The Settlers VI Annouced For 2007

With the new Settlers II: 10th Anniversary remake returning to what was arguably the best game in Blue Byte's flagship series, fans can only hope that future iterations will also follow in the footsteps of the classic Settlers II, and stray away from the less interesting path layed down by more recent additions to the series. And as we learn today, one such "future iteration" is already planned by Ubisoft for 2007, under the working title The Settlers VI.

No solid details about this sixth installment are available at the moment, just some early screenshots and artworks, and a bunch of promises. The devs are once again seeking to come up with "a perfect mix of favorite elements alongside new developments", and "the best graphics seen in a strategy game to date" - two claims I find rather hard to believe will come to fruition.

Not to mention that Odile Limpach (Managing Director of Ubisoft Germany and Austria) also promised this will be "the best The Settlers game of all time", all the while stating that "We want to appeal to fans of The Settlers series while ensuring the greatest possible accessibility to newcomers". Am I the only one who thinks these two claims are terribly conflicting with one another?

In any case, the project has been in development for quite a while, as Blue Byte began working on The Settlers VI in the Spring of 2005, with a team of experienced devs who contributed to The Settlers III, Heritage of Kings and The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary. Not exactly my Settlers of choice...

Funny thing is, I think the most promising Settlers project right now is the upcoming Nintendo DS version, which looks an awful lot like the first two Settlers games. And that's great!

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)