All trade routes lead to the treasury
By Paul Hunter
Anno 117: Pax Romana is the kind of Roman city builder I always hoped the series would try. Ubisoft Mainz bring the long-running city building series to the Pax Romana period, that calm stretch where legions rested while ambition kept pushing the borders. You step in as a governor sent out from the centre, asked to turn rough ground into working provinces.
Your job is to mold Latium and Albion into full Roman provinces, shaping how the empire spreads through each coastline and hillside. Under the surface it is still familiar Anno gameplay, built on supply chains and careful city layouts, but this time those pieces feed into bigger logistics, trade, warfare, diplomacy, religion, and research that stretch across your whole region while rival governors watch from the edges.
You can ease in through a focused campaign or dive into a sandbox straight away, and once you are settled there are co-op and PvP sessions for up to four people on the map.
If you already live and breathe city builders, is Anno 117: Pax Romana where you should build your next grand adventure? Let's find out!
You begin under Emperor Lucius during the age of Pax Romana, officially a peaceful time for the empire. Lucius greets you with charm and confidence, but the tasks he hands you quickly show how uneven the relationship is. One moment you are helping supply a lavish event for his household, the next he wants a large sum of money with little explanation. It gives the whole campaign a sense that you are important but also very replaceable, surely just as Lucius intended.
The narrative leads you through cutscenes and conversations where you choose how to reply. You can play along and act like a model official, or let small hints of doubt slip into your answers when the royal court pushes its luck. Those choices don't dramatically affect the outcomes, yet they make your version of this governor feel more personal.
Supporting characters step in to help round out the story. Advisors show up with tricky decisions you must make that feel grounded in Roman city life, like choosing which operations to pursue and the specialists who will run them, which says a lot about your priorities. Other governors arrive with their own problems, including family trouble and run ins with imperial law, and your response can shift alliances or set up grudges for later chapters.
Culture and religion also play a major role. Picking Latium or Albion, then deciding between Roman, Romano-Celtic, or Celtic paths, gives each campaign a different tone, from comfortable heartland politics to frontier expansion worries. Even in sandbox play, your mix of imperial orders, operational pursuits, and beliefs turns your session into a customized, satisfying story about how your version of Rome grows and develops.
You start small, building a basic economy on your first island, then eye the neighbouring coast when you realise key resources sit just out of reach. That push toward new settlements stays true for both Latium and Albion and turns the map into a chain of linked hubs rather than one bloated centre.
Production itself is nicely laid out. You choose a desired resource, the game shows you the relevant buildings, and you place them into your settlement. You need to be strategic about placement though: You want gathering sites near what they harvest, warehouses close enough to stockpile goods, and support buildings placed so their areas of influence buff the right workshops, while also minimizing debuffs effects like increased fire risk to nearby buildings.
Road are essential to completing your settlements, and the tools you're given are a snap to use. Laying down routes is as simple as drawing them, and once you start upgrading from dirt to sturdier materials, your supply chain movement speed noticably ticks upwards and lets you get more done in less time. As you city develops you'll eventually research monuments (like a massive amphitheatre) and water-supplying aqueducts, which can make you rethink your city layout and the great news is modelling is quick and painless so long as you have the resources.
The moment that sold me was my first brush with a real cash crisis. I had overbuilt production, and let goods pile up in storage with no plan to sell them. When the game warned me about going broke, I paused, opened the stock controls, set export thresholds, and watched trade ships haul my “junk” into profit. From that point on, the interconnection between trade, logistics, and careful placement stopped being something I randomly tinkered with and became the main game itself.
Pulling back shows how well the wider scene holds together. The terrain rolls away into fields and hills, with clouds and sunlight giving your islands a calm, almost postcard quality. The two main regions stand apart nicely. Latium gives you that “core empire” look with stone, tile, and tidy towns, while Albion brings fog, marshland, and Celtic villages that sit alongside Roman roads and aqueducts.
Sound design keeps that historical sense of place strong. The soundtrack consists of steady rhythmic tracks that support long planning sessions, swelling when the story or your expansion hits key beats. Ambient audio adds to the immersion, whether it's water on the shoreline to the low rumble of a city as you observe from overhead. Voice work is a real standout for this genre, with the emperor, advisors, and rival governors all bringing an abundance of personality that makes you pay attention when they speak.
The interface on PS5 matches that same level of care. City information and production tools are laid out in a way that makes sense once you spend a little time with them, and trade and research panels are clear. Some information runs a bit deeper into the menus than I expected, like seeing detailed information on each building type, their functions and what's needed to make them thrive, as well as being able to drill down into exact supply chains to understand how they work and how to optimize them. After a few hours I got familiar with the core gameplay systems and flipping between the various views and menus became second nature without thinking about the UI at all.
Final Score: 8.5/10 - Great
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Real-Time Strategy, City Building
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
Anno 117: Pax Romana is the kind of Roman city builder I always hoped the series would try. Ubisoft Mainz bring the long-running city building series to the Pax Romana period, that calm stretch where legions rested while ambition kept pushing the borders. You step in as a governor sent out from the centre, asked to turn rough ground into working provinces.
Your job is to mold Latium and Albion into full Roman provinces, shaping how the empire spreads through each coastline and hillside. Under the surface it is still familiar Anno gameplay, built on supply chains and careful city layouts, but this time those pieces feed into bigger logistics, trade, warfare, diplomacy, religion, and research that stretch across your whole region while rival governors watch from the edges.
You can ease in through a focused campaign or dive into a sandbox straight away, and once you are settled there are co-op and PvP sessions for up to four people on the map.
If you already live and breathe city builders, is Anno 117: Pax Romana where you should build your next grand adventure? Let's find out!
Story and Narrative
Anno 117's campaign sells the fantasy of being a real Roman governor, and it does an excellent job of it. The story quickly pushes you into the empire’s politics and then lets the pressure build to test how you'll respond.You begin under Emperor Lucius during the age of Pax Romana, officially a peaceful time for the empire. Lucius greets you with charm and confidence, but the tasks he hands you quickly show how uneven the relationship is. One moment you are helping supply a lavish event for his household, the next he wants a large sum of money with little explanation. It gives the whole campaign a sense that you are important but also very replaceable, surely just as Lucius intended.
The narrative leads you through cutscenes and conversations where you choose how to reply. You can play along and act like a model official, or let small hints of doubt slip into your answers when the royal court pushes its luck. Those choices don't dramatically affect the outcomes, yet they make your version of this governor feel more personal.
Supporting characters step in to help round out the story. Advisors show up with tricky decisions you must make that feel grounded in Roman city life, like choosing which operations to pursue and the specialists who will run them, which says a lot about your priorities. Other governors arrive with their own problems, including family trouble and run ins with imperial law, and your response can shift alliances or set up grudges for later chapters.
Culture and religion also play a major role. Picking Latium or Albion, then deciding between Roman, Romano-Celtic, or Celtic paths, gives each campaign a different tone, from comfortable heartland politics to frontier expansion worries. Even in sandbox play, your mix of imperial orders, operational pursuits, and beliefs turns your session into a customized, satisfying story about how your version of Rome grows and develops.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Gameplay-wise, Anno 117: Pax Romana has rich and complex trade systems that can seem overwhelming at first, but thankfully the campaign takes things steady as you're introduced to new mechanics step-by-step.You start small, building a basic economy on your first island, then eye the neighbouring coast when you realise key resources sit just out of reach. That push toward new settlements stays true for both Latium and Albion and turns the map into a chain of linked hubs rather than one bloated centre.
Production itself is nicely laid out. You choose a desired resource, the game shows you the relevant buildings, and you place them into your settlement. You need to be strategic about placement though: You want gathering sites near what they harvest, warehouses close enough to stockpile goods, and support buildings placed so their areas of influence buff the right workshops, while also minimizing debuffs effects like increased fire risk to nearby buildings.
Road are essential to completing your settlements, and the tools you're given are a snap to use. Laying down routes is as simple as drawing them, and once you start upgrading from dirt to sturdier materials, your supply chain movement speed noticably ticks upwards and lets you get more done in less time. As you city develops you'll eventually research monuments (like a massive amphitheatre) and water-supplying aqueducts, which can make you rethink your city layout and the great news is modelling is quick and painless so long as you have the resources.
The moment that sold me was my first brush with a real cash crisis. I had overbuilt production, and let goods pile up in storage with no plan to sell them. When the game warned me about going broke, I paused, opened the stock controls, set export thresholds, and watched trade ships haul my “junk” into profit. From that point on, the interconnection between trade, logistics, and careful placement stopped being something I randomly tinkered with and became the main game itself.
Presentation and Audio
Visually, Anno 117: Pax Romana delivers exactly on its promise of building the Roman empire you've been dreaming of. Every building type has distinct architure and purpose, and it all coalesces into a highly detailed province that is great to look at. I kept flicking the camera right down to street level just to watch potters work, guards patrol, and carts move between warehouses and homes. The amount of details in even the smallest objects is a testament to how much care went into building the artwork.Pulling back shows how well the wider scene holds together. The terrain rolls away into fields and hills, with clouds and sunlight giving your islands a calm, almost postcard quality. The two main regions stand apart nicely. Latium gives you that “core empire” look with stone, tile, and tidy towns, while Albion brings fog, marshland, and Celtic villages that sit alongside Roman roads and aqueducts.
Sound design keeps that historical sense of place strong. The soundtrack consists of steady rhythmic tracks that support long planning sessions, swelling when the story or your expansion hits key beats. Ambient audio adds to the immersion, whether it's water on the shoreline to the low rumble of a city as you observe from overhead. Voice work is a real standout for this genre, with the emperor, advisors, and rival governors all bringing an abundance of personality that makes you pay attention when they speak.
The interface on PS5 matches that same level of care. City information and production tools are laid out in a way that makes sense once you spend a little time with them, and trade and research panels are clear. Some information runs a bit deeper into the menus than I expected, like seeing detailed information on each building type, their functions and what's needed to make them thrive, as well as being able to drill down into exact supply chains to understand how they work and how to optimize them. After a few hours I got familiar with the core gameplay systems and flipping between the various views and menus became second nature without thinking about the UI at all.
The Verdict
Anno 117: Pax Romana on PS5 is an exceptional Roman spin on the Anno formula, and it nails the governor fantasy perfectly. Supply chains, roads, trade and diplomacy all tie together nicely, and pushing your citizens along distinct cultural paths gives you reason to start fresh journeys across Latium and Albion. Strong visuals, relaxed music, and top-notch voice work make long sessions easy to sink into. A campaign that eases you into the experience and a simple-to-use menu systems rounds out the package, making it a city builder that belongs in any Anno fan’s library.Final Score: 8.5/10 - Great
Anno 117: Pax Romana details
Platform: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PCDeveloper: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Real-Time Strategy, City Building
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.