Dawn of Discovery is the best kind of game. Not because it’s a simulation game – any genre can be fun, but that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s one of the best simulation games in its class, but that’s not what I mean either. Dawn of Discovery is the best because – like Odin Sphere and Ninjatown – it is an ultra-obscure gem that seemingly came out of nowhere. Hardcore PC simulation fans should know it well since Dawn of Discovery is the evolution of the Anno series, which appeared once before on the DS in the form of the little-known Anno 1701. The rest of the world, however, is likely as clueless as I was.

Yet somehow, perhaps by sheer luck, the DS version of Dawn of Discovery plopped into my lap. With the curiosity of a child tearing into the plastic of a new toy, I jumped into this game, hoping for the best.

But realistically, we know the best rarely comes from obscurity. When’s the last time a small, unlikely classic earned a Game of the Year award? Which is why games like Dawn of Discovery are the best kinds of games: because no matter how fun you hope they’ll be, you never expect them to be on par with the big-name, over-hyped and highly-anticipated sequels and franchise starters released each year. But this one is.

From the very beginning, Dawn of Discovery makes excellent use of the touch screen. It sounds like a no-brainer – why not utilize its power? But whereas most sims on the DS wind up with a control scheme that’s barely an awkward replacement for a mouse and keyboard, Dawn of Discovery feels like it was made exclusively for the DS. (It wasn’t – the game is also available for Wii and PC.)

With the controls in place and almost entirely free of imperfections, the developers were able to create a game whose depth and complexities are carefully presented in a way that any player can grasp. In the first three hours, you’ll be asked to build a few small cities. There are so many options – and many more not yet revealed – that a newbie might feel overwhelmed. But the game takes care of that with an unobtrusive tutorial system that clearly explains each task and how they are accomplished.

Those tasks include building homes and farms and learning how to link them to the nearest market. You’ll do this by building roads to and from those locations. Just about everything in this game costs money, and the primary way of making money is by earning taxes – which in turn come from homeowners. Homeowners only want to live in cities with builders and politicians (essentially you, the player) who are able to meet those needs.

This includes more than lowering taxes to a ridiculous level – in fact, the game is very clear on how high you can raise taxes before people get angry and leave. To keep your citizens happy, you’ll need to provide them with food and milk (hence the farms).

And that’s just the beginning. Initially, you won’t even be able to call your people citizens; they are merely pioneers. There are five stages of growth that your people will go through, and all of them are based on how well you meet their needs. To become settlers, they’ll need a place of worship within the vicinity of their homes. To grow even further and achieve citizen status, they’ll need clothes, guest houses and a few other things. Firehouses are also needed; otherwise, there won’t be anyone to help when a fire breaks out.

Every building except homes cost money to build; farms and hemp plantations/weaving mills (for making clothes) cost money to maintain. So every time you build one of them to meet the needs of your people, you’re cutting into how much money you have and how much you’re earning. Ideally, it is best to have a positive balance at all times where your income from taxes is always higher than the amount of money you’re spending to keep your people happy. But that’s not always possible. Sometimes you have to endure a negative balance – which constantly eats away at your cash available for investments – in order to build every necessary structure. There will even be times when you’re forced to buy food, which is several times costlier than producing it yourself, because the number of homes you’ve built to offset your expenses have surpassed your own renewable food supply.

If this sounds like too much, you’ll be amazed at what the developers have done. They make every part manageable. There are a few annoyances here and there – mostly the occasional objective that isn’t very clear. Though there is an endless mode, Dawn of Discovery’s primary gameplay is mission-based. That seemed awful at first since the game eliminates some of your progress in order to start the next phase. But this proved to be beneficial in reducing repetition (you won’t have the chance to get tired of repeating the same actions in the same world) and in extending the game length and replay value.

As the missions progress, you’ll find stretches of land – islands, to be exact – that don’t need to be utilized. But players will want to use them anyway. They will happily ignore the main mission and work on new cities just because they can. That’s the mark of great game development: when wasting time is a joy.

Dawn of Discovery grows more challenging, becomes less forgiving, and offers fewer hints as you delve into the latter half. There are surprises coming that, if you don’t look too closely at the screenshots (and avoid the manual), you may not anticipate. Rather than write a book about everything this game has to offer – which believe me, could be done – I will stop here and leave you with one final message: if you enjoy sim games and have a DS, this is the epitome of a must-own release.

Gameplay: 8.9
A wonderful, highly polished and heavily engaging simulation game that will deprive you of sleep – and you will thank it for doing so.

Graphics: 7.0
The cartoon visuals look good. They're detailed enough for the experience this game provides. But they aren't much better than the graphics of an SNES game.

Sound: 7.0
Decent but slightly annoying. There's a great deal of repetition here, so you might not want to spend every hour of play listening to the music.

Difficulty: Medium
Well balanced with clear and unobtrusive tutorials.

Concept: 7.9
It would be wrong to say that this is an entirely new experience; anyone who plays PC games knows that there are dozens of simulation games out there with similar features. But the way this one is presented, the way it controls, and the way it keeps you engaged are unique to Dawn of Discovery. Like the classic Sim City games, it has elements that will appeal to newbies and hardcore sim fans alike.

Overall: 8.9
An unparalleled simulation game for a handheld machine.