The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom

The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom is a real time strategy and city-building video game developed by Blue Byte Software and published by Ubisoft. It was released on March 23, 2010 for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is the seventh game in The Settlers series.

Gameplay
The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom features gameplay similar to that of past 3D games of The Settlers series. The player may choose between playing a Campaign game, a Skirmish Game, a ranked game and a multi-player game. The game gives the player an opportunity to choose between three unique paths of development for victory: Military, Science, and Trade. In the traditional Military development path, the player builds the kingdom's army in order to conquer and destroy enemies. In the Science development path, the player must focus on researching technological upgrades. Finally in the Trade development path, the player builds their economy and attempts to occupy the best trade routes on the map. Each path of development contains unique units and possibilities. In all development paths, the player wins by collecting Victory points throughout the course of the game.

The AI enemies have been greatly improved over those included in previous games, with more than twelve different AI profiles with unique behaviours. The game also includes an extensive new online multi-player mode which it allows players to both compete and co-operate with one another as well as gain tutelage in the form of a mentor request. Players can also generate and share content.

Campaign Mode: The player begins with a simple village and expands it sector by sector to create a kingdom. During this process, the player must fine-tune their production chains and transport systems. The Campaign mode is also the tutorial. It starts with very basic instruction and upon the completion of each section, it unlocks additional functionality of available tools and methods.

Soundtrack
The title themes 'Hero Within' and 'Ever After' were produced, composed and performed by British/Latvian singer/songwriter Kariina Gretere, who is also known for her acclaimed music for the PC game ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal. The remainder of the music was produced by German company Dynamedion in style with the main theme.

DRM Restrictions
The game is one of the first to introduce a new form of Digital Rights Management for Ubisoft games known as the Online Services Platform. The service requires players to authenticate the game at launch and remain online while playing; if the network connection is lost then the game will automatically pause. Shortly after release, reports of players experiencing issues connecting to Ubisoft's servers arose, particularly in Australia, which rendered the game unplayable. Reports of the problem seemed to spread worldwide, with a vast number of international players still unable to connect two weeks later.

Reception
Reception has been generally positive, with some reservations, particularly revolving around the difficulty of the game. IGN described an "Everest-like learning curve", rating it 6.0. GameSpot gave the game a rating of 7.5, praising its graphics and complex gameplay, and Eurogamer gave it 8.0, describing the gameplay as "fun and hugely tense".