I am no stranger to strategy games, especially lately, and I have been keeping an eye on Anno 117: Pax Romana. Ubisoft was kind enough to let me go hands-on with the latest game in the Anno series, and though the game is definitely a balancing act, I am looking forward to the full release of the title, especially in 4K.
Recently, I have been spending a lot of time with Civ VII, but before that, I was playing Citadelum. Anno 117: Pax Romana feels like the perfect combination of the two, blending city building, strategy, relationship building and exploring all in one. I was introduced to a sandbox version of the game, so I was lacking extreme game detail, like tutorials and received a bit of backstory. You are a newly appointed Roman Governor, who has been given your position by the Emperor himself, so the pressure is on.
Like most city builders, you start with very little, and as you grow your population and upgrade buildings, more resources become available. To upgrade your residents’ homes, you’ll need to meet certain requirements, which vary depending on the type of resident. These typically include fashion and food needs, along with access to public services such as markets or taverns.
“Anno 117: Pax Romana feels like the perfect combination of Civ VII and Citadelum, blending city building, strategy, relationship building and exploring all in one.”
For example, the lowest-level residents—the Liberti—require access to fish or porridge, a market, and clothing items like tunics or hats. The next level up, the Plebeians, demand higher-quality goods such as sandals. One important note: you shouldn’t upgrade every building the moment it becomes eligible. Certain social classes are tied to specific roles in your economy. Plebeians, for instance, won’t produce tunics, but they are vital to sectors like religion and education.
I made the mistake of doing this, and was stuck rebuilding lower-level houses because nothing was being produced. However, later on in Anno 117: Pax Romana, I learned that you can downgrade a building, which is good to know for the future!
It took me a while to figure out which residents produced or needed which items. While new items and buildings unlock as you progress through levels, I can see this becoming confusing later in the game. Clicking on a building will show you which type of resident works there, but you’ll need to click through each one to find out. There is a toolbar at the top of the screen that displays how many of each resident type are working or available to work, which helps.
It’s also hard to tell some buildings apart. I’m hoping that once we gain access to deeper menu options, there will be a way to highlight building types more clearly. Zooming in and manually searching became a bit tedious. Thankfully, homes for different resident classes are colour-coded, making it easier to distinguish them—although the red and orange shades can be hard to tell apart at a glance.
There are eight key attributes to keep an eye on: population, income, belief, knowledge, prestige, health, happiness, and fire safety. These categories determine your city’s success and overall growth. I didn’t get far enough into the game to fully explore mechanics related to all of them, but I did experience several fires. Some buildings—such as the Market, Tavern and Fire Station—show a radius of effect, while others aren’t as clear.
The trickiest part of Anno 117: Pax Romana was making sure everyone had what they needed without going into the red. Public services require funds to operate and must also reach all nearby homes. In other city builders, I’d simply place a Fire Station in each corner and build in a neat grid—but you can’t do that here, or you won’t be able to afford to run them.
I’m used to building in a uniform layout, but with building ranges being circular and every placement affecting your budget, I quickly realized I’d need a new strategy. Placing markets and other essential buildings in the centre of your city seems like a smarter approach. This also applies to road-dependent production chains, like the hemp farm and tunic workshop. If they’re too far apart, they won’t function together effectively. Planning is everything in Anno 117: Pax Romana.
“I really enjoyed my time with Anno 117: Pax Romana—I can tell that the full title will definitely be a true balancing act.”
Another thing Anno 117 does differently is how it handles storage. Many production buildings will stop working once your storage is full. In other games, you’d just drop another warehouse nearby and carry on. While you still need warehouses within range of production buildings, it’s your Trading Post that determines your overall storage capacity. Over time, you can use knowledge—gained through various buildings—to research upgrades to your Trading Post. It’s currently unclear whether you’ll be able to build additional posts later in the game.
The Trading Post will be vital once you begin exploring by ship, forging new alliances and generating income. Setting how much to keep and how much to sell becomes key to maintaining a healthy economy while keeping your population satisfied. You’ll eventually be able to build ships and establish trade routes, but during this preview, that feature wasn’t fully explored.
Instead, I went on an adventure with my ship to discover new lands and make new allies. This is where the comparison to Civilization VII comes in. Making new relationships is important for trade, loans, quests and war. There will be go-fetch quests available in many areas where you can make some money if you are running low. There are also quests from new people you meet, or even people in your city, which make things a little more interesting.
For instance, I had to go out on a boat to find a haunted ship and sink it to the bottom of the ocean. In other cases, I need to transport residents to a new area, and sometimes I would just have to make a speech or a promise to tide people over. I would assume that the choices I made would affect the game further down the line, but since it was a short preview in sandbox mode, right now, it is unclear.
I really enjoyed my time with Anno 117: Pax Romana. I can tell that the full title will definitely be a true balancing act, and I am looking forward to the challenge. I was losing money for most of my preview, having to resort to loans, so I can’t wait to learn more—hopefully through a tutorial—and see my city thrive in the future.
Ubisoft’s Anno 117: Pax Romana still has no release date, but is said to come out sometime in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam.
