I’m going to say this now: I was asked to review this game, and I complied. I complied, put it off for as long as possible, and ultimately regretted my decision to postpone playing.
Not due to deadlines (which are never a factor), but because I actually found myself enjoying the odd little gem that is The Settlers Online.
I have never played social browser games that require you to add friends, and I had not even played The Settlers series in the past despite having a fondness for resource management, real time strategy, and city-building games. I unfortunately missed the Settlers boat until now. The Settlers Online does a good job combining social and gameplay aspects, even with the long building and production timers that progressively get longer as the game goes on.
Why You’ll Start: Solid Gameplay
The gameplay found here should be familiar to anyone who has experience with The Settlers series or RTS titles:
- Amass resources
- Refine them
- Spend them on structures meant to gather and refine other types of resources
- Gather troops
- Send them to battle
- Claim new lands
- Gather more resources
My humble beginning: making copper bars.
This sounds simple, but there is a great deal you need to keep track of as you progress in order to keep your gathering and production optimal. In and of itself this is all fine, and just what someone who enjoys these kinds of games looks for (and I loved) — but because of the “free to play social” aspect of The Settlers Online, you are also given the monumental task of waiting.
Everything but the game’s social aspects, quests, and trading requires waiting.
As you progress, your building durations will go from minutes to hours. The only way to get around this ever-present hurdle is to cough up some real dough for the cash shop currency known as Gems, which you can spend on-point on structures or units you would like to receive immediately.
One would not expect The Settlers Online to be the type of game for the impatient, and thanks to the long waiting times it really is not geared toward the type of player who wants to have their cake and eat it too (unless they have some spare cash).
Why You’ll Stay: Outstanding Community
Community is important to me, and this game has one of the best I’ve experienced in recent years.
What really makes the waiting less of an issue — besides buying Gems — is what I referred to a friend as being the game’s “hyper-friendly” community.
The Settlers Online is packed with friendly people just looking to chat and help out other players. The game may appear empty at first glance, but in-game players are talkative and looking for other people to chat with. This may be attributed to all the waiting, but what matters here is the end result:
The Settlers Online has a fantastic community.
I don’t say the above lightly. Community is important to me in any online game I play, and this game has one of the best I’ve experienced in recent years.
Global chat is active 24/7.
This is one exception where I am all right with the quests that require me to add people to my friend list and give them buffs for quests. I have no issue asking for assistance in the Help chat channel or asking people to add me as a friend because I have yet to meet a single all-around negative person in-game.
Does this say something about the RTS or city-building communities? Just maybe. I’ve never seen such a large talkative bunch of neckbeards in my entire life, and I basically only associate myself with that demographic.
1 + 1 = I’m impressed
I don’t like throwing out unnecessary praise, and in this instance it is not unwarranted.
Blue Byte, being the original development studio of The Settlers, has done a very good job of transitioning the style of gameplay fans expect into a social setting. The game’s visuals are appealing and get the job done, the gameplay itself has some oomph to it, and the community is amazing.
It’s a shame that The Settlers Online isn’t more popular because of the positive aspects I list above, but the RTS/city-builder niche has never been huge blockbusters. What I can hope is that the game picks up at least a little, just enough to encourage Ubisoft to continue supporting this hidden gem of a social game.
Are you a friendly resource management junkie? Give The Settlers Online a shot. I bet you’ll be surprised.
