Anno 1800 is growing and growing. To keep track of all the DLCs, we have created an overview for you and ranked all the DLCs.
In three DLC seasons for the building strategy hit Anno 1800, we went on a great Arctic expedition, planted impressive botanical gardens and built gigantic grand palaces. That may sound cool on paper, but not all DLC expansions excited us equally.
Are you still undecided which DLC is the right one for you? In our ranking of all Anno 1800 expansions, we tell you what’s actually in them and for whom they are worthwhile.
Versions & small DLCs
In this article we mainly look at the big DLCs, which are all part of the respective Season Passes. If you buy the investor edition, you get the main game and all the Season Passes at once. There used to be a King’s Edition with the first two Season Passes. This version is no longer available from Ubisoft, but from Amazon or similar mail-order companies.
We pay less attention to the small DLCs, which introduce new ornaments but have to be bought individually. For the sake of completeness, they are briefly mentioned here in a small ranking of their own:
Anno 1800: Fair Package – 5 Euro
Anno 1800: City lights package – 5 Euro
Anno 1800: Christmas package – 4 Euro
Anno 1800: Fleet decor package – 5 Euro
Table of Contents
Place 9: Botanika
What’s in it? Anno 1800: Botanika is fully dedicated to one theme: the attractiveness of your city! The highlight is without question the botanical event for your world exhibition and the botanical garden as a new cultural building. As with the zoo and the museum, you will receive rare plants as quest rewards for the botanical garden or from Sir Archibald and Madame Kahina.
With flowery ornaments especially for your culture buildings, you will attract crowds of new tourists to your islands – you will also unlock these as random quest rewards or from traders. The new music pavilion, which you can add to your culture buildings and equip with soundtracks from old Anno games, offers a musical treat. In the future, zoo visitors will be able to listen to the frosty sounds of Anno 2205 while marvelling at polar wolves.
For whom is it worthwhile? Botanika is the DLC for everyone who wants to make their cities as attractive as possible. However, beautifiers should be aware that they get little creative freedom here – because the ornaments can only be grown on cultural buildings and all items must be laboriously farmed as random quest rewards. Thus, Botanika is most likely something for collectors who are still looking for a relaxing activity for the endgame.
Place 8: Rich Harvest
What’s in it? With Anno 1800: Rich Harvest, the Industrial Revolution finally makes its way into your agriculture. Because the main attraction are the tractors and silos, with which your farms can now work three times as effectively. But not without a lot of fiddling, because the new modules need to be integrated sensibly into your existing farm layouts and connected to the railway network.
With Rich Harvest, you can earn new space on your islands through more effective farming in the endgame and even mini-islands can suddenly be put to good use. In addition, the staging of petrol-powered agricultural machinery fills an atmospheric gap – at last your farmers no longer have to toil by hand in their fields in the midst of the Industrial Revolution.
For whom is it worthwhile? Rich Harvest is something for tinkerers who like to get the maximum efficiency out of their islands and an exciting end-game challenge. On the other hand, if you don’t feel like throwing your painstakingly designed farm layouts over again, you probably won’t be happy with Rich Harvest.
Place 7: Sunken Treasures
What’s in it? The name Anno 1800: Sunken Treasures suggests that the new items and the salvage ship are the highlight of the DLC – but the real star is the new area Cape Trelawny. It gives you Crown Falls, by far the largest island in the entire game.
In addition to its sheer size, it also shines with beautiful waterfall cascades and mountain ranges. Geographically, Cape Trelawny is in the Old World, so it has the same buildings and production chains. Instead, there is a large story campaign with an extensive treasure hunt and a bit of Jules Verne atmosphere.
Who is it worth it for? If you suffer from claustrophobia on the main island of the Old World and still have some ambitious building projects in mind, Crown Falls finally gives you the hectares you need for an impressive metropolis. The salvage ship and the diving bell offer a nice end-game diversion for collectors, but as mechanics they also quickly become monotonous.
Place 6: Speicherstadt
What’s in it? The whole DLC revolves entirely around a new, monumental building project. It introduces the Speicherstadt. In other words, the huge harbour district that was built in Hamburg in reality. In Anno 1800, you can expand this harbour modularly and gain a lot of advantages. For example, you can save a lot of space.
The Speicherstadt has integrated building types, such as special piers, warehouses or harbour master’s offices. These serve the same purpose as their normal counterparts, but take up much less space in the very limited harbour area. In addition, you can also use the Speicherstadt to engage in lively barter trade and increase the value of your goods on the international market.
For whom is it worthwhile? The Speicherstadt can be built early in the game for a relatively small price. Besides the obvious advantage of saving valuable space at the harbour, the harbour district also looks extremely impressive. But above all, Speicherstadt is worthwhile if you want more control over the exchange of goods. For you can much better exchange surplus for scarce goods and thus ensure a more efficient supply. So it has its purpose, but it’s more of a nice bonus than a must-buy.
Place 5: Palaces of Power
What’s in it? With Anno 1800: Palaces of Power, a cherished Anno tradition returns. Finally you can sit in the self-built magnificent palace again, enact new laws and watch your people at work in front of the palace gates with a mild smile.
In addition to freely placeable palace modules and ornaments for your royal residence, you also get exciting economic advantages with Palaces of Power. Because with the construction you unlock ministries that give you permanent buffs on work, culture, administration, trade and welfare. The size of your palace determines the radius of influence, your population in turn allows larger palaces – so a lot of space for tinkering.
For whom is it worthwhile? The palace, with its proud price and hunger for resources, is an exciting end-game challenge – but also a dream come true for beautifiers, because the modules and ornaments not only allow for a great deal of creative freedom, attractive building is even rewarded with game advantages. Only those hoping for a story campaign will be disappointed here. Palaces of Power relies solely on its mechanics.
Place 4: Roofs of the City
What’s in it? With Roofs of the City, the third season of Anno 1800 celebrates a furious finale. Here, everything revolves around skyscrapers – and the whole rat’s tail of optimisations that an impressive city panorama brings with it. The Skyline Tower is a brand new monument and the tallest building in Anno history. The shopping arcades want to be supplied with new goods and the production chains are some of the most complex the game has had to offer so far.
The keyword here is long-term motivation. Because until you are really “done” with the challenges of Roofs of the City, a few days could pass. So bear in mind that the DLC is intended as end-game content for an already very well optimised city.
Who is it worth it for? Roofs of the City is only something for building game maniacs – but for them it’s also a real blast. Bear in mind that you will have to completely rebuild entire islands to fit the new panorama, the production chains and the radii of need and influence of your inhabitants under one cylinder. So for beginners, we advise against Roofs of the City, but for pros, it’s a feast of optimisation with plenty of new content to make it worthwhile.
Also, keep in mind that many other DLCs, such as The Passage, Sunken Treasures, Journey Time and Land of the Lions, are almost mandatory, as they go hand in hand with the addon. These include more products and more missions for rooftops of the city or the necessary large island.
Place 3: The Passage
What’s inside? Anno 1800: The Passage is the centrepiece of the first Season Pass, as it shines with a massive scope. You embark on a perilous journey to the Arctic to search for the lost Franklin expedition. And this completely new area with its own production chains and population levels is freely available to you even after you have completed the story campaign.
Those who master the challenge of the deadly cold will be rewarded with airships, among other things. These not only give Anno a fantastic adventure flair, but also make your trade routes much more effective. With the Airship Hangar, another monumental project awaits you in addition to the World’s Fair, which can keep you busy for several hours of play.
For whom is it worthwhile? The Arctic is not for beginners – only players who have already gained some experience in the main game of Anno 1800 should dare to take on the deadly challenge, otherwise you will quickly find yourself in front of a ghost town. Survival fans, however, will get an extensive and exciting end-game challenge with massive new content and a wonderfully staged Arctic
Place 2: Travel Time
What’s in it? Whoever thought that Travel Time would simply replace visitors with tourists and introduce a few cafés is quite wrong. The DLC brings a lot of innovations with it. Because the tourists expect a lot from you.
You don’t just have to make sure there are enough hotels. You also have to connect all the sights on the island with a bus line. This also includes cafés and restaurants. But to make them really profitable, they need exotic goods from all over the world. Suddenly we are growing lemons or shipping pure sugar.
And if that’s not enough, we build the mighty Iron Tower. A monumental restaurant that looks like the Eiffel Tower.
For whom is it worthwhile? Travel time provides a lot of fresh air, especially in the endgame. No other expansion makes it necessary to ship so many new resources. The tourists are simply a very capricious population group, who bring in an incredible amount of money but quickly leave if they are not served the right jam with their morning croissant.
All these diverse mechanics and interactions, which even include other DLCs, make Journey Time a real highlight that everyone who is not yet overwhelmed by Anno 1800 should take a look at.
Place 1: Land of the Lions
What’s in it? Already at release, Anno 1800: Land of the Lions got the crown from us – because the finale is by far the best DLC you can get for your main game. The new African country is beautifully staged and brings interesting new production chains and population levels.
The most exciting part might be the scholars – because they let you turn the rules of Anno 1800 upside down. Simply move oil wells, adjust the ore deposits in mines and turn potatoes into rum? Until now only a nice dream – but thanks to Land of the Lions now actually possible!
The story campaign that introduces you to the new area even confronts you with tricky decisions. For example, whether you want to farm on the site of an ancient temple or prefer to preserve the ruins.
Who is it worth it for? DLC owners unlock the Expedition to the Land of Lions from the third population level of the main game. This means you can easily travel to the African country with a new game save. Land of the Lions also fits perfectly into the end game and offers even veterans new incentives to get lost in Anno 1800.
