20

Anno 1404 (US name: Dawn of Discovery)

• Windows PC
• 2009
• Construction & Management Simulation
  
• Related Design
  

There is a good chance a game in the city-building genre is a game I will like. I have put hundreds upon hundreds of hours into several games in the genre and this one is no different. In fact, 'Anno 1404', which goes under the name 'Dawn of Discovery' in North America, is likely only behind a small handful of other games in this regard, further on in the list.

As a city-builder, the objective is to create a city that's as prosperous as possible. Like the other games in the series, the game revolves around producing goods by managing production chains and trading between your islands and other players to further your main settlement. In a first for the series, the player must however build two distinct settlements of two cultures, balancing resources and different goods for each type of settlement while both benefit from the advancements of the other.

Besides the solid gameplay, which we've come to expect in this series, graphics to this day look absolutely amazing, and there's a very wide variety of buildings to build, especially with the 'Venice' add-on (which also added multiplayer) installed. Some buildings, like the harbor and the palace, can be build piece by piece and together with the plethora of decorative objects, and so your 15th century cities can look exactly like you want them to.

#19
Among other things, this long-running series, and in particular this old game, is praised for it's amazing, memorable and catchy soundtrack.

So far I never played an Anno-game. Basically it should be my cup of tea, on the other hand enough old classics that scratch that itch. I dunno, maybe sometimes if I have time to play I'll try one of the Annos.

23 is Gain Ground

Actually, 25 is Gain Ground.

oops. Lol, yeah 25 is gain ground.

Ok, starting to get into my top 20. The truth is that I very much love all 50 games on my list. I have been playing games for so long, that all 50 are basically in my top 1%. I showed my wife my list, and she was like, "that game is only 44? But you played it for like 300 hours." I'm like, "just being on my list is a huge honor, lol."

In spite of all that, the top 20 really is the cream of the cream. Here are my hints:

#20 This PS1 game is fantastic in its own right, but it also pays homage to every game in the series that came before it.

#19 Tactical RPG in water color.

#18 This PS3 game is a spinoff of a very popular PC series. The idea though is that you can complete a typical game in a couple of hours in this version, while all of the PC games take a lot longer to complete a game.

#17 This fantasy co-op arcade game is the 2nd in the series. If you think about it, it's really a shoot 'em up.

#16 This 80's arcade game could be described as Minecraft with a bicycle pump.

I want to say 18 is Dust 514. And I really hope it isn't Civ revolution lol.

It's similar for me. Probably an age thing. I had more than 80 titles which I considered great and had the difficulty to decide which makes it into the TOP 50 and at which place. As a programmer it was only natural I wrote a software to support me with compiling the list.

Anyways, time for another hint.

game #15

Hint 1: Combine materials gained from slaying monsters to get magical stones.

Uhm...it actually is Civ Revolution, lol.  I think you anti-guessed this correctly.  :)  I have played the firs two Civ games on the PC and I really loved them, but they were waaaaay too long.  Civ Revolution fixes the biggest problem I have with the Civ series.