City-builder RTS The Settlers has a release date – and a new name

After a sequence of serious delays, Ubisoft has announced that The Settlers: New Allies release date is now set for February 17, 2023. The city builder/RTS game hybrid will be launching on PC, but Ubisoft is also creating ports for consoles and Luna, and every platform will share cross-play and cross-progression.

First announced for 2019, The Settlers (which has only recently picked up the ‘New Allies’ subtitle) was indefinitely delayed in 2020, right around the time of a major management shakeup at Ubisoft prompted by widespread accusations of toxic management, sexual misconduct, and abusive workplace conditions at several studios. A new release date was eventually set for March 2022, but the studio delayed the launch again following negative feedback from a closed beta.

In the following video, creative director Christian Hagedorn runs through some of the changes the team has made in light of feedback from The Settlers: New Allies beta tests.

Units have been rebalanced and, in some cases, renamed; new neutral camps of warriors now defend the unclaimed territory between starting points, providing early-game protection; there’s a 13-mission single-player story campaign; and features like an updated savegame system and customisable keybindings have been added.

So if all goes according to plan, we’ll finally be able to jump into a new and improved version of The Settlers in February. In the meantime, be sure to check out our list of the best games like RimWorld and Dwarf Fortress if you’re keen to serenely manage a settlement of tiny digital people.