In each main Anno game from Ubisoft, a city-building strategy series, you settle small islands and grow towns on them. You start with limited resources, so your first goal is turning what the island offers into the goods your people need. Most of that work happens in production chains, which are linked buildings where one building's output becomes the next building's input.
Your residents are the reason the chains exist. They need certain goods to be satisfied, and when they have enough, they move up to a higher population tier, which is like a social class. Higher tiers ask for more advanced goods in return, so a growing town always needs more supply. Since one island rarely makes everything, ships carry goods along trade routes between your islands and to trading partners.
The main numbered games are Anno 1602 (1998), Anno 1503 (2002), Anno 1701 (2006), Anno 1404 (2009), Anno 2070 (2011), Anno 2205 (2015), and Anno 1800 (2019). Each one has its own setting and changes to the rules, but they all run on the same loop of islands, chains, residents, and trade. Anno 117: Pax Romana, released in November 2025, takes that loop to the Roman Empire.
- Developer
- Ubisoft Mainz
- Publisher
- Ubisoft
- Release
- Anno 1602: 1998-03-31 · Anno 117: Pax Romana: 2025-11-13
- Platforms
- Windows PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Anno gameplay tips
- Check the chain before you expand. Before you add a building, make sure every building before it in the chain already gets the goods it needs. If one link stops, everything after it stops too, and the residents who depend on those goods go without.
- Pick islands for the resources they offer. A chain can only run on goods it can get, so an island missing a key resource needs shipments from somewhere else. Treat that gap as a reason to set up a trade route.
- Set up trade routes before shortages start. A trade route uses ships to carry goods between your islands and trading partners. Ships take time to arrive, so a route started after a shortage begins leaves residents waiting.
- Place warehouses close to your production buildings. Goods travel by road between production buildings and the nearest warehouse, so short trips keep a chain running at full speed.
- Upgrade houses in small batches. Upgrading moves residents out of their current tier, and the buildings that need that tier's workers can stall if too many move at once. Build new houses for the lower tier as you upgrade, so your workforce stays full.