Anno 1800 - All DLCs explained! Are they worth it?

12 DLCs have been released by Ubisoft after the initial release of Anno 1800 back in 2019. They can be bought individually or in the Season Pass bundles, which include 3 DLCs each. 

In this post, you can read the most notable additions the DLC brings to the game plus a (personal) opinion to decide if it's worth buying the DLC to add to your gameplay. 

All DLCs

Ranked in order of release, these are all the DLCs that have been added to Anno 1800 with the Season Passes.

Sunken Treasure 🏴‍☠️

The addition of Cape Trelawney and it's great island to settle and develop, is amazing. Combined with the new items old Nate brings, Sunken Treasures DLC offers great value to Anno 1800 players.

And the salvager ship is just a great bonus.

You can read a full breakdown here.

Verdict: Yes, worth it! So much new content and a new session 🎉

Botanica 💐

The Botanica DLC adds the Botanical Garden similar to Zoo and Museum. Various plants and Botanical Items can be added in the modules.

It also adds a Music Pavilion and several Pathway Ornaments. 

It doesn't add a lot of new gameplay elements. Instead, it offers more of the same. It adds some more fun for beauty builders, but gameplay enthousiasts will be less impressed.

Verdict: Meh... if you want?

The Passage 🥶

The Arctic is rough and challenging, but adds airships for the first time. New gameplay elements with heating and gas-fired Power Plants in the Old World (no oil nor railway needed!).

Also, the Arctic is riddled with Lost Expedition Scrap needed for crafting new items. 

Verdict: it adds a new session, so yes. 

Seat of Power 🏰

The Seat of Power DLC adds the Palace, a new modular building like the Zoo. But, it can only be built once. Local Departments can be built on other islands. 

To improve or affect population, Policies can be set in the Palace or the Local Departments. 

Like Botanica, Seat of Power doesn't add a lot of new gameplay elements. If you are a invested player wanting the best production rates or most efficiency, Seat of Power can't be missing. Otherwise, not so much.

Verdict: Meh... if you want?

Bright Harvest🌾

The Bright Harvest DLC adds Silos, Tractors and Fuel Stations to your Anno 1800 gameplay. It brings great improvements to both animal and crop farming.

Silos only require local crop, so bring easy improvements without requiring a lot of changes. Tractor Barns offer even more bonuses, but require fuel and thus oil. 

It adds new productivity modifiers to your gameplay in an interesting way. It also adds the Grand Oil Harbour, which makes shipping oil both on and between islands easier.

Verdict: Yes.

Land of Lions 🦁

The Land of Lions DLC adds African inspired Enbesa to Anno 1800. The region focuses on farming with irrigation, which is an intricate addition to the gameplay. 

Aside from the Enbesan population tiers Shepherds and Elders, Land of Lions also adds Scholars population to the Old World. The Research Institute provides dome interesting new possibilities, like moving oil wells and researching items you haven't found yet. 

The 4 (!) new storylines are well thought out and fit in with the style of this new African themed session.

Verdict: Yes, worth it! 

Docklands 🚢

The Docklands DLC adds a modular Harbour building to the game. Several modules can be added to make your harbours more efficient, like faster loading, extra storage etc. 

A new addition is the import/export option Trader Tobias adds. He visits every Docklands Main Wharf every 20 minutes or so, trading all goods you have set up in your import/export contracts. Sometimes it feels a little like cheating, as you can import goods you haven't even built production chains for yet. 

The new World-Class Reefer ship is very fast when travelling between different regions and a must if you have unlocked all extra regions.

Have a look at this getting started guide if you want more information on Docklands.

Verdict: Yes... but it does require extra attention to times and contracts. Before you know it, you've traded too many goods away or weren't quick enough to set up that new contract. As you don't rely on your own production, you need to take population growth into account when importing. Decide for yourself with the 5 best things from this DLC.

Tourist Season ☕

As DLCs go, Tourist Season adds a bunch of new gameplay. The Tourists are a new population tier in the Old World. New buildings appear in the form of Hotels, Restaurants, Cafés, Bars, Bus stops and the Iron Tower Monument. 

New goods and production chains are added for things like Jam, Shampoo and Souvenirs. There are also a few new story quests, mostly tied to the Tourists' culinary adventures. 

Verdict: Yes. The amount of gameplay it adds and the challenge to make tourists happy is worth it. Also, Tourists earn a lot of money, so that's great. 

The High Life 🏬

A lot of new production chains in The High Life DLC. Skyscrapers require elevators to build and several new types of Stores to be satisfied.

New Multifactories like Orchards, Chemical Plants, Assembly Lines produce and need goods like Cinnamon, Camphor Wax, Billiard Tables and Violins. 

Verdict: Meh... As with the Tourist Season, The High Life DLC adds a bit of gameplay. Most of all, it adds difficult and extensive production chains. Which means brain power. Don't add this if you just want to play casually.

Seeds of Change 🌱

Season 4 of Anno 1800 DLCs mainly focuses on the New World. Seeds of Change DLC kicks off the season with the addition of the Hacienda, Fertiliser and new production chains.

The Hacienda has its own productions and population buildings. Dung and Fertiliser can improve crop production in both New and Old world. Hacienda inhabitants require extra goods, like Hot Sauce.

Seeds of Change also introduces the Seasons of Silver scenario. It's the second scenario added to Anno 1800, which is a stand alone gameplay addition with different modifiers regarding building options and production chains. 

Verdict: Yes! The Hacienda and Fertiliser is a fun addition to the game. And finally we can improve the New World.

Empire of the Skies ✈️

Did anyone say 'more airships'? The Empire of the Skies DLC adds just that!  Several Helium-based airships (different from the Gas-fueled airships from the Passage), a modular Airship platform and new goods and production chains to support it all. 

It also introduces the Postal Service, Airship Platforms (New World Commuter Pier) and a new scenario: A Clash of Couriers. 

Verdict: Yes! Even if you just use the new Airships, it already makes cross session travel so much easier. 

New World Rising 🎨

The last and arguable the largest DLC for Anno 1800. New World Rising introduces a new population tier in the New World (Artistas) with very specific and extensive needs. 

Many new goods and production chains are added, like Soccer Balls, Costumes and Scooters. Emergency services can be upgraded. The massive island of Manola is added to the New World, which introduces Electricity to this part of the world!

Read about all new things in this post!

Verdict: Yes! Manola, the Artistas, Electricity in the New World: it's a no brainer. But also... those Artistas and their requirements are brain breakers.  The Scooters production chain covers 18 buildings and costs almost $900.000 to set up... It's crazy. 

Buy everything...

There you have it. All DLCs in a shortlist, with their main features added to the Anno 1800 gameplay. 

Only 3 DLCs are not really worth it from a gameplay perspective. Botanica and Seat of Power don't really add that much. The High Life does, but it makes things unnecessarily more complicated. 

Any DLC that adds a new region is a definite yes. That means the Passage, Land of Lions and Sunken Treasures are no brainers. 

The other 6 DLCs each add enough gameplay to make them worth buying. If not outright, then as part of the Season Pass or Ubisoft+ subscription. 

... but don't use it

The great part of Anno 1800 is that you don't have to enable all DLCs when starting a new game. You can choose which one to enable and which one to not bother with. 

So when you are starting a new game and you're thinking more along the casual lines of gameplay, just enable Sunken Treasures, Seeds of Change and Empire of the Skies. Maybe Bright Harvest too. It means you can have good production, a fair few enhancements and you can spend ours using the Salvager in Cape Trelawney. 

Do you want to start a game that revolves about production, improvements and mathematical geniusness? The High Life, New World Rising and Tourist Season are your best bets. 

Or, just enable all DLCs and see where the game takes you!