergy, soldiers or traders. Either of those choices required other goods as well (books, weapons, horses, wheels, clothing, etc) with their own production lines. If you expanded too fast the AI would take your undefended land, but if you expanded too slowly you'd run out of resources. The story was decent and the campaign (esp the 2nd one) could be quite difficult when set to harder difficulties. Then the skirmish mode presented tons of options to play vs. AI. I will never buy this 2023 dumbed down garbage.
I play Settlers 7 more than any of the others, simply because I can finish a game in a few hours. It may not be the best Settlers, but it is infinitely better than this dross.
I played Settlers on Amiga 500 about 30 years ago. Nowadays the games are made for infants. Remember Ufo: Enemy Unknown on Amiga 500? When there was large Ufo landed, or shot down ( 3 story ufo ) I had sometimes wait about 40 minutes for my next turn, when I clicked "end of turn" That game ( Ufo: Enemy Unknown ) was so demanding on this small computer. Oh yeah, I forget to mention, this game was played from floppies ( 3,5" inch floppy disc ). I miss old days of great games.
How do developers not see we don't want *massive* changes, especially in beloved franchises, just create the same game you did 15 years ago - new setting, better graphics, more campaign, and changes around the edges, not huge changes to the *core* features.
I blame kids nowadays, games have been constantly dumbed down, extensive tutorials explaining absolutely everything and holding your hand throughout. Sickening.
One of the best features of settlers 3 or 4 was the complex production chains and map generator/creator
And if you fucked up that chain at any moment, you were done. A lot of mission relied on that with stuff like hidden islands with good mine spots etc.
Thanks, was about to buy it. I have fond memories of the Settlers 2 back in 96 and I was about to make a mistake :)
2, 3 and 4 are good ;-)
All after that - not so much.
In case anybody needs more Settlers: "Knights and Merchants" is currently on offer over at gog for less than 2 €. It was made by some of the lead developers on Settlers II. It's more militarily focussed and the campaign eventually turns into a military grind, but until then it was quite enjoyable.
On the plus side I have Atomic Heart to play all day tomorrow :)
Amen, I'm anticipating that game Mack
@@Chambers36TheEnter88% on Steam. I didn't try it but seems you were quite a bit off.
Mack, I recommend you try Against the Storm. It's in Early Access and it's very Settlers. May just be right up your alley.
I can only imagine the game is this dumbed down because it's coming to console in March which annoys me. It's as if the devs think console users are too stupid for in depth RTS games.
question would u recommend it for someone whos never played settlers game? like ik u got alot of con's about it but thats cause its from your own experience which i get but as for some one who's never played it or experienced the franchise would u recommend it?
"They Never Even Tried" should be the quote on the front of the box.
If the rumors are anything to go by, this game has been through some kind of development hell, so it's no wonder the end result is disappointing. Probably a case of the publisher meddling, wanting some kind of live service garbage and a cash shop.
IMO the best "settlerslike" of today is called Foundation. It's early access and still comes up short feature wise, but it has good potential to be a spiritual successor to Settlers 1.
Foundation was my most played game last year, it's a great city builder!
I make a note never to buy Ubisoft games.
I loved the original Settlers series, for me the joy was building a working village, getting chains of resources fuelling the other. Then you upgraded and expanded, and if anything the actual fighting was a smaller part of the whole game. It was so chilled, so relaxing and so fun.
How do you fuck that up?
They have gone down the same road that EA did with C&C. In the development stage of a game they ask gamers (potential customers) whether they play this type of game, if the answer is no, they then give them multiple options as to why they don't, one being... it's too complicated! They then go about simplifying the game mechanics for these people(potential customers) this does one of two things, it alienates fans of this type of game because the deep game mechanics are what draws them to this genre in the first place, and secondly those gamers that chose the option 'it's too complicated' still don't buy the game because it's just not their thing.... end result... a game that nobody likes!
We went from having small teams of artists (in every sense) who made games they themselves would enjoy.. to vast studios with thousands of (probably still very talented) employees - but the latter were/are merely employees whose bosses (and decision makers) value nothing but dollars.
There is no art for art's sake today. Maybe there never truly was - everybody needs to eat - but the change from labour of love to "most valuable franchise/revenue stream" is obvious for all to see.
The studios are too big. The games are too bland. The hunt is always for most bums on seats, and anything that doesn't generate more sales is cast off.
But the solution is entirely in our hands. Just don't buy pap (like this).
I played most of the early Settlers. I am old, but games were so much better back then. We never had fancy graphics. The golden age of gaming is 1989 to 1995.
100% TRUE. Remember Point & Click games? The Day of Tentacle, Maniac Manson, Monkey island. Or RTS Command & Conquer, Dune 2. space adventure Wing Commander. Best time ever
There was plenty good into the 2010's.
VR games have gotten a lot better since 1995 lol
Majority of players: We want excellent graphics
Devs: Ok.
Majority of players: Complain because the game is shit but have excellent graphics
Devs: But.... you asked for it...
Me: Graphics don't matter... rather play a game with a good storyline.
so another game where the devs mostly focused on presentation over gameplay mechanics.
Literally everything Ubisoft makes now is utter shite.
This game isn't for gamers. As you've said in regards to all AAA games these days - they're holding your hand. The graphics and animations are the selling point.
Everyone knows Settlers 2 was the best of the bunch, supply chain focussed to mobilize your military.
It seems this game forgot what settlers was all about, creating the optimal supply chains to outperform the enemy
Weirdly I've been replaying Settlers 2 recently, an awesome game from my childhood.
My son was asking about it and surprised how good the graphics were especially since it was made in the 90's.
There are three great The Settlers 2 remakes:
1) The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary
2) The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary - Vikings (12 new missions)
3) The Settlers: Rise of Cultures (3 different tribes having different economy)
Yes the anniversary version was great. Funny thing is you can't buy it from ubi soft but only from gog. It's like ubisoft just doesn't want good games on their store
Hey Mac, any chance you try Returnal ? I think you will like it
This has to be one of the funniest game reviews I've ever heard in my life 😂
Oh, you must be new here then. Welcome to Mack's Worth a Buy shack then! If you want to have a riot on a nice weekend, just open up the thumbs down playlist. You will laugh with tears at some of them.
I can recommend my fav tho, which is Death Stranding. I LMAO every time at that one. XD
Mack is pure gold because he is brutally honest and he curses like a pirate when he doenst like a game.
I was so excited to play this but i wanted to wait for some reviews. After seeing this all i can say is Ubisoft did a great job of destroying one of my most favorite games i grew up playing. Well done!
Whenever somebody says they've "re-imagined" a great franchise, you know it's going to be garbage.
It's the, "I'm going to try and sell my slightly similar idea under a recognised name", trick.
I'll never forget American Psycho 2 lmfao.
how did you find out were to place mines for ores?
if that wasn't just a overlay you can turn on or whatever id add another + to the game
+ 'It Doesn't have X-ray vision'
I've been waiting for this review
Showing your age with this one, my favourite game as a 9yo was the Settlers on Amiga, so many great memories of that game.
I miss making my own roads haha
This game has lost it's soul trying to be other games when it just had to be itself.
Idie developer would make a proper Settlers much faster than AAA studios ;-)
For example - try "Against the Storm".
@worthabuyreview have you made a video review for Settlers 7 or the Settlers Rise of an Empire Remaster?
I loved in the first games the miners would go on strike if they did not get any food. Thanks for your thoughts on this game. How hard can it be to recapture the magic of the first games? Oh well.
Damn shame, ive been wanting a decent Settlers game to be released. I used to love playing Heritage of Kings years ago.
that's one of the worst ones 💀
Pioneers of Pagonia from original Settlers developers will be released end of this year.
@@Matruchus yep!
@@T33K4Y wasn't for me 😊
@@Matruchus Ah cool, shall keep an eye out for that!
So another RTS being dumbed down for console?
Excellent commentary, comprehensive criticism, good humor in review. 10/10 on review / game gets 6.4/10.
Mac, i'm from the Amiga days also and this... This just makes me sad.
You've been telling for quite some time now that this would eventually happen.
They just don't care anymore, devs, artists, publishers, the f.... industry! Ruined one of my all time favourite games.
i suggest that you revisit northgard in order to play a more than worthy successor to settlers. you did not appreciate what it was 2 years ago and the game was vastly improved since then.
@ALCLCF well... imagine a properly streamlined settlers with actually appealing pvp, exploration, straategic decisionmaking, multiple & different faction unique victory conditions in every single game, upgrades, light diplomacy and much much more. sure you do not have complex logistics trees anymore but honestly if you can only get your "settlers" out of big logistics you should play s2 and stronghold since only they do this, not even s4
this is what happens when uni's dont train people to be creative anymore they train them to take orders and wait to be given the answers instead of work it out for themselves. i have so many friends with masters and docs and non of them can tell you how do something or even work it out for them selfs out side of what that bit of paper tells them they are good at.
The problem is people go to uni to study video games lol.
Sad to hear. At least we got a good rant out of it. Cheers!
Haven't played the Settlers since my friend and me were addicted to the Amiga version.
Skirmish was great and I remember tat feeling when a Knight comes walking out of your barracks, like "YES! We got this."
Was playing the Amiga version again recently. It's available on the A500 mini.
Closing all the farms down? mack become the UK government for a moment there.
Eat ze bugs
I remember trying to play the Settlers as like a 7 or 8 year old and not understanding it at all because I was used to AOE point and click on easy mode lol. what's the best settlers out of all of them?
It's a toss up between 2 and 3 I would say
Ubisoft: "I don't understand why we are financially struggling now!?"
Also Ubisoft: Keeps killing beloved game franchises
Their stock is $8.00 per share. Now, I know why.
Looks like AoE for 4 year olds.
Reminds of the Settles rise of an empire or whatever it was called. Some scenarios had you paying tribute to a more powerful faction, and if you decided not to pay then they'd tell you they're going to 'teach you a lesson'... And then they never attack, even if you attack them and destroy their army, they'll rebuild their army but never attack back.
Why do game devs keep making games for established series that come across like they absolutely detest the series itself?
Battlfield did it with 2042, Saints Row reboot of course, loads of other examples like Spacebase Startopia etc. and now this. It's not that they're bad; it's that they just actually seemingly HATE their own game series and audience. It's absolutely baffling.
The funny thing is, THIS WAS a The Settlers game back in 2019.
They had a pretty decent game back then because back then it was made by the guy who invented The Settler.
Management didnt like it (they wanted something monetizeable), so they took everything they had, threw it in the garbage, made the guy (the inventor) leave the project, stoped communicating with the community and threw out the Beta last year about a month prior to the planned release.
They got told its sh*t, so they took it pretended to work on it for another year, then thought "f*ck you anyway and released it with minor changes.
Which makes absolutely no sense to anyone except Ubisoft's management. They could have finished the Volker Wertich "Settlers" game, apparently fairly far along in development anyhow, then churned this pile out afterwards under a different name, perhaps "HerpDerp: The Gaim".
The guy who invented the Settlers and who was kicked off this game now has Pioneers of Pagonia out, which is a REAL SETTLERS game, not like this crap.
I would recommend trying JSettlers for Settlers 3, makes the AI better and quality of life fixes while keeping the same game. Gives me that nostalgia itch more than any of these new games can.
This is so depressing. I used to love The Settlers. Every Saturday my best mate would come around and we played through 1 and 2 in co-op. He’d always try and mass produce pigs. When we got a Captain we’d race to find the hut he was in and send him off to war. We’d spend time optimising roads and production until we had a great little kingdom. Love it so much.
I’ve been playing a bit of Manor Lords which captures some of the resource chain feel but has an overall different feel. It’s very promising, but it’s not classic Settlers with the slowing expanding borders and oozes of charm in the visuals. Maybe one day there will be another proper Settlers game...
mac do you got and games in the genre you recommend, as you said with dumbing down they dumb down to meny of the releases in the recent years.
Love your reviews! Escpecially the endgame song you play when you review bad games... So fun!
we have a new meme and a potential song for the RTS genre. ''build an army and attack''. Pretty much all we gonna get from double and tripple A developers
First Settlers game I played was Settlers 7, The Farm, Mountain Shelter, Lodge and Residence do not require any food in that game to run either. Only if you wanted an advanced economy did it require having the nobility around whom required plain food to work. In that game I'd do whatever I could to keep the "colonies" primitive so I wouldn't have to feed them, so every inch of their land would be used to support the Capital with raw materials.
I am happy that Ubisoft makes minus numbers. I only feel sorry for the employees who get instructions from the extremely bad management.
How have these AAA studios not gone bankrupt yet
Thank you so much for this review, because as a longtime Settlers fan I seriously was about to buy this game for my PS5. Also sorry for not (yet) watching the whole review to the end: for me your point was clear around 4:48. I instantly closed my browser's Playstation Store tab for Settlers New Allies and started playing Settlers 2 Gold (1996) for a bit...
Same! was feeling nostalgic, loved s3/4, saw there was a new game and knowing Ubi i figured id check some reviews, 20 euros saved ^^
worst part is that on gamescom or E3 they had a preview back in the day about New Allies was called differant and some even play testet it and it was great but in some point they scratched it all and made this crap like wtf why Ubisoft never undstand Setterls 3 or 4 and maybe they want it gone becosue they love anno more but idk what happent here.
6:52 good review, but you can select the map under Options and gameplay or Something Like that (I Just played the German Version)
Thats not map selection tbh, that just lets you select maps you prefer to play and if you host a coop game and the other players have different preferences the game will make a educated guess on what maps you all want to use, thats hardly map selection.
@@WorthABuyreviews also true
During Feb and March there are about 10 games that I have been looking forward to. Here is hoping that at least 2 of them will be worth buying, but won't hold my breath.
Settlers 2 was the first game i owned as a kid. Its a sad thing how it ended up like this.
Ubisoft has done it again
Just another Ubisoft Ingame Shop setup. :(
Settlers was this great series that got ripped apart again.
But the man behind the old settlers is developing his own title. Lets hope that will be good.
The developers have made everything so simple in this game that I think that the number in 10+ age limit is not since what age you can play, but up to what.
"The Settlers: New Allies" - A Ubisoft Original
Ubisoft Original
At face value that would seem to be a contradiction in terms
So wait, do we build an army... and attack?
Another great review. I almost picked it up over the weekend - glad I didn't. Instead, I picked up Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society. Strongly recommend this game if you like dungeon crawling RPGs.
Thanks for your review. What a shame, I've been waiting for this game for ages. As a teenager of the 90s there were two games that we played over and over, Transport Tycoon and Settlers 2 and 3. I still play them every few years. All they had to do was create settlers 3 with modern graphics and a wicked pvp world and I would be all over it. Maybe in another 10 to 20 years.
"It's 2023 and games suck now....AAA games." Amen Mac. Sad but true. Thank god for Indy games AAA has completely lost the plot.