Anno 117 Pax Romana Review: Revel in the Roman Times

Anno 117: Pax Romana is the eighth installment in the historic Anno franchise, which has been around for nearly three decades, following the success of its predecessor, Anno 1800.

Expectations are high, as we take a monumental turn to the Roman Empire this time. Will Anno 117: Pax Romana capture the magic of the Roman Times with its foundational system? Here’s a 60-hour playtime review of the game.

Anno 117 Pax Romana Continues to Add to Its Masterful City-Builder

The Anno franchise has consistently built upon its features with every title, sticking to what works, fleshing out details, and adding more mechanics to round out the theme of the current Anno title.

In Anno 117: Pax Romana, we get to see the beauty of two provinces, Latium and Albion, with the Anno-style city-building. As you jump straight into the campaign or even just a sandbox playthrough, the mechanics can be a little intimidating with so many things going on. You even start with a negative income, but the tutorial will tune things out soon.

You start building your residences, production chains, meeting needs, and expanding your empire. As you build, learn, and wait for resources, you can marvel at the game’s artistic direction, where each building has its little things going on, such as the festive mood in the Tavern, all the way to its mystic Forums.

Anno 117 Pax Romana follows the footsteps of Anno 1800, with almost everything looking quite similar: the UI, gameplay loop, and core mechanics. In most cases, this may seem like a bad thing for new titles, but with how smooth and perfect Anno 1800 was, it makes sense to just build on its success.

You have diagonal building mechanics, which adds a massive change for space efficiency or decorating your precious islands. Land combat makes its debut and is rightfully fitting in the Roman theme. We also have extensive research trees, prestige, and religion mechanics to encompass all the major changes and additions to Anno 117: Pax Romana.

These features play a big role in structuring your empire, as you have more creative control over your ideas with fewer punishing mistakes – choosing the right research nodes or maximizing a Patron God’s buff can negate bad decisions and help build your flow within the game… up until you encounter the aqueducts. That’s a nice surprise for you.

There are also several amazing quality of life improvements, such as making the residences’ needs more dynamic, road building, and a more detailed UI.

Combat is Not Quite There Yet

While land combat adds another huge aspect to your quest for world domination, it felt way too encumbering, forcing you to capitalize on macro-ing your islands using the buffs from Patron Gods like Mars to sustain a massive enough army to topple an island.

The workforce needing to support both warships and combat troops is too demanding. You can circumvent it a little bit more with research, but even going for more islands isn’t the way to go since it exponentially becomes more expensive to expand now, compared to just requiring materials to claim an island before.

The land combat makes you think more meticulously and strategically about your layout, placing Governor Villas with proper defenses, such as walls and towers. It presents an engaging challenge to figure out, especially when trying to keep everything tight to meet the residents’ needs, manage buffs, and squeeze out even more space for the aqueducts.

Naval combat also feels like it needs a bit of balancing. Fighting the raiders to protect your trade routes is one of the most annoying things to deal with, and having fewer options for naval combat and naval defenses makes it more of a nuisance than an obstacle to overcome.

A Living World That Feels Truly Roman

What makes Anno 117 stand out isn’t just its refined systems and new mechanics but how it immerses you in the Roman world. The attention to cultural authenticity is meticulous — from the architecture of the Governor Villas to the bustling trade routes (where Caeso and Voada make you want to pull your hair out) that bring your empire to life. Citizens celebrate festivals through real-time event decisions.

Every decision you make feels like it contributes to the pulse of a living civilization. The day-night cycles, environmental storytelling, and detailed ambient sounds create a level of immersion rarely seen in city-builders. It’s not just about building an empire — it’s about watching it breathe, expand, and endure through the Pax Romana.

It feels like Ubisoft has found its magic in its city-building franchise, and it’s exciting to see what’s next to come in Anno 117: Pax Romana.