Anno 1800 will have an open beta from April 12-14, 2019 on PC for those who are itching to try it out before its full release on April 16, 2019.

There was a closed beta for Anno 1800 which ended yesterday. The beta will only require players to download the client instead of signing up or pre-ordering. There are not many details currently on what the beta will entail and how it will be different to the closed beta, but the developers Blue Byte have promised to give more information in the lead up.

Each Anno game is a city-builder strategy game whose titles always equate to 9 and is the year in which the game takes place. The first game was 1404, then we had 2070 and 2205, and now we will be going to the industrial revolution with 1800. This time period lets players choose to be, "an innovator or an exploiter? An oppressor or a liberator?"

Anno 1800 is set to bring back some fan-favorite features like individual AI opponents, randomly generated maps, multi-session gameplay, and shippable trade goods, but will also introduce one big new feature: Expeditions. Expeditions will allow players to send specialists to South America to find oil that will fuel their industry, which is becoming more realistic to manage thanks to a new Workforce feature. Blue Byte has also promised continued post-launch support for the game, starting with The Anarchist DLC sometime in 2019. Players can net that DLC, the soundtrack, and an artbook with Anno 1800 Digital Deluxe Edition. Meanwhile, dedicated players can get Anno 1800: Pioneers Edition to receive a Steelbook, a bigger artbook, three lithographs, the DLC, the soundtrack and a letter in a collector’s box.

Those interested can particpate in the The Anno Union, which allow its members to play the game early and provide feedback on the early builds of Anno 1800; members will also be able to partake in discussions with the developers that will shape the future of Anno 1800 and the franchise as a whole. You can learn more about the Anno Union here.

Anno 1800 was aiming to be released in full on February 26, 2019 but was delayed in order to allow the developer perform more polish and tuning. Now the game will release on April 16, 2019 after being announced by Ubisoft at Gamescom 2018.