Tiny Germans

Quite literally yesterday's news for anyone paying attention, but seeing as the franchise has a bit of a bad rep these days and everyone's currently playing that game, thought I'd point out that a Settlers 6 demo has been released.

Yes, Settlers. No, honestly, it's alright.

Developer Bluebyte showed me Rise of an Empire (for that is its wholly unnecessary subtitle) a couple of months ago, and I was pretty impressed. Few I told believed me, as it's been a series in constant decline since around the third game, a lineage with fine origins that most games hacks now sneer at. Having played some preview code recently I'm not totally sure the game's going to be quite as delightful as I thought from the hands-off look, but there is some really cute stuff in there. Most of all, it seems to have nailed to some extent that traditional Settlers joy of sitting back and watching your custom community go about its business. It aslo has ferrets in it.

Anyway, do have a go at the demo. The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (Ugh. Screw it, we're calling it Settlers 6 here from now on) seems to be getting somewhat overlooked by the gaming press and public alike, and, though I can't be sure until I've played complete code, I strongly suspect that's a shame.