Anno 117: Pax Romana Is So Good It Might Steal Your Entire Year

I honestly don’t even know where to begin, because Anno 117: Pax Romana is a really good game. This is one of those rare games where, after just a couple of hours, you realise you’ve stumbled onto something genuinely special. Ubisoft has delivered a true masterpiece of the strategy genre, one that makes Civilization and several other strategy titles look almost embarrassingly simple by comparison.

Where Civilization VII felt like a “one weekend and you’re done” kind of experience, Anno 117: Pax Romana is the complete opposite. This is a game you can spend days, weeks, and months playing without getting bored for a second. And just when you think you’ve finally achieved something meaningful, you open a world map and you see that you’re only a tiny speck on the map, and the game has so much more still waiting for you.

A return to the height of the Roman Empire

The game takes you back to a time when the Roman Empire stood at the peak of its power. You play as a governor whose job is to manage a province, build cities, shape an economy, and decide whether you want to focus on peaceful development and diplomacy… or expand your world through force. Do you preserve the local culture, or enforce Roman law? Every decision you make affects the direction of your campaign.

In essence, this is a historical city-building strategy game set during Rome’s golden age. It’s also downright beautiful, offering richly detailed Roman cities, bustling streets, majestic temples, and citizens who visibly react to your decisions. Every now and then, it’s worth zooming in just to watch everyday life unfold on the streets.

Strategy, diplomacy, and tough decisions

Anno 117: Pax Romana demands strategic thinking. At first, everything seems straightforward – you build houses, produce food, and keep your people happy. But soon the complexity ramps up. New regions, new resources, and new types of population groups introduce new challenges.

One wrong diplomatic decision or ignoring your neighbours’ demands can escalate conflicts unbelievably fast. Managing multiple provinces and protecting them simultaneously can become genuinely difficult, and that’s exactly what makes this game so exciting.

To be brutally honest, Civilization VII feels like a kindergarten toy next to this. Simple and shallow.

Content for months

The campaign alone is deep and well-written, but it’s only the beginning. Once you finish the story (or immediately, if you prefer), you can dive into the Endless mode – your sandbox playground for building your own Roman Empire without limitations.

And when playing alone starts to feel boring, you can jump into multiplayer with friends… or enemies. You can play both the story mode and Endless mode together with your friends.

If there’s a downside…

It’s that Anno 117: Pax Romana is so insanely rich in content that it can end up devouring your time entirely. I’ve been playing for over a month already, and it feels like I could comfortably continue for the rest of the year.

This is a game that pulls you into its world and simply refuses to let go. Strategy fans, consider yourselves warned; this might become your next great time sink.

Actually, there is one more issue. Once you control a large number of provinces, switching between different maps can get genuinely overwhelming. If you’ve made a strategic mistake somewhere and suddenly have to defend yourself in multiple locations or deal with riots, your brain might start melting a little.

Summary

Anno 117: Pax Romana is nothing short of a fantastic strategy game. Deep, beautiful, content-rich, and unbelievably engaging. If you’re a fan of the Anno series or just love good strategy games, this one is a must-buy. There is enough content here to last an eternity. Strategy lovers can safely dive in and forget about all other games for the next year.

For parents: The game is recommended for ages 12+, but there’s nothing here that would make it unsuitable for younger city-building enthusiasts.