Anno 117: Pax Romanana woke up fanatical city buildings in me

For 110 people who work 117: Roman paxThe builder of the city to come from Ubisoft Mainz, every match in the franchise has led to the winter release of 2025.

That Anno The series has several hit and miss – the latest game, 2019 1800widely considered one of the best, while the title focused in the future 2205 And 2070 have various results. But Pax romana Has something for die-Hard tactic players, beauty builders, and even newcomers like me: the first simultaneous release of franchise on a PC and a console, reintroduce land battles, the promise finally brought Anno To Rome, and a big update for the existing game system.

Several team members have worked in the series for 10, 15, or 20 years, know exactly what is Diehard Anno Fans want (a prettier palette that uses better graphics, a variety of bigger choices, stronger gameplay systems, and degotic moments of funny disasters), and are determined to provide.

I travel to Rome to become one of the first people in the world to go together At 117: Peace Romana and chatting with creative director Manuel Reinher and Game Director Jan Dungel, emerged from that experience was truly jet-lag and with appreciation that was only discovered for series and genres. Let’s go!

In the new year

117: Roman pax is the first game in the series since being loved 1800determined during the Industrial Revolution. This is also the biggest leap of this series. The team doesn’t want to set the next Anno The game during bloody upheaval, war -fueled from the Roman Empire, but during the peak of the period of peace and prosperity for 200 years.

“Our fans have asked for this for a very long time,” Reinher gave a digital trend. “The power of Rome, it’s a very appealing setting, but we struggled because with Rome there’s a certificate of fantasy that is well-delivered, and delivering so off people have a certain expectation … we 200 years of stability in the empire, peak growth … and it’s a good fit because conflict is not the core of the core Anno experience.”

In the Anno 117You will play as a newly appointed Roman Governor in Latium, a province close to the Imperial Center, which is assigned to uphold the peace and prosperity mentioned above. Will you rule with an iron fist and hope that fear is maintaining peace, or showing empathy and kindness and praying to one of the gods of your choice that the governor who rival does not step on your open fingers?

And then there is Albion, the land of Celtic which is covered in fog where no Roman “civilized” fled so that they would not face the anger of strange and savage areas. You can go there, too (even though I did not arrive at that during me), and decided what to do with the ground and the people.

117: Roman pax Hoping to offer deeper players, choices that are more meaningful than other games in franchises. A large -scale discovery tree, with more than 150 “discoveries” is divided into three main categories (economy, civil, and military), will help “soften linear” which may be felt by players in the previous title.

Examining increasing storage capacity can help you store more products to trade with neighboring provinces, while civil research allows you to explore various religions, or build new public buildings. And you will not be locked to a particular branch in this discovery tree, you are free to examine the paved road, or learn Latin, or increase your military presence.

Like anything Anno game, 117: Pax Romana Centered around economic simulation with several traditional city -building mechanics and 4X strategy features sown. But 117 bring back controversial features that have never been seen by players in franchises for a very long time: land battle.

This team is quite close about it during our preview, but confirmed 117: Roman pax Will have a battle of land and navy, deeper when it comes to integrate both, and the promise that only big and strong cities can have a developing military. But don’t worry – Anno Not a war SIM franchise, and the team considers land battles as “other options, other tools.” Diplomacy can be your vibration, rather than using steel.

Apart from the gameplay feature, the team wants 117 To be the “Most Beautiful Builder Gamer, Point.” There is a new day and night cycle that gave rise to a few large “ooohh” moments, like when the fire blinking from Lucernae became alive when the sun was set, or when the developing cities were cut with beautiful lavender fields. The additional ability to make a curved path allows more freedom in the city layout, and the team’s attention to details can be found in each pixel, from the broken waves around the sailboat to the seeds of the seeds shifted softly in the wind.

Ubisoft is eager to show people how multicultural ancient Rome is, how it attracts inspiration and even religions from the land of Celtic and Egypt, and how the empire expansion leads to cultural exchange. “Religious ideas, technology, resources, they travel from one province to another,” Reinher explained.

This ancient melting pot helps stabilize the empire. “People are surprised by that fact … this happened 2,000 years ago. The idea of ​​traveling like this, and this is an interesting story that violates the boundaries of what we all have in our minds when we think about the economic empire like that.”

Roman onboarding

Ubisoft Mainz promises Year: 117 Roman PaxGameplay experience is for newcomers and old heads, thanks to a better onboarding system.

“Anno It can be very complicated, but it’s useful step by step, “said Dungel.” You don’t need to fully understand the universe to be enjoyed [the games]. “

To describe sitting to play Anno’s game for the first time while surrounded by cold stone walls from ancient Romane plantations as “surrealis” will not be fair. Surprised by the game system and admiration for Horti Sallustian (The Gardens of Sallust), I am worried that I will not be able to create a kingdom that will be proud of my ancestors. I consider lingering around the craft service desk and eating as many olive bread (staple food diet romane) to avoid embarrassing. But I have a job that must be done, and gawk in the marble structure that surge above my head there will be no point for me.

So I sat, loaded, and was immediately assigned to place my governor’s villa in a place on this newly found island which was quite far in the interior to avoid being attacked by coastal invaders, but it was quite central so that it could easily be connected to warehouses and other important trading buildings.

Pop-up in the game urged me to ensure that my villa was connected to other important buildings, but failed to tell me that I had to build the second structure. I glanced, helpless, until someone came and led me through it, only for me to get caught up again because I could not see the lost pixel which means the building was technically still not connected.

I snorted frustrated. I jetlag and my brain functioned at the lowest possible capacity. I need more olive bread.

Immediately, my Italian ancestors smiled at me. I began to understand things after my little road barrier (Teehee). Saya membangun penggergajian di tengah hutan untuk memastikan kami memiliki persediaan kayu yang stabil, dan menempatkan koleksi rumah untuk orang -orang pekerja kelas terendah saya mungkin agak terlalu dekat dengan rumah gubernur untuk orang yang menyukai status perawakannya (saya percaya pada solidaritas di seluruh kelas di dalam di dalam kelas di dalam di dalam kelas di dalam di dalam di dalam kelas di dalam di dalam kelas di dalam di dalam kelas di dalam my Ancient Rome). I sounded the house of the workers with purple wild flowers, placed drinks and markets that were close enough to their places so that they rubbed all the people who live there (which helped you get more money faster), and sent one of my ships to go out to an agreement with a neighboring island.

“[Building Anno 117] A little challenging, because we have a very different audience, “Dungel admitted.” Some people want to collaborate, they are very hardcore, they want to respect sharing and networks, but some people are more casual. For the first time, we decided to try to find a way to please these two groups, not making it less deep and less complex, but gave options for people who wanted to be more relaxed. That’s why you don’t have to give all the needs [requirements for every population tier that must be filled in order to progress] … You don’t have to go to other provinces immediately. “

Although I stumbled at first, after about 1.5 hours of play, I had a tier 3 city that was scattered before my eyes, complete with soap production, ship construction, tunics and sandals, tilers, and a temple to worship the selected goddess, Ceres, which helped increase our agricultural output. There are a large number of emergency services, including doctors, Vigiles Urbani (basically NYPD Roma), and firefighters, the last who managed to eliminate the fire that began near my sheep’s grasslands. I even have a large new ship that can carry far more cargo than I started.

But my city is negative, and lost money quickly. I got a loan, then the others, then the others, and then I began to panic. Apart from my business, there aren’t enough people to produce my products that are needed (beautiful women on a neighboring island Really Want tunic), or enough raw materials for people to form something that can be used for empire. I need to build more houses to get more capable workers, but I don’t have enough wood, and my island looks more like a desert every minute.

Even Anno The experts next to me are struggling with their finances. “I can’t take another loan,” one player lamented.

Before I was able to fix my ship, it was ended immediately. I just got my negative income from three digits and is in the process of conquering other islands that have several important resources (olives, mackerel), when we are given a time signal.

“I’m getting used to it!” I protested. “I just need more people full of people who!” Dev Ubisoft that pulled me from the depth of Dirt Road in despair two hours before laughing. He had just seen a new city building in front of his eyes.

117: Roman pax The end of this year’s release for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.