Anno 117: Pax Romana Review

Real-time strategy games are right up my street, and if there are city-building mechanics in the mix, then it’s a huge win for me. It’s been a couple of years now since Anno 1800 graced Xbox consoles, and I had nothing but praise for it in my review, which you can read HERE. When I saw Anno 117: Pax Romana was going to land on Xbox Series X|S at the same time as the PC launch, I was naturally excited.

First Campaign In The Series

Those familiar with the Anno series will know that this year is a first. The campaign in Anno 117: Pax Romana will take around 10 hours to complete and serves as a story-driven introduction to the game’s mechanics and core systems. Think of it as an extended tutorial which eases you into how the game plays out. The gameplay loop will guide you through building settlements, production chains, trading and the political system. I won’t spoil the story for anyone, as I never like to, for the players who like to go in blind. But it can feel abrupt or short in areas, and it could have done with a little more voice acting, but it’s worth playing through to get to grips with the game if you want to delve into other modes.

A Plethora Of Modes On Offer

Once you’ve nailed the campaign, you may be left wondering what’s next. The endless sandbox mode will allow you to dive into long-term empire building without a narrative. With randomly generated maps and world seeds, if you fancy specific layouts, you can play at your own pace in your own way. Co-op mode sees you teaming up with up to three other friends to manage the same empire; you can share resources, finances and territories. Cross-play is available across platforms, and progress can be saved if you want to dip in at your own leisure.

PvP is here if you are feeling competitive, with up to four players facing off at once. Player slots can be filled by human players or AI opponents. I didn’t test this mode in great depth, but I can imagine matches can become pretty lengthy and intense. Racing to secure islands rich in resources, forming alliances and potentially stabbing others in the back. Battling for territories and also doing trade deals, matches can become spontaneous, which drives replayability for serious players out there.

Visuals & Audio

You’d kind of expect a game of this calibre to be somewhat watered down when it comes to the visual fidelity and polish. This is not the case as I managed to try out the PC version and dived into the console version afterwards. On Xbox Series X, the experience managed to maintain smooth frame pacing throughout, with the odd stutter when areas got a bit heavy. This was only occasional, though and barely noticeable if I’m being completely honest. The most impressive part for me was the ability to zoom in and out with a smooth camera functionality without losing any visual polish. Graphics are gorgeous with rich textures, detailed animations and magnificent lighting effects. I doubt you’ll see another strategy game at the present time that looks this good on Xbox.

Audio is well blended with the excellent visuals. Hearing the hustle and bustle of market chatter, general crowd noise and the community grafting in the background makes the world and atmosphere feel real and lived in. I do feel there could have been a bit more voice acting during the campaign, but it being the series’ first, I didn’t mind too much.

Final Thoughts

Ubisoft have done it again with the Anno series. It’s pleasing to see that the functionality with an Xbox controller is still fantastic. Ultimately, the game probably plays best on a PC with a mouse and keyboard, as this genre always does. But the experience isn’t hampered in the slightest, with great work on the UI and controller-friendly interfaces. If you, like me, enjoyed Anno 1800 and are looking for a similar experience in an alternative era, with different scenarios and pacing, you’ll adore your time with it.

The real draw with this one is the story-driven campaign, which offers a generous 10-15 hours of gameplay. Beyond this, you always have the sandbox, co-op and multiplayer, which brings potentially hundreds of hours to those who want more. With the base edition being just £49.99, I think this is a very reasonable ask for the amount of content on offer. You won’t see any strategy games on the market as good as Anno 117: Pax Romana this year; it’s a must-buy for fans of the genre.