Anno 117: Pax Romana

Smartly designed, impeccably produced, and tremendously enjoyable, Anno 117 is one of the best games in its genre this year.

Anno 117: Pax Romana is a delightful strategy game that combines so many cool elements (building, production, combat, diplomacy) that you can lose yourself in it for dozens of hours. It's the kind of game that could almost become a hobby in itself. The two settings (Romans and Albion) aren't dramatically different, but offer enough variety to allow for truly diverse gameplay. Pax Romana is well-designed graphically and runs without any significant issues, even on a less powerful PC (we played with a 2070GTX).

Anno 117: Pax Romana brings the series confidently into Ancient Rome with polished visuals, smart city-building systems, and a richly realized setting. Its refreshed mechanics and strong sense of place make it a rewarding and atmospheric return for fans of the franchise.

The latest installment of the popular strategy series has moved to the period of historical Rome. It brought various gameplay improvements and traditionally excellent management.

Anno 117: Pax Romana sends the city-building series into the Roman era with elegance, meticulous attention to detail, and stunning audiovisual design. The captivating rhythm of construction is only occasionally disrupted by technical issues and overly aggressive AI. Even so, it stands as a worthy successor – one that makes it easy to lose track of time.

Anno 117 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the addition of land combat and the ability to further customize your cities with diagonal roads and decorations brings even more satisfaction to the successful formula of a strategy series with a gameplay formula like no other.

Anno 117 Pax Romana is a structurally sound colony builder set in a Romanized world filled with flair and gravitas. For those who struggle to find joy in expanding their influence, the busy UI may disrupt the experience and confuse. It’s a game designed for risk-takers who won't hesitate to make tough choices to reap the rewards of a tantalizingly broad array of intuitive city-building mechanics.

Objectively, it deserves an 8 or 8.5, probably more with the D.L.C. But I'm balancing out the opinions of the haters who underrate the game without a shred of objectivity, just for the pleasure of bashing Ubisoft and whining about utterly ridiculous details. The game takes everything that works in Anno and adds new features. The game is very successful so far and will only get better with time. Go watch some gameplay videos or try it out for yourself to form your own opinion, because part of the community is toxic and will destroy the game for no reason.

yaklaşık 15 saat deneyim ettim oyunu, anno 1800'ün şehir kurma oyunlarının en iyisi oldugunu düşünürdüm ancak sorunları vardı bu oyun iyi 1800'ün neredeyse birebir kopyası sadece tema değişmiş, özellikler, çeşitlilik, oynanış yine 1800'de oldugu gibi iyi ancak anlamlı farklılıklar oluşturacak şekilde ileri gidilememiş, özellikle ekonomide neden hala enflasyon, vergi artışı gibi seçenekler sunamıyorlar anlamıyorum bu oyunlardaki bir yerde tıkanma hissini ekonomi ile oynuyarak çözebilirsiniz gibi geliyor bana, bunun dışında hikaye anlatmayı becerememelerine ragmen bunda ısrar etmelerinide anlayamayorum.

Anno 117 est une itération solide et rafraîchissante de la série, principalement grâce à son excellent cadre dans l'Antiquité romaine et à des améliorations de gameplay significatives comme l'introduction des routes en diagonale. Le jeu brille par la complexité gratifiante de la gestion des besoins et la profondeur ajoutée par l'Arbre des Recherches et les multiples tiers d'habitants et attributs d'îles. Cependant, les vétérans regretteront une ergonomie de base moins intuitive qu'Anno 1800 et une campagne narrative aux fraises. De plus, le jeu souffre d'une interdépendance régionale trop faible, d'une diplomatie trop complexe et d'une progression initiale trop rapide, tout en affichant des graphismes en léger retrait. Malgré ces défauts, le cœur de la gestion reste captivant et immersif.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Anno 117: Pax Romana is a fascinating entry in the city-builder genre. One that shows genuine potential and moments of brilliance, but also exposes its rough edges in ways that are hard to overlook. On the positive side, it is a modern city builder with solid micromanagement systems. There’s a satisfying level of control, and the core gameplay loop scratches that familiar Anno itch. In a time where city builders are booming, and genuinely evolving, it’s nice to see Pax Romana try to bring something new to the table. But that’s also where the problems begin. We’re in a renaissance of city builders right now, and with so many high-quality titles out there, the bar is simply higher than ever. Pax Romana’s improvements stand out, but its shortcomings stand out even more. Building placement isn’t as fluid or intuitive as it needs to be. The design language feels dated. The characters lack polish and liveliness. And the graphics… while serviceable… just don’t hold up against its competitors. Combat? Better elsewhere. Story? Other games do it significantly better. The campaign was shockingly short. I finished it in about six hours, which left the entire experience feeling more like a prologue than a full game. It borrows some of the spirit of Anno 1800, but without the same depth or staying power. But the biggest disappointment for me was the content gating. I bought the deluxe edition expecting, you know… the deluxe edition. Yet a significant chunk of the experience is locked behind online systems. As someone who prefers to play offline, I can’t access the Hall of Fame or unlock features that I would’ve earned effortlessly if I were connected. That decision alone is baffling and frankly unacceptable. And yeah, it’s Ubisoft, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but it still sours the whole package. Because of that, I can’t fully recommend Pax Romana. It has something unique going on, and I genuinely think it’s worth trying for a few hours just to see if it clicks. You may enjoy the vibe and the direction. But for me, it ultimately became another Ubisoft-flavored disappointment, one I’d suggest refunding if it doesn’t hook you early. A promising game that just doesn’t live up to the era it’s releasing into.