{"id":163371,"date":"2025-11-13T02:19:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T02:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gamersheroes.com\/?p=163371"},"modified":"2026-02-08T01:22:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T01:22:45","slug":"anno-117-pax-romana-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gamersheroes.com\/honest-game-reviews\/anno-117-pax-romana-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Anno 117: Pax Romana Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\t
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Official Score<\/h2>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Overall - 90%<\/h5><\/span><\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t
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90%<\/span><\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

<\/h4>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t

As a newcomer to the Anno franchise, Anno 117: Pax Romana has completely blown me away. I've sunk days into this game, and still feel like I need weeks to get comfortable, and months to get confident - and I absolutely love that.<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t

\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\tUser Rating: <\/strong>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t5<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t( 1<\/span> votes)<\/small>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t
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About 45 minutes after starting Ubisoft Mainz’ Anno 117: Pax Romana, I thought I’d made a huge mistake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having never played these games before, I was expecting a relatively familiar city management sim and strategy game with a new lick of paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Struggling to correctly setup even the first major resource tree – timber for those in the know – was challenging. Trying to gauge the correct ratio between a growing population and a limited capacity for resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It became very clear that this was not what I was expecting…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Cut-scenes and animated characters add a level of quality to the narrative<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There’s a level of planning and forward-thinking to Anno 117: Pax Romana I didn’t see coming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing multiple population types, each with varying needs and desires, came into play. I also needed to incorporate new research and technologies into existing developments to pivot resource and production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only mistake is that Anno 117: Pax Romana is my first Anno game – and it will definitely not be my last. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve fallen in love with everything Anno 117: Pax Romana has to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near-endless hours of relaxing (albeit sometimes frustrating) gameplay where every step – every inch of progress – always feels earned and rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a complete newbie to the franchise, it’s pretty brutal. The controls on PlayStation 5 take a lot of getting used to; even now, I struggle finding certain menus and shortcuts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not so much because of a development issue, but more because of breadth of the options available. It would be an impossible task to make the entire process fluid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Anno 117: Pax Romana’s tutorial somewhat helps, it almost entirely skips combat and misses many city management aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your trusted involuntary advisor, Ben-Baalion, offers tips and advice along the way<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana’s relatively short campaign, which clocks in between 8-12 hours, primarily serves a tutorial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While narrative-driven, Anno 117: Pax Romana’s campaign is worthy of the journey – even for more experienced players. It introduces players to the two distinct building and cultural environments of Latium and Albion, playing the role of a Roman governor in a time of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relatively speaking, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing to build through the Roman or Celtic trees, Anno 117: Pax Romana feels like two entirely different games. Each requires different construction techniques, planning, and materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dabbling a bit in both, I very much look forward to being comfortable exploring both avenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its tutorial-centric approach, it misses the mark in a few select areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana is such an incredibly complex game, complete with intricately-woven mechanics into every design and feature. It’s only natural some elements would be ignored, but it does admittedly leave a steep learning curve as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The game looks incredible throughout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That’s the real beauty of Anno 117: Pax Romana…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana level of depth and micromanagement completely blows me away – especially as a newcomer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I probably put 30 hours into Anno 117: Pax Romana’s campaign mode as I set out to experiment, learn, adapt, and make things just a bit more efficient each run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I achieved so much in Anno 117: Pax Romana – and yet I still understand next to nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the right player, Anno 117: Pax Romana is a game that offers hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of entertainment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially if you’ve got friends to throw into the mix!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Attempting to manage combat in urban areas relies heavily on pathing, which isn’t always the best<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana co-op option was the main reason I decided to dive into Anno for the first time, and its two options available cater to every player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana’s co-op allows for multiple players to play as the same emperor as they share the same resources, research tree, and buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When in play, Anno 117: Pax Romana’s co-op system allows multiple players to work together in harmony. In a game that encourages multiple settlements, sprawling cities, and important research decisions, sharing the workload between players is always fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana’s other option – its more traditional multiplayer functionality – offers the same. However, the added twist comes with the additional choice of players controlling their own emperor and competing\/working together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laying siege to an enemy stronghold is a lengthy process, when you only bring spears and bows<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Combat is the only area of the game where this title felt a little lackluster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana’s combat follows a familiar rock-paper-scissors approach to unit strengths and weaknesses, but there is very little attention is given to formations or controlled movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting the battle with troops all positioned correctly, with spears and swords protecting long-range units can be a bit cumbersome, but once the battle starts? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s best just to start telling everything to attack everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This title provides a satisfying system from a visual perspective. Anno 117: Pax Romana’s units are engaging in combat, and seeing the damage from a charge is always rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That being said, it does feel a bit dated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I only looked away for 2 hours.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana creates epic stories from struggles. I lost count of the times everything was smooth, with everything going my way – only for some random situation to cripple my efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling confident after populating my first island, I expanded to new territory to capture a resource I needed to advance my city even further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After sending my fleet with some starting supplies, I got to building my next epic city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 20 minutes in, I was bombarded with notifications…I neglected to pay attention to the population growth of my first island, leaving many without vital supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My fleet was so large, it left too few workers at home and half my city moved out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Disease ravaged one quadrant, while riots started in another; needless to say, it was a complete disaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restart, try again, lessons learned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was often my route in Anno 117: Pax Romana, but not once was that through disappointment or frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each attempt of Anno 117: Pax Romana had me eager to explore, learn more, and build better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anno 117: Pax Romana is a remarkable game, and one I hope to spend many more hours playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The depth and variety of the research tree is incredible. INCREDIBLE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a newcomer to the Anno franchise, Anno 117: Pax Romana has completely blown me away. I’ve sunk days into this game, and still feel like I need weeks to get comfortable, and months to get confident – and I absolutely love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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