The Settlers: New Allies Reviews
A slow-paced and overly simplistic take on city building and war waging, but blessed with wholesome looks and a relaxing atmosphere.
The Settlers: New Allies has some degree of pedigree coming from Anno 1800's Ubisoft Blue Byte, but it's, unfortunately, a dismal strategy affair, confused, anaemic, and achingly dull.
The Settlers: New Allies tries to reinvent the series, simplifying its city-builders core mechanics to make room for newcomers more familiar with the RTS genre. Unfortunately, the final shape is a game that struggles to find its identity and that isn't really convincing neither as an RTS nor as a city-builder.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Settlers: New Allies isn't quite the return to Settlers that fans of the franchise would want. Shallow across all areas, with basic city-building and very basic strategy elements, held together by an average narrative. It's not a bad game, but it's also not good.
The Settlers: New Allies is a game with great presentation and poor execution, It's $60, but I would struggle to recommend it at even half that price given how lacking in content it is. The gameplay is lagging heavily. Although tightly woven together, it doesn't really matter when there's so little to play with. It's like being in a sandbox with no toys or tools.
The core idea for The Settlers: New Allies is evidently a good one, but oversimplification of certain aspects of this famous series – while simultaneously trying to go back to the roots – was a mistake. Apparently, even Ubisoft didn't fully believe in its success as it didn't advertise the game at all.
Review in Polish | Read full review
New Allies fails in breathing new life in The Settlers' franchise: the crossover between the classic gameplay and the RTS mechanics feels dull and rushed, leaving the player with the feeling that this is not The Settlers' return they longly waited for.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ubisoft’s city builders tend to be good: Anno was released on console just last year and it is a genuinely good time. But then Anno respects the player’s intelligence and allows them to make mistakes and try things along the way. The Settlers: New Allies wants you to play like an automaton, and the inflexibility and lack of variety in this game become draining far too quickly. It’s a treat to look at, but it’s a sour thing to play, and it’s immensely disappointing that we’ve waited 13 years for this.
It's not everyone who gets to create the worst of the series. Give the old games a chance and keep your money in your pocket and your nerves intact.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The Settlers: New Allies has a good core loop that, unfortunately, lacks a solid connection with the series' history. There’s too much military action and not enough focus on delivering products to citizens. The land-claiming concept is interesting but under-used.
The Settlers: New Allies may provide decent entertainment for more modest players, but it's not the sequel that fans have been asking for. Although it is visually pleasing. Settlement construction is easy to manage, but lacks more depth, and the same is true with combat. Not a single component is elaborated enough to arouse more interest.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The Settlers: New Allies is basically a simple and quick to learn game, but there is a limit to what it can offer you.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
The new Settlers have simply failed. There's no more straightforward or more roundabout way to put it. This is not the game the fans deserved. And it's certainly not the game the franchise as a whole deserved on its 30th anniversary.
Review in Czech | Read full review
The Settlers: New Allies feels confused by its own identity. Is it a live service game? Is it a homage to the great RTS games of the past? Is it The Settlers, or a lesser Age of Empires? The answers seem to dance away the longer you play, and the further your settlements grow. While it houses a gorgeous world that actively encourages you to keep exploring, placing roads, and looking after your flock, a lack of depth and identity makes New Allies feel like a muddled experiment.
A game we've waited five years for should be a masterpiece. At the very least, it should have advanced strategy elements. It would be a much better positioning if the game only came to the tablet.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Fans have had to wait thirteen years for it, but The Settlers is back! It plays well and looks very nice, but soon the game turns out to offer less challenge and variety than hoped. Playing online is an important part of the game, but it doesn't work well: a game takes too long and technical problems make it difficult to complete an entire game. The game is popular, but does not taste like more.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
The classic case of a jack of all trades, master of none. I also have to commend the developers for a truly gorgeous presentation, decent tutorial and a user interface that isn’t half-bad, despite being made with a largely forgettable gameplay loop in mind. We have enough city builders and strategy games out there right now. Just get one of each and enjoy their vastly different purposes. You don’t need a game trying to be both at the same time.
The Settlers - New Allies tried to make a city building and RTS hybrid. Sadly it doesn't deliver on both ends. The clunky RTS Parts and the low complexity of the building parts don't fulfill the high expectations of the big name "The Settlers". The great graphical presentation with fitting sound design are not enough to outshine the very slow gameplay and the monotonous campaign/story. Only sometimes old virtues shine through which is sadly not enough to satisfy fans that longed for a new "real" Settlers game.
Review in German | Read full review
Overall, The Settlers: New Allies is a solid starting point to reboot the RTS franchise. While its campaign is dull enough to be ignored, the game’s bones are strong enough to support solidly entertaining online play. Despite its issues it has the potential to breathe new life into The Settlers as a franchise, which would be great for all RTS fans.
It’s clear that The Settlers: New Allies has promise. It is lovely to look at, has a good soundtrack, and provides an often satisfying city-building experience. But its inclusion of real-time strategy elements reignites a thorny old tension which Ubisoft Düsseldorf have been unable to resolve. Despite its warm and friendly appearance, New Allies also struggles with its lack of any kind of narrative hook. Patches may well resolve the lingering technical issues, but will not fix these fundamental problems. The first major strategy release of what may be a landmark year for the genre, New Allies largely fails to live up to its name. It is hard not to wonder what might have been.