Anno 117: Pax Romana Finally Brings the City-Builder Franchise to the Ancient Roman Empire - Ubisoft Forward 2024
Ubisoft has revealed the beloved city-builder franchise Anno will finally be taking fans to the Ancient Roman Empire in Anno 117: Pax Romana. Furthermore, it will be released in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
While the team wasn’t ready to show off gameplay, it did share a short teaser that set the tone for what fans can expect. You’ll be introduced to the Town Crier in the trailer, who will appear in game, and he is making the grand announcement that a new Governor is coming to bring a new era of wealth and prosperity to these lands. However, he is speaking to no one as the lands have not been claimed yet and sare waiting for you. In a clever nod to Field of Dreams, the tagline is revealed as, “Build it and they wil come.”
And build it you will in Anno 117: Pax Romana, as you will take on the role of a Roman Governor who was sent by the emperor to manage the “costs of maintaining peace” across the empire.
That obviously won’t be an easy feat, but Ubisoft is doing all it can to make it a rewarding and fun challenge for all players. One of the ways they are accomplishing this is, for the first time in an Anno game, letting players choose their starting province.
The two provinces so far revealed are the Celtic Wetlands of Albion and the traditional Roman heartlands called Latium. Albion is a “land filled with mysteries where no civilized Roman wants to be,” and Latium is “close to the hungry heart” of the Empire and will give you that more traditional Roman feel. These may be different lands, but you will eventually be able to connect all of them together under one flag.
Anno 117: Pax Romana will be the first mainline Anno game since 2017’s Anno 1800, and it will keep many of the series pillars fans have loved, including “a unique mix of traditional city building, deep economical simulation, and 4X features like diplomacy, military, and narrative layers.”
However, this also marks a new era for the Anno franchise, and we had the chance to talk to creative director Manuel Reinher and brand director Haye Anderson about why this is the most exciting time to be or become a fan of the series.
An Anno for the Modern Age
Anno first jumped to the world stage in 1998 with Anno 1602, but Anno 117: Pax Romana is the title Ubisoft is really pushing as a modern strategy powerhouse that can stand with any of the competition. Rome is the perfect location for this big bet, and while it’s been an option for locations for previous Anno games, the time has finally arrived to answer fans’ calls with a bit of a twist to this trip back in time.
“We want to tell the untold story of how it was to govern Roman provinces,” Reinher said, “During that era, there was over 200 years of peace and it was the time after a big conquest. And we are talking an empire of people from three continents that accounted for almost 20% of the world’s population. So, the story we are trying to tell is how did the Romans manage to stabilize this?”
You, as the governor, will help answer that question and decide how to maintain the peace in these regions and please the locals while also enforcing the law given from the Emperor himself. The team also stressed to us that we’ll be living in a meticulously recreated Roman Empire, but this is more historically inspired than historically accurate, so there will be smart concessions made to make it a more fun gaming experience without feeling out of place.
Speaking of fun, Ubisoft also wants Anno 117 to be fun for players of all skill levels while not taking out any of the challenge for veteran players and those looking for a rewarding mountain to climb. In our Anno 1800 review, we said, “Outright newcomers to this type of game will have a tough go at it, as important elements of Anno 1800 aren’t given comprehensive tutorials, but diligent gamers will excitedly watch hours fly by once they get settled in.” The team has taken this feedback to heart.
“First of all, we want to improve our on-boarding,” Reinher said. “We want to embrace new players and also continue to embrace the complexity. One of the steps to accomplish this is making the game more modular. If you are a new player and what to pick one of the provinces that speaks to you, go for it! And you’ll have more context and story to help you along.
“But if you are a core player, you can of course combine the provinces and trade and do all the stuff that you love to do in managing multiple lands. So, it’s not about explaining everything, it’s about removing the hard walls and giving players more freedom to make the game more digestible and adapt it to your needs. So, although we are bringing innovation to Anno 117, we are staying true to the legacy of the brand.”
In closing, Anderson shared that this is a new era for Anno and one that the team is doing all it can to meet the players’ high expectations.
“We are delivering a Roman game with a fresh perspective and unseen scale in detail for them,” Anderson said.” We are doing more social content, more Twitch content, and we are rebranding in a way we can add more people into our community to make the Anno family more robust and welcoming.
“I think this is the real beginning of a partnership between the community and game development and working together to deliver the best product possible.”
The team is excited to share much more about Anno 117: Pax Romana in the future leading up to its 2025 launch, but in the meantime keep an eye out for the Easter Eggs just waiting to be found in the trailer that may reveal more about the game.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
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