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Anno 2205 trailer pits player colonies against the Arctic elements

Anno 2205

Wouldn’t it be nice to play a part in a utopian story that didn’t so quickly slide into dystopia? Yeah, maybe it’s inevitable that our arctic bases will be cracked open by the elements and haunted by howling winds. Perhaps our moon colonies are destined to join the vacuum in creepy silence. But Anno 2205 is all about optimism: celebrating the launched shuttles and gleaming glass structures of civilisation at its peak.

Blue Byte’s perennial management series has players working with three disparate climes this time: a temperate zone of future Earth, the craters of the moon, and the extreme Arctic. Its latest trailer covers the latter.

It’s fitting that creative director Dirk Riegert has the stern but calming demeanor of a sci-fi management advisor, don’t you think?

In the Arctic, Anno players will need to build an industrial infrastructure and use specialised machinery to harvest methane ice. Supplying their workers and buildings with heat will be a primary concern.

Intriguingly, Blue Byte have separated out military combat from the rest of the game. ‘Crisis sectors’ are individual missions with their own progression mechanics.

“They are optional,” explain the developers, “because we listen to our fans, who didn’t much like having their big cities destroyed.”

Fair enough. Think you’ll start a brave new world from scratch come November 3rd?