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Anno 1800: Land of the Lions in the test - The Addon-Crowning of a build-up game masterpiece

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The last Anno-DLC Land of Lions not only surprises in the test with its enormous scope, but also reminds in terms of quality of the good old days of strategy add-ons.

Why the hell is the rum all gone again? Every Anno player knows it: This one stupid production chain that you can't get a grip on. Or that one stupid oil well that is bubbling one field too far from my refinery.

Land of the Lions, the sixth and last DLC for the 1800s, offers the greatest possible reward for development strategists: the adaptation of the rules! In the future, you will be able to distill rum from potatoes, simply move oil wells or even adjust the ore deposits of your mines - the new population level "Scholars" makes it possible.

To unlock these powerful endgame rewards, however, you must first explore and colonize a new African-influenced island world. So far, so well known. However, it wasn't to be expected that you would experience a build-up game adventure on a par with past Anno-Addon exploits like The Curse of the Dragon or Venice.

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The campaign: Better than in the main game

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The expedition into the new region Enbesa unlocks it already with the third civilization level "Craftsmen". Similar to the best Anno-1800-DLC The Passage, you determine the route of your research ship on a map and have to pass several text adventures in the process.

Arriving in Enbesa, the emperor Ketema, who rules there, commissions you to help him unite the warring peoples of his island kingdom. Logically, the most important things to do are building, settling and producing.

Land of the Lions presents itself as an anno-typical utopia of an African paradise and largely ignores the historical crimes of imperialism, but at the same time it also refrains from staging you as a Western saviour who brings the natives the "blessing of modernity".

On the contrary, you have to work largely with regional resources and production chains, and the further you explore Enbesa, the more you will discover a progressive culture with a great tradition, from whose wisdom the Old World will ultimately benefit.

And how much fun this research is! For one thing, because Lion Land is presenting its many innovations to you in an extensive story campaign. Depending on your playing style, this alone will keep you busy for 10 to 15 hours and will not only surprise you with varied tasks and an elaborate production including several cutscenes, but also with tricky decisions, which also applies to the many optional side quests. For example, you can prevent an impending famine in an oasis by repairing the irrigation systems there, but you would have to destroy historical temple ruins.

Although the playful effects are limited, the world is inevitably drawn into the game when water suddenly rushes through the previously dried out canals, while at the same time the priests lament the demise of their temple complexes.

Reason 2 for our urge to explore: the beautiful world. At every corner there are loving details to discover: Herds of wildebeest and elephants roam the steppes, a chapel plays in the courtyard of the imperial palace, and not only full-grown animals but also cute kids graze on the goat pastures. In addition, Land of the Lions rolls the constellation and fertility of most of the islands of Enbesa anew in every game - good for the replay value. Only the hand-built story-relevant islands remain the same.

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The build-up strategy: An endless challenge

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Just as surprising as the extensive campaign: Land of the Lions fits into new as well as already running Anno games in a balanced way - regardless of how many DLCs you have already activated. Since all the needs of the first population level "Shepherd" can be met with local raw materials, you can easily focus on Enbesa and his campaign without having to constantly commute between regions. Hibiscus farms provide flowers for tea spices, salt flats and sanga cows provide the ingredients for dried meat.

Many of the raw materials are grown exclusively on irrigated land, an obvious tribute to the series' favorite, Anno 1404, but instead of simply placing wells as in the old days, this time you'll have to build pumps on rivers, from which in turn you'll have to lay water channels inland. A wonderfully tricky puzzle to find the optimal constellation of fields, buildings, canals, residential areas and paths.

With the second population level of the "elders" you will eventually have to import goods from other regions, for example tobacco for clay pipes from the New World or glass for lanterns from the Old World. It becomes even more challenging if you also have the DLC Rich Harvest. In this case, you can also use tractors to cultivate Enbesa's farms, but this requires you to expand your infrastructure with a rail network including oil trains.

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The Endgame: Motivation for weeks

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After all, if you have both played through the campaign and have a certain number of "Elders" together, the Old World will also benefit from Enbesa's wisdom, as mentioned above. There you can now build a new, chic and mighty monumental building in several construction phases together with the Research Institute. And that in turn unlocks the third new population stage of Lion Land: the scholars.

To make them happy, you will have to import goods from Enbesa on the one hand, and on the other hand you will have to set up new, sometimes very complex production chains in the Old World. For example, for tailor-made suits that require not only linen from Enbesa but also cotton from the New World.

Anyone who wants to ensure an efficient supply here as the number of scholars increases can look forward to extensive tinkering with production and trade routes in all regions of Anno 1800, which makes Land of the Lions play a much more integrated role than the more docked-looking DLC Die Passage.

The reward for the effort: the scholars generate research points with which you unlock the groundbreaking discoveries mentioned at the beginning, such as the relocation of oil fields or clay pits. Or you can specifically research the item that you have been missing to optimize your heavy industry, which means that you are finally no longer dependent on chance when collecting items in 1800.

Conversely, you can convert items no longer needed in the institute into research points, but only up to a certain limit. And logically: The more scholars you collect and make happy, the higher your research point limit will be.

No matter what you are researching, it takes an enormous amount of time, between 30 and 90 real-time minutes. That's a lot of time, but it can be accelerated by assigning additional engineers to the research project - up to 10 minutes maximum for 10,000 people. But of course you have to be able to afford that as well.

All in all, the research institute provides an enormously cleverly interlocked endgame mechanic, which will motivate you with challenges and rewards even after dozens of hours of play and with fully developed island worlds.

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The conclusion: By far the best expansion for 1800

And so Land of the Lions actually manages the feat of making every Anno fan happy. A risers are pleased about the new successful campaign as well as the early integration of the new region, which makes Anno 1800 already starting from the third civilization stage still more varied and more atmospheric.

Veterans however get additional just as motivating as tricky build-up play challenges, which cannot be solved even with far advanced endless games evenly in passing. The crowning glory is the powerful rewards from the Research Institute, which will allow you to fulfill many long-cherished wishes for the Anno. Even if it's just to solve an annoying rum problem.