Re-creating the atmosphere of ancient Roman civilization has rarely been done with this level of care and detail in a video game. Anno 117: Pax Romana successfully blends multiple systems to deliver a rich and immersive historical strategy experience, and this Anno 117: Pax Romana Review explores why it stands out as one of the most grounded city-building games of the year.
A Surprisingly Good History Lesson!
One thing you might not expect is how well the game is designed. It plays almost like a guided lesson on Roman life, from daily routines and political events to architecture, craftsmanship, language, and resource systems. The campaign acts as a gentle introduction for newcomers, walking you step by step through the basics of expansion, resource management, decision-making, and building your settlement.
You can choose between two starting characters, though the choice has no major impact on gameplay or mission structure. The campaign itself isn’t particularly exciting from a mission-design perspective, and its slow pace can become tiring. It is clear the developers intended it mainly as an onboarding tool rather than a compelling story mode, and while it works in that regard, it could have been much stronger.
The Free Mode Is Where the Game Shines
The sandbox mode is the real heart of the game. It offers extensive customization: selecting your leader from multiple options, customizing your banner and sigil, adjusting building difficulty, altering regional challenges, customizing AI opponents, and more. You can choose between two provinces, Latium or Albion, two regions with distinct cultures, landscapes and resource systems—offering meaningful variation in architecture, production chains and strategic challenges, which enhances replayability.
Free mode also supports multiplayer, offering the same freedom found in the solo mode, making it a far more enjoyable cooperative experience than the campaign.
A Smart Mix of Systems for a Deep Strategy Experience
At first glance, Anno 117 might look like a traditional city-builder, but it is far more layered. The game blends city construction, resource chains, citizen needs, political management, military development, and economic strategy into a unified experience across massive land and sea maps.
Despite the variety of systems, the game avoids overwhelming the player. Instead, it delivers a surprisingly calming and rewarding gameplay loop. Watching your city come to life—thanks to the excellent zoom feature—makes the world feel alive as citizens move across streets, markets, and buildings. However, NPCs never sleep, day or night, which feels unnatural and would have been better as an optional feature.
The game is impressively optimized on PlayStation 5. Controls are intuitive, building shortcuts are smartly implemented, and navigating menus is smooth and responsive, making the console version especially enjoyable.
While the game includes a training system, the tutorial interface could be clearer in explaining objectives and progression, particularly in the campaign. Still, Anno 117 is newcomer-friendly overall, as long as you approach it with patience. Even if you’re not a fan of city-builders, its smooth controls and accessible design make it easy to enjoy.
Visuals That Bring Ancient Rome to Life
As expected from Ubisoft, the visual direction is polished and detailed. Zooming into streets and structures highlights the impressive craftsmanship in building design, lighting, and environmental effects. Day and night cycles, fire effects, water reflections, and shifting skies all contribute to a vivid and believable atmosphere.
The only weak visual element is the character models, which look noticeably inferior to the rest of the game’s visual quality. Some players even described them as AI-generated in Steam discussions. While this doesn’t affect gameplay, it’s a clear graphical inconsistency.
Audio design is excellent, with satisfying sound effects and voice work that aligns well with the historical setting. Performance on consoles is solid, with no drops or major bugs, though some players reported issues in the multiplayer mode, including unstable connections or failing to play at all.
Anno 117: Pax Romana Review Final Verdict
Anno 117: Pax Romana delivers an impressive journey into ancient Rome with strong artistic direction, detailed environments, and deep, varied gameplay systems. Its large maps, extensive customization options, and smooth performance on consoles make it a standout city-builder.
It has shortcomings—including unimpressive character models, and a slow, underwhelming campaign—but if these issues don’t bother you, the game remains one of the best strategic city-building experiences available today.
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