The PC Strategy Series That Just Did A U-Turn

For years now, Ubisoft has carved out a small but dedicated market for its Anno series, strategy games based on European colonisation in the 15th-18th centuries. It's now leaving all that behind.

Inexplicably, the next game in the series, of which previous titles have been called Anno 1404 and Anno 1701, will be called Anno 2070.

It's not a typo, nor an April Fool's joke. It's a serious move away from European and colonial history - surely one of the key appeals of the series - and towards sci-fi city management.

Deviation from the old games aside, the premise is actually kind of neat: with sea levels on the rise, you have to find new ways to plant crops and build housing atop a changing landscape.

It'll be out this "Winter" for the PC.