last year’s Ubisoft Forward, the game is slated for release some time this winter. ScreenRant recently traveled to Rome to visit the Gardens of Sallust and be a part of some of the very first hands-on time with the title. Though the locale itself made it hard not to feel like a true Roman leader, from what I saw of Anno 117, I believe it would’ve made me embody the governorship regardless.

The game is specifically set during the titular Pax Romana period, Latin for “Roman peace,” which is largely regarded as one of the most impactful, successful eras of the empire. Two of the biggest focuses of the development team have been player choice and accessibility, creating a flexible experience that will be equally enjoyable for veteran fans and more casual city builders. One of the biggest critiques of Anno 1800 was that some aspects of gameplay felt under-explained or overly complex, but from my three hours with the game, things seem much more balanced this time.

The World Of Anno 117: Pax Romana

The Ancient World Feels More Alive Than Ever

The first thing that stands out about the world of Anno 117 is its immersive beauty. The environments and the people within them feel more alive than ever due to several different factors. For one, a 24-hour day and night cycle and a weather system have been added, and paired with the stunning visual quality of the game, these elements combined make for a very captivating world.

Another big part of Anno 117’s inviting nature is its extremely detailed animations. “When you zoom in to the coliseum, all the small stories that you will find in this particular moment, it's really incredible,” says game director Jan Dungel, “because it's not only the gladiators doing things, but it's also having the crowd simulation, 4,000 people cheering the games.” The Anno series sometimes necessitates a fair amount of waiting, sitting patiently as production lines get going or ships return, which is made much more entertaining by the ability to zoom in and watch villagers going about their day.

Pax Romana will contain two distinct provinces, Latium and Albion, one inspired by classic Roman life, and another by Celtic societies. According to Dungel, these will both be “fleshed out, super detailed, different worlds, with different locals with different needs,” with the team’s aim being that “every province feels really independent and equal.” During my time with the title, I only got to experience Latium, but from what was revealed during the preliminary presentation about the area, a marshy wetland filled with folks resistant to the Roman way of life, it sounds like a very interesting change of pace.

As always, exploration and expansion is a key piece of Anno 117, and even within my few hours I was able to widen the breadth of my empire somewhat. As ships are built and sent out to sea and the fog of the map lifted, I began to encounter new islands and their leaders, and in turn take on missions like cargo requests or investigating a shipwreck. I didn’t get far enough to have any leaders conflict with me, though I did manage to form an alliance with a nearby ruler who quickly asked my very broke self for money.

Running An Efficient Province

Anno’s Continued Love Affair With The Means Of Production

Players have a few different ways of monitoring how their burgeoning society is doing. A province’s overall success is measured by eight metrics: money, population, fire safety, health, prestige, knowledge, belief, and happiness. On top of that, each individual residence has its own needs for things like clothing and food that must be fulfilled before the building can be upgraded to a higher level of living space. I saw the first two levels of residence, Libertus and Plebeian, each of which must be balanced in amount in order to ensure each business has enough of the workforce it needs.

Like many city building games, especially the Anno series, building efficient production lines to fulfill citizens’ needs and drive profits is a huge part of gameplay. Citizens need bread, for example, which requires wheat farms to grow ingredients, water mills to process it, and a bakery to create it. Players will also need to consider the distances between these connected places, their ability to access warehouses, and how buildings affect the province at large - bakeries in particular can drastically lower fire safety.

The aforementioned exploration isn’t just key to political relationships, but vital to governors’ production lines. Though the starting island is bountiful in some resources and environmental features, others will need to be found and harvested elsewhere, like resin or areas suitable for olive plants. As players expand, they’ll also be able to start trade routes with other areas, both furthering profits and helping bring in harder-to-find items to their own province.

The Power Of Choice & Accessibility In Anno 117

A Game Built For Newcomers & Veterans Alike

Choice is emphasized more than ever before in Anno 117 - governors can choose how they want to play not just in of how their province runs, but in the complexity of the mechanics. While obligately reducing difficulty wasn’t the goal, creative director Manuel Reinher shared that, while measuring drop off rates for 1800, “a lot of players tended to leave when they had to go to another isle or new province. We realized that some players, while they're enjoying it, actually find it too overwhelming. That was the key point when we started thinking about how to satisfy both players.”

This has been addressed in several ways from the very beginning of the game, which now features more of an onboarding process, and an advisor that continues to offer pointers throughout the entirety of one’s governorship. There are also more built-in UI pointers throughout Pax Romana, making elements that could otherwise feel convoluted come across much more clearly. As someone who hasn’t played the Anno series since 2205 about a decade ago, this was incredibly helpful, and made for many fewer instances of having to ask for help during my playtime.

I think that it'll surprise [players] that we have such flexibility and that the systems we implement offer so many choices. - Manuel Reinher, creative director

The choices governors have extend to just about every facet of rulership, from whether they focus on combat to the deities they worship. Land combat has returned to Anno, and it’s something developers don’t take lightly, with Dungel stating that, “This is a big thing not only for our fans, but for us, because we know a lot of fans ask for it.” However, it isn’t a must: “we have fans who want to protect their creation - If you want to follow [combat] you can, but if you want to have a more classical experience, there are ways to avoid.”

Deities play a big role in one’s Roman society, and the patron players choose impacts citizens with different boons - Mars, for example, will make soldiers more loyal and work for less money, while Ceres increases crop production and population. One of the biggest choice-centric mechanics is the new discovery tree, which is split into three sections: economy, civic, and military. There are no exclusive paths; the only requirement is that players must pick adjacent discoveries. This tree is fueled by the knowledge produced from village schools, and can do everything from unlocking new technologies to improving existing village staples.

The Great Potential Of Anno 117: Pax Romana

A City Builder That’s An Ancient Epic In The Making

It’s been over five years since Anno 1800, and a new entry in the franchise has arguably been one of the most hotly-anticipated city builders for a while now. I’ve always been someone who loves the genre, and my experience with Pax Romana has left me much more excited than I was initially simply based on my love of the time period. It has a delightful blend of systems that can be made exponentially efficient alongside a healthy dose of chaos, like the way my town had an almost Sims-esque level of fires even in just a few hours.

While many games in the genre have a more or less agreed-upon strategy for what the most efficient, min-maxxy society looks like, that's not the case here - in fact, it's just the opposite. "I think it'll surprise [players]," Reinher says, "that we have so much flexibility and that the systems we implement offer so many choices," which in turn offers "better autonomy." Even hours after I'd finished playing, I couldn't stop thinking about the ways I wanted to further improve and expand my province, which bodes very well for when Anno 117: Pax Romana releases later this year.

Anno 117: Pax Romana will release this winter for PC and consoles. ScreenRant attended a special hands-on event for the purpose of this preview.