Anno 117: Pax Romana Review

Anno 117: Pax Romana sees Ubisoft‘s long-running real-time strategy series enter a bold new era, winding back the clock by almost two thousand years when compared the most recent entry, Anno 1800. This leap back in time offers a whole new setting and aesthetic for the franchise compared to other instalments that have taken place during the late Medieval, Renaissance, and the Industrial Age, as well as those Anno games set in the near and distant future.

At its core, Anno 117: Pax Romana offers the same rich, layered web of strategy game mechanics that have been continually tweaked and refined over the years. While dense in certain aspects, the game is far more approachable in comparison to grand strategy epics such as Crusader Kings III or Europa Universalis V. This is mainly thanks to its scale, tasking players with managing cities rather than globe-spanning empires.

For the first time in the series’ history, Anno offers a story-driven campaign where you choose one of two main characters, playing through a series of quests that serves as an extended tutorial. Set during the Pax Romana – a time of peace of prosperity following bloody campaigns and civil war – you slip into the role of either Macus or Marcia, son and daughter to a governor in Rome’s Egyptian provinces.

Inexperienced but not entirely naïve, they are tasked with rebuilding the lost city of Ambrosia to its former glory (now named Juliana after the wife of the Emperor). It’s a pretty ideal scenario, giving you a fertile patch to plant the seeds of your own soon-to-be bustling metropolis.

While the game’s story features twists, turns, and a growing cast of characters, it never intrudes, allowing players to go at their own pace without piling on urgent tasks or dragging them away from their city-building. There is one exception to this, however, and it’s not too long before you’ll be whisked away from the sunny Latium to the uncharted, and somewhat ominous, wilds of Albion.

It’s here, within a cluster of islands resembling Celtic Britain, that you’ll gain more freedom, learning Anno 117’s advanced systems such as diplomacy, warfare, and establishing trade routes. Again, story elements are there to compliment your learning experience: well-crafted and immersive without hindering gameplay.

Speaking of gameplay, Pax Romana is relatively easy to dive into even if you’re completely new to the genre. The Anno games are best known as city-building sims that have a strong emphasis on trade and economy rather than warfare and real-time battles (though these do play a part in the overall experience). One key element that makes Anno 117 more accessible than menu-loving grand strategy games is being able to see your city fully realised in 3D with workers and citizens all milling around. Instead of viewing a number or a UI icon to denote the grandeur and prestige of a city, you can see it with your own eyes.

Creating a thriving metropolis will take time, however, and plenty of careful planning. With that said, there’s no right or wrong way to play Anno 117. Sure, for competitive players there will always be an optimal path that takes them from a single modest trading port to a sprawling cityscape in the shortest amount of time, but the same amount of satisfaction can be derived from crafting gorgeous cities that can be customised using a suite of clever tools.

For the most part, you’ll be constructing various buildings that each perform their own function. Housing, for instance, adds citizens to your workforce who can also be regularly taxed to bring in a steady income. These workers will man the various production stations you build within your territory, from vineyard farmers to iron miners, transporting these raw materials to other stations where they’ll be processed into goods such as wine and weapons. By producing and trading a growing portfolio of these goods you’ll satisfy the needs of your populace, allowing you to upgrade them to artisans and nobles and thereby unlocking even more building types to construct.

While there is certainly an emphasis on building – and optimising the placement of stations, ports, and warehouses to meet local demands – you’ll also need to juggle affairs from beyond your own borders. While some factions will happily engage in trade, exchange gifts, and form alliances, others are more hostile in their approach. A good governor will know how to balance the economic output of their city with its defences, not just against invading enemies but from fires and disease, too.

Keeping on top of everything requires quick and effective navigation of Anno 117’s various menus which are concise and well-presented. Nothing is hidden away or buried though console players will hit the occasional snag due to the inherent clumsiness of gamepad controls when sifting through multi-layered menus, search bars, and icons to find what they need.

Several hours into the game – once the main events of the campaign have been resolved – players can stay within this sandbox or jump into Anno’s Endless Mode which can be enjoyed either in solo or co-op with the option for 16-player competitive games that divide rival governors into teams of four. This multiplayer offering, combined with a roadmap of upcoming content, and the game’s inherent replayability are all conspiring to eat away the free time of any strategy fan with a taste of Ancient Rome.