Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 22/12/2025 04:44

Anno 117: Pax Romana – Review

As the famous saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you think you can do better, however, the latest entry in the Anno series gives you the opportunity to prove it. As its title implies, Anno 117: Pax Romana puts you in charge of a Roman province. Now, if you happen to be one of the 13% of men who think about the Roman Empire at least weekly, then we’ve already got your attention, but how does Anno 117 hold up for those of us who don’t perpetually have Rome on our minds? Story City building sims are typically devoid of a story, but Anno 117’s campaign, which doubles as the game’s lengthy tutorial, does feature an arc, complete with named characters, cutscenes, dialogue choices and recurring plot threads. You play as the governor of a Roman province, answering directly to the Emperor. The overarching story of Anno 117’s campaign is shaped by your choices, as you decide how to treat the Celtic population in the province of Albion. Do you Romanize them or do you preserve their culture? It’s a story that is filled with political intrigue, power struggles and questions of your loyalty to Rome, although Anno 117’s focus remains more on its gameplay than on its narrative. As intriguing as the story can be at times, it is limited in scope and importance, functioning more as a framework than anything. Graphics We cannot talk about Anno 117’s graphics and simultaneously ignore the elephant in the room: the game makes use of generative AI for some of its assets. Ubisoft has acknowledged this and has said that whatever AI assets and illustrations are in the game were intended as placeholders. These supposedly slipped through the cracks when the game was released. Here’s hoping that these are eventually replaced with real art down the line. Although the majority of the game doesn’t use gen AI -at least as far as we could tell- its limited presence did affect our perception of the game’s visuals. It’s a shame too, as the visual presentation itself is strong and detailed, with vibrant cities and landscapes that feel alive, whether you zoom in or out. The daily hustle and bustle of character models, in particular, adds life to your cities. The visual differences between Albion and Latium give a distinct feeling to each of the two provinces. In terms of performance, the hardware that you run Anno 117 on is going to make a huge difference. We’re running the game on mid-range hardware, and we had to make some tweaks to optimize how well the game ran. Anno 117 is a demanding game, and on high-end PCs, you can expect it to look significantly better. Sound The vast majority of Anno 117’s voice acting is limited to the campaign, and it’s here that the performances get room to shine. The voice work adds personality to the characters, although the choice for posh British accents can feel a bit jarring in a game where the focus is on ancient Rome. Aside from the narrative campaign, voice work is limited to the stuff you’d expect, with NPCs repeating the same lines over and over again. It can get a bit grating, but it’s something that is typical for the genre. The ambience fares a lot better here, with the sounds of city life adding a layer of immersion. The music never really takes center stage; instead underscoring the on-screen action and shifting moods to match gameplay. Gameplay We’re going to be frank here: as newcomers to the Anno series, taking on Anno 117 felt daunting. The series has a reputation for being one of the best city-building sims out there, but it’s also known for being dense with convoluted systems and complicated economy management. To Anno 117’s credit, the game’s built-in campaign did a lot to alleviate our worries, as it felt very beginner-friendly. Over the course of 10 hours or so, Anno 117 introduced the game’s core mechanics gradually, explaining production chains, trade, population needs, and regions step by step, and with clear visual feedback. The game doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and instead delivers a solid take on the city-building genre, with a touch of ancient Roman flair. We won’t go too deep into its mechanics -as we’d be here all day, given just how many things there are to deal with, but those first steps definitely felt manageable, and welcoming even. Moving beyond the campaign and into the true meat of Anno 117, that feeling of beginner-friendliness did quickly fade. The game does not fully explain its deeper systems like City Status and Island Health. Anno 117 is a surprisingly unforgiving game, and early game choices have long-term consequences. A poor city layout or a bad economic decision can trigger irreversible death spirals where your workforce, income and food supply collapse simultaneously. That’s without even getting into the game’s war mechanics, which require large population investments. We hit fairly hard progression walls and were faced with the inconvenient truth that planning ahead isn’t a choice, but the way the game is meant to be played. You can’t just wing it here. Of course, this specific approach is what garnered the series its reputation in the first place, and we imagine that Anno veterans will absolutely love getting into what Pax Romana throws at them. There’s no need to preach to the choir here: if you happen to already be experienced with Anno, then you know what to expect. On the other hand, if you’ve been considering getting into the series, then don’t be deceived by the €59.99 price tag that sits in front of the 10-hour campaign. This isn’t a game whose value can be quantified in length, as once you get sucked into Anno’s addictive gameplay, you’ll end up sinking hundreds of hours into its myriad of deep and engaging systems. Anno 117 isn’t a game so much as it is a commitment. Conclusion Not having played any prior Anno games in the past, we can’t outright compare Anno 117 to its predecessors. Looking at the game as a standalone entry, however, we can say that this is a great entry in the city-building sim genre. It does have some difficulty balancing accessibility for newcomers beyond the campaign with its plethora of intricate systems. This makes it so that you’ll inevitably see your city crumble if you don’t plan ahead, but given that that is what happened to the real Roman Empire, that’s ironically appropriate. Anno veterans already know what to expect here, so we won’t need to convince them to pick this one up. Anyone looking to take their first steps with Anno will find a decent enough entry point here, but be aware that this is the kind of game that actually expects you to put in the effort.