The Settlers (DOS) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 703
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I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EACH of the video games in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game review parts are just for fun, and are not meant to be definitive, in depth reviews; this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey itself. From Mario games to the Halo series, from arcade games to Commodore 64, PC games to the NES and Sega Genesis, Playstation to the Xbox, let's play those classic retro games that we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...
The Settlers
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Settlers_(1993_video_game)
The Settlers (German: Die Siedler) is a city-building video game with real-time strategy elements, developed and published by Blue Byte Software. Released in Germany for Amiga in June 1993, and in the United Kingdom in November, it is the first game in The Settlers series. In 1994, Blue Byte and Massive Development ported the game to DOS. Blue Byte published the DOS version in Europe under its original title in May, but in North America, it was published in December by SSI as Serf City: Life is Feudal. In 2018, the game was re-released for Microsoft Windows as The Settlers: History Edition.
The game is set in a medieval milieu, and controlled via a point and click interface, with the primary goal on each map being to build a settlement with a functioning economy, producing sufficient military units so as to conquer rival territories, ultimately gaining control of the entire map. To achieve this end, the player must engage in economic micromanagement, construct buildings, and generate resources. The game can be played in one of two modes; a series of fifty sequential missions against computer controlled opponents of increasing difficulty, or a free-game style mode, in which the player competes in individual games involving either computer-controlled opponents, human opponents, or a combination of both.
Originally envisioned as a standard god game, similar to Populous, the concept of The Settlers was altered by the game's designer and programmer, Volker Wertich, after development had already begun. Wanting to create something unlike other titles available at the time, Wertich decided to focus on creating a game which could simulate a complex economic system, and which would feature gameplay built around a simulation of real-world supply and demand. However, due to the complexities of writing a codebase which understood and could realistically duplicate such a system, as well as ensuring the computer could handle military and economic matters simultaneously, the game required over two years of development. Wertich worked on the programming for a year, writing 70,000 lines of raw code, before any work began on the graphics.
The game received positive reviews, especially on the Amiga, where it was more widely reviewed than on DOS. Critics especially praised the complexity of the economic system and the interrelatedness of the various buildings, as well as the graphics and sound effects. While some saw it as a god game, comparing it favourably to Populous, others saw it as a city-building game, comparing it favourably to SimCity. Others, however, felt it defined a new genre altogether by blending elements of god games and city-building games. It is often cited as one of the best Amiga games ever made. It was also a commercial success, selling over 400,000 units worldwide across both systems, considerably more than Blue Byte had anticipated. It went on to form the basis for The Settlers series, one of Blue Byte's most successful franchises.