The Settlers 2 GOLD....

The Settlers II, Gold edition. I've hazy memories of little plebs in blue and a land of yellow icons overlayed on terrain.... 

My main memory of the game are the sounds. Fake bird chirps, surveyor 'yippee' and the midi music....

The tutorial level is a massive nostalgia buzz as the Demo was 'mainly it' from what I can remember.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Even back in 1996 I never owned the game. I played the heck out of a demo from a magazine disc way back when. The Gold Edition, all singing, all dancing version from 1997 seemed a good one to get. As of posting the game it's -75% off, so it's €2.49 down from 9.99 on GoG. The nostalgia bug bit and I bought it.

I've no saved games from it back then so no reloading to be done. I'm sure I made an executive decision to delete it's old demo saves.... Space was a precious commodity back then.  Also being new to PC gaming back then I'm sure I had a lot of other 'full' titles to keep me occupied(some things never change). Civ II I recall had more of my attention. 

I'll plod along with it for a bit but I can't see myself devoting massive time to it; Not unless it just happens to soak up the time as I get all nostalgic. It's one of those games where your can blink and then find your a few hours in. A game where there's joy in 'just' doing.  AKA 'One more turn' -esque.

Settlers II then as now has a cute art style which seem's to be more cute as a retro title than was ever intended/anticipated. 

It's a decent game even now. Just don't overthink it. Again.....I'm not sure I'll be piling hours into it but I've had some fun already. Nostalgia is a big thing in that regard. It happens. If you've never seen it before then I think a 'younger' more 'modern' audience will think it a slow 'boring' game. Despite the draw of the art style it may now be more of a love it or not kind of gameplay title. Each to their own. 

Then again at a few euro for a 20+ year old game can a person really complain.... Yea; It's the internet, who doesn't complain about everything regardless.

If the art style and slower game-play appeal then it's worth a try. Really worth a try if you have any form of nostalgia with it. Even if that's from 'just' the demo from back in the day like me. If not, well then, enough said.

There's an equally cheap and updated version of the game available directly from Ubisoft. Which does add Win10 compatibility and graphical improvements (details here); All of which does nothing for me as my nostalgia is the main driver for getting the GoG version. It 'is' the old software. While the 'newer' version is akin to a remaster for the true fans/die-hards of the title.