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Six years since the release of Anno 1800, the last one in the series, Ubisoft's beloved city-building strategy series is set to return later this year to PC and consoles, bringing the biggest, prettiest and most ambitious Anno game yet titled Anno 117: Pax Romana. Earlier this month, I got to play over three hours of the game, and the best way to describe my excitement would be to say that I can't wait to play the full game.
As the name suggests, Ubisoft decided to set this Anno game during the greatest period of Roman History, called Pax Romana, which translates as Roman peace. Pax Romana is a 200-year-old period of Roman history which marked peace and order, great expansion, and stability in the Roman Empire, which thrived in arts, literature and technology, but also the sheer size of the territory.
A perfect time period for an Anno game where players can focus on growing their provinces, building the greatest possible cities and economies, while making their people happy.
In my Anno 117: Pax Romana playthrough, I started from scratch - nothing but a ship and a dock - but with plenty of green grasslands, forests and waters to explore on the horizon.
I quickly started to build my first lane of houses, but not before setting the foundations for the Governor's Villa, a brand new building in Anno that serves as some sort of an HQ, as you can only have one per island.
As my new city started to take shape and the first coin dropped into the city's cashbox, the game quickly started to introduce quests and encouraged me to explore the sea in search of new islands in order to earn money and find resources I'll later need to develop my provinces further and ultimately make the people happy.
I unlocked new food, products, buildings, and did my best to increase the productivity across the province in true Anno fashion. It felt similar, even though I haven't played Anno religiously since Anno 1404, which is considered as one of the simpler games in the series and very newcomer friendly.
However, as my city grew bigger and my hands fuller, things did get a bit tricky. Managing everything from the economy, citizens' happiness, production and on top of that, exploration and expansion is no easy task, especially as you start unlocking new buildings and materials and your citizens get upgraded to higher tiers.
It's the typical Anno fashion that many of us love and can spend hours and hours playing without even noticing the time passing by. I'm glad that Ubisoft didn't change the formula much here, instead, they decided to flesh out what makes Anno great, offering an unprecedented scale in city building and level of detail in visuals.
Anno 117: Pax Romana puts a large emphasis on player choice, so you'll have to balance between the needs of your people, the demands of the Roman emperor who will be watching your every step, and of course, your neighbouring governors, which can get pretty aggressive if you're not dancing to their tune.
Obviously, I can't tell how well the whole gameplay loop of Anno 117: Pax Romana will translate to the dozens of hours of gameplay, but what I've seen in the first three has filled me with optimism that we're getting a well-balanced game that will be a lot of fun.
What I can tell you is that Anno 117: Pax Romana is a stunning game. Even though I played over a remote machine on a very low resolution and constant frame-rate hiccups, the footage of my playthrough that I received later on was crisp and beautiful. It ran pretty well, too.
The dev team highlighted the new day and night cycle, which can result in some spectacular vistas, especially during sunrises and sunsets, when your city gets painted in beautiful golden hour colours. This is hands down the prettiest Anno has ever been and one of the most impressive-looking strategies I've come across.
Should you be excited for Anno 117: Pax Romana?
For the fans of Anno, I think this one is heading in the right direction. I think Ubisoft Mainz have managed to pull off something great here based on the little I've played. Whether that short sample translates to the full game while retaining the addictive gameplay loop and introducing intriguing new mechanics, it remains to be seen.
I can only say that I can't wait to play more of Anno 117: Pax Romana and that's can only be a good thing.
