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Earlier this month, Ubisoft gave us another look at Anno 117: Pax Romana during a remote hands-on session. This latest preview build offered an extra hour of playtime on top of the three hours we tried back in May, bringing us deeper into the upcoming strategy game ahead of its release on November 13, 2025.
Like the first demo, this build is still a work in progress, so tweaks and adjustments are likely before launch. Ubisoft also shared a full recording of our session, along with screenshots captured straight from gameplay, which you can see in this preview piece.
A New Frontier - Albion
This time, I decided to test out the Albion map, which wasn’t available during the May preview. I’ve always had a soft spot for Celtic-inspired settings – gloomy marshlands, scattered isles, and weather that feels like it belongs in a historical epic. Ubisoft describes Albion as a tougher challenge compared to the starting map, but in the hour I had, things went surprisingly smoothly.
I managed to climb through the first three tiers of housing and establish some basic resource-gathering without much resistance. Raiders and late-game threats never came into play, so I can’t fully speak to the difficulty curve here. Still, even with a barebones settlement, I was hooked from the start.
First Impressions
The controls feel intuitive, the UI is clean enough, and the tutorial is straightforward without slowing things down. What impressed me most, though, was the presentation - Albion is dripping with atmosphere, from its misty landscapes to the grounded sense of place. It’s one of those maps that makes you want to zoom out just to admire it.
One standout feature is the ability to choose between Romanising the locals or respecting their traditions. Each path unlocks unique production options and attributes, hinting at meaningful strategic choices that will ripple throughout a playthrough.
Looking Ahead
There wasn’t much in this preview that raised concerns. Of course, strategy games like Anno tend to reveal their quirks and balancing issues in the later stages, but nothing I played here set off alarms.
I should mention that I’m not a long-time Anno expert - the last entry I played seriously was Anno 1404 - so I can’t weigh in on the finer mechanical changes longtime fans will be hunting for. But from my perspective, Pax Romana already feels like a strong foundation.
If you’re curious to try it for yourself, Ubisoft is offering a public demo from September 2 to 16 on PC via Ubisoft Connect and Steam. The demo matches closely with the build I played: you’ll get one hour per session, with the option to restart and approach it in different ways.
