Sept 28, 2007

We’ve all built a few towns in our lives. Some of us build towns in order to test our resource management skills. Other people build towns called Bumland and drop Godzilla-esque monsters on the Fire Department. We’re one of the latter folk, but the sixth Settlers game coaxed us effortlessly into the first camp.

You’ll know the score, because it’s an old one; deal with two primary resources (wood and stone, for buildings) then place the right buildings in the right places and watch as an automated economy appears. Meanwhile, you send your knight (and soldiers) around like a boiled-down RTS, doing errands for friendly - but cheeky - neighbours and fighting off a few Vikings.

Hats off to the difficulty curve; the game has a great way of guiding you into, rather than telling you to do things. We’re not suggesting that giving fewer hints as the game progresses is a thrilling new innovation in tutorial technology - just that Rise of an Empire balances respect for the player with a subtle guiding nudge in the back. It’s like spooning with your teacher, without the ethical problems and the angry parents.

There’s an earnest mirthlessness that’s positively Teutonic, but the game works all the better for it. The Settlers is a gentle, hypnotizing affair that might break the spell with too much whimsical bluster.