That's somehow associated in my mind with Settlers 2. Same relaxed atmosphere I guess. The second feels the most special to me, played on PC with CD installation. The game music starts from track 2. I played that CD without the game as well to feel the atmosphere of the game.



Such a relaxing game!

Followed up later by the Tropico series (for similar vibes)

Pretty much all From Software games, especially Bloodborne. And Max Payne 1, the story and the soundtrack with Max narrating in the background just gives me chills. The intro is still one of the best.

Play the first settler (called serf city in the US) with a world size of 8 or 9. Even more relaxing, in most cases you're playing a couple hours before you even border somebody else. The only game I actually bought from the Ubisoft store out of the 34 I own...

Also, Tropico is great, too. My bus driver today had a Caribbean playlist that instantly reminded me of the game.

I played the first one on PC, was indeed nice not to have any interference at the start.

The second sticks more in my mind due to the soundtrack on CD which we had on in the background while playing AD&D at the time. The music of the first one is Roland midi, not as good as the Amiga chip tunes.

The combat was always a nuisance in The Settlers, just a gold drain. Hence I got bored of the series after the 3rd one, more and more focus on conflict. Hence Tropico took over, keeping the people happy is more fun than building armies :) Building a socialist paradise with the bare minimum inequality, just enough to staff the higher education jobs. Viva el Presidente!

Fun fact: I mostly played Settlers II with the soundtrack of the first one (Track 7 of the Gold version; the intro is track 6), though track 13 was also often listened to

Only things I hated in Tropico were the Tourists (always wandering off to the other side of the island where your industries are to complain that it' doesn't look as nice there) and hurricanes (one once destroyed all but 3 buildings over 20 years into the game. And yes, the 3 buildings are those you absolutely need to play, as in the palace, a teamster and a builder's office. Everything else, which was about 25 buildings: kaputt)