Anno 117: Pax Romana

idk why this has mixed reviews, pretty sure a sizable portion of that is due to having to use the ubisoft launcher. which is slightly annoying, of course, but nowhere near enough to not recommend it. it's a great game. is it AS good as anno 1800? probably not (yet), and there are some minor details that i miss, such as field workers in the farms (which however is to be added in the next few months, according to the devs). and raiders/pirates are perhaps too strong on the lowest setting. features i particularly like is having the option to add AIs (including raiders/pirates) mid-game, which is fantastic and largely nullifies the minor complaint above. The assets are beautiful, the production chains make sense, and I love the new feature of workforce as a % of inhabitants. (or maybe 1800 had that as well? i dont remember). The area effects of production buildings also incentivize you to place (some of) them throughout your settlements, instead of only in a specific industry corner. that's a neat feature. all in all, highly recommend, and i find it quite unfair that reviews are mixed as of writing. :) oh and i completely forgot! the fact that you can place buildings diagonally! first Anno game with that feature. makes a huge difference visually!

Anno 117 ist ein sehr schönes Single Player Game, jedoch habe ich es unter dem Aspekt des Online Koops gekauft, dieser funktioniert GAR NICHT. Schade

For the AAA price I expect a full game, not half a game with me needing to grind AND pay to unlock the rest!! With its monetisation model, Ubisoft bloatware and high price I can't recommend it. Don't get me wrong, underneath there's a very solid Anno game. The attention to detail is mostly excellent, as you'd expect from Anno, but bits have clearly been rushed (e.g. there's still placeholder art for a trader in Albion). The graphics are stunning, but there's a heavy reliance on mediocre AI art for event and loading backgrounds. The Ubisoft launcher still sucks. In a city builder all about beautification, core cosmetic features like tree variety and mosaics to fill empty spaces are not included in the Premium edition or Year 1 pass. I can tolerate themed cosmetics being sold as small DLCs, but the game is barebones without the first two cosmetic DLCs which are practically essential to build a decent looking forum or avenue and fill the gaps that are created between buildings. Then you have to spend hours and hours hunting down achievements to unlock a chunk of the game's content. To get the monuments I want in my sandbox city, I need to unlock difficult and tedious achievements such as playing 24 hours in the campaign mode or sinking 117 ships, when I just want to play sandbox with market stalls and columns unlocked already. And then there are unlocks behind a Ubisoft digital currency that you can't currently earn in-game. You have to buy other games via Ubisoft's own store to earn it. And THEN there are more unlocks and buildings that can only be obtained via a Ubisoft premium subscription. Obnoxious.

SLAVERY VIBES - Been a fan of the Anno series since Anno 2070 and sadly this is a major, possibly even fatal, step back for the series. Part of the charm of the Anno games has been their borderline cozy vibes. You can feel that endorphin hit anytime the game reminds you to take a break after playing for two hours, or telling you "Your city has grown more beautiful," or the cartoonish residents praising you. Anno 1800 was an amazing accomplishment as it kept the whimsical fun aesthetic while tackling a dark historical period of colonization. Anno 117 unfortunately does not capture that same mood and instead makes you a slave trader, waging war on Celts. An ugly reality of the Roman world but presented very clumsily and in a not fun way. AI CONTROVERSY - The game is chock full of AI generated content that the studio/publisher has lied repeatedly about. Originally, this was not disclosed only to be found out by players staring at 6 fingered hands of people in loading screen art. Ubisoft then claimed that these were placeholder artwork that they used AI to generate with the intention of replacing before release and simply forgot. By the time they started releasing DLC they just openly admitted they used generative AI to create art assets. They claim this was a way to cut costs in game development, yet those savings were not passed to the consumer. In fact, Anno 117 costs more than any other Anno game. CONCLUSION - The least fun and most soulless Anno game filled with AI slop that they charge more than ever for. Whatever you hope to get out of this game you can get by playing the far superior Anno 1800 instead.

好玩，但还是更喜欢1800的那种工业味，时代进步的感觉，钢铁舰队，呜呜呜啥时候能出一个现代版纪元我想造航母

Bonjour. Le lendemain de la sortie du jeu, j’ai allumé France Info, comme tout citoyen responsable, c’est-à-dire pour savoir si la planète brûle plus vite qu’hier et si oui, à quelle sauce on va être rôtis. Et là, au lieu de ça… France Info m’annonce la sortie du nouveau Call of Duty. Oui. Encore un. Le 38ᵉ épisode en trois ans, un exploit de reproduction que même les lapins n’osent plus tenter. Et évidemment, le journaliste, avec l’enthousiasme d’un labrador qu’on emmène à la plage, te sort : “Un jeu très attendu, très explosif, très immersif.” Mais bien sûr. Explosif. Tu appuies sur R2 et tu fais tout péter. Moi aussi je suis explosif : laisse-moi coincé dans un rond-point un vendredi soir et tu vas voir le niveau d’immersion. Mais surtout… Pas un mot sur Anno 117. Pas un mot. Silence radio. Le néant journalistique, le trou noir de la culture vidéoludique. Parce que oui, Anno 117 sort bientôt. Et Anno, c’est quoi ? C’est un monument. C’est du patrimoine. C’est l’équivalent vidéoludique de la cathédrale de Chartres mais avec moins de pigeons et plus de blé à optimiser. Le premier Anno est sorti en 1998, c’est-à-dire avant le premier Call of Duty. À l’époque, on découvrait encore Internet avec Wanadoo, on se connectait en 56k et on jouait à Anno pendant que le modem criait comme un phoque sous anxiolytiques. C’était beau. Anno, c’est allemand. Et là, tout s’explique. Vous voyez le différentiel de PIB entre la France et l’Allemagne ? Eh bien voilà : nous, en France, on joue à Call of Duty. On tire sur tout ce qui bouge. On se fait insulter par Kevin, 12 ans, micro saturé, qui a déjà 350 heures de jeu et qui t’explique que t’es “nul wesh”. Pendant ce temps-là, en Allemagne, ils jouent à Anno. Ils apprennent à optimiser la production de briques, à équilibrer l’importation de lin, à gérer la diplomatie. Résultat : — Eux : excédent commercial. — Nous : déficit et cernes en forme de grenade. Anno, c’est un jeu de gestion. Un jeu où tu construis une cité romaine, où tu gères l’économie, où tu fais du commerce. Bref : Anno, c’est ce que Macron croit faire, mais avec moins de colères agricoles. Et on ne parle pas assez du fait que dans Anno, pour produire du verre, il faut du sable et un four. En Allemagne, ils apprennent ça à 8 ans. En France, à 8 ans, les enfants apprennent qu’il faut trouver les 7 différences entre Peppa Pig et Peppa Pig habillée en pompier. C’est normal que les trajectoires divergent. Et ce qui me tue, c’est qu’Anno 117, c’est intelligent. C’est beau. C’est profond. Ça demande du cerveau. C’est exactement pour ça que les médias n’en parlent pas : ils ont peur que ça donne des idées. Imaginez : Des gens qui s’intéressent soudain à la logistique, à la planification, à l’urbanisme… On pourrait presque commencer à comprendre comment fonctionne notre pays. Catastrophe. Donc voilà. On ne parlera peut-être pas d’Anno 117 à la radio… Mais ici, maintenant, je rends hommage à ce chef-d’œuvre de gestion, à ce monument teuton où la moindre tuile de toit est optimisée au micron près. Alors jouez à Anno 117. Pour la culture. Pour l’économie. Pour l’avenir. Et surtout… pour qu’un jour, sur France Info, on entende enfin : “Bonjour, voici les titres : effondrement de la Bourse, nouvelle canicule, et… sortie d’un jeu qui ne consiste pas à tirer sur tout ce qui bouge.” Ce serait déjà un progrès.

Wait for a few years until the game is on 90% sale to get it and all the dlc's that should have been included.

Been interested in this for a few months after watching one of my favorite Youtubers play it, and since I like City Builders I kept my eye on this for a sale. Now that it's on sale for 25% off for a price of $45, as well as a few people recommending it to me, I decided to buy it and give it a try. This is also my first Anno game ever played and have been told it's a decent one to jump into. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] Gameplay is solid, typical City Builder. Sounds like a negative comment on generic gameplay but it isn't as I genuinely had fun playing this in the several hours I got out of this. As I said, this was my first Anno game so I really like what the title gave me assuming the other Anno games are like this too. As someone that also likes 4X Grand Strategy games, I liked the the elements Pax Romana borrowed from those genres as well such as trading with other islands, engaging in battles with armies, diplomacy, etc. I am hoping the other Anno games are like this as well cause I plan to get 1800 once that goes on sale. As usual with a City Builder, the [b]Endless[/b] mode is fun. I have yet to find a City Builder where this isn't the case, great to see Pax Romana wasn't the first. [h2]Campaign[/h2] Didn't finish it but the campaign is pretty good. Narratively you are a new governor of an island and it is your job to develop your little Roman settlement into an actual city. Without spoiling too much, the story also has some decent intrigue to fit the gameplay too. [spoiler]The end of Act I even ends with you being exiled- I'm sorry, being 'transferred' to a far away island to develop another island so you won't be a thorn in the side of the guy who ousted the throne after the death of Emperor Lucius[/spoiler]. Having to choose between Marcia and Marcus as your playable character is interesting, I don't know if it changes the gameplay and narrative experience though. I was expecting Marcia to focus more on the core city building aspect of the game as that is what it looked like when I was watching my Youtuber play (He chose her); ended his video during the birthday quest. And I was expecting Marcus to dive into the military aspect, invasions, battles, etc. But no, when I played as Marcus he pretty much had the same story. I don't know if there are actual changes between the two but I'm just going to assume no. [h2]Content[/h2] Other than the campaign and Endless, there is literally nothing else this game offers. This isn't a problem for me but compared to other City Builders, primarily Frostpunk and Endzone as those are the ones I played religiously, I found Pax Romana only having two modes to be a bit disappointing. Again, not a big issue to me but a shame there were no scenarios or anything like that since both Frostpunk and Endzone had them. Would have liked there to be a scenario like you are sent to replace the incompetent governor of an island that is struggling with development and you need to get it to a certain level of prosperity within a time limit or else you get replaced yourself (In other words, game over), or you have to ready an island for war against waves of barbarians, or become governor of a city trying to broker peace between two rivals, etc. [h2]Performance, Technical State, etc[/h2] The game ran perfectly for me, never had much of an issue. I think I saw very few, slight stutters but that was when I was moving the camera too fast. As for crashing, I only had one instance and that was when I was trying to load an Endless save while during campaign. Don't know if this is common as I never did it again but that was the only situation I had a crash. Really my only complaint for this section is that Pax Romana takes up 100+GB, which I don't know is a legitimate one; I just don't like games taking up too much space, had to uninstall it as I plan to get other games during this month (Sale and my birthday coming up, want to treat myself). I guess other complaints are the Ubisoft launcher and DRM. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] Other than only having two game modes and the game taking up too much space, [b]Anno 117: Pax Romana[/b] is a fun experience offering solid gameplay with a pretty cool campaign for a City Builder, and I like that some 4X/Grand Strategy elements were incorporated in. This was my first Anno game so I am hoping this is the standard with the franchise, I plan on getting Anno 1800 once it goes on sale this summer if it does. [b]I rate this game 8 out of 10.[/b] Full price of $60 is too much but its sale price of $45 (25%) definitely feels worth it.

played all of 97 minutes and rage quit cus the game is unbalanced asf. had to spam "helpful" buildings everywhere and everyone was still unhappy and now im unhappy aswell :(

I cannot recommend this game due to Ubisoft's mandatory third-party launcher. It is incredibly buggy and fails to close the game properly. I tested the game for only 5 minutes before closing it and leaving my PC. When I returned, I discovered that although Steam showed the game as "Stopped," the Ubisoft launcher was still running the game process in the background. My GPU was running the entire time, and it artificially inflated my Steam playtime to 4.1 hours—completely stripping away my 2-hour refund window. Be warned: this technical issue can leave you stuck with a product you can no longer refund.