Sending my trading vessel to sail the seas of Anno 117: Pax Romana offers up a cornucopia of dangers and discoveries. Dastardly pirates. Lush islands. New leaders to barter and play diplomacy with. Most of all though, it allows me to discover hitherto unknown depths of petty jealously, as I realise how much nicer everyone else’s city layout is compared to mine. Time to go demolish several family’s houses and rearrange them in a slightly more aesthetically pleasing manner it is, then.
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I recently played a work-in-progress build in the game’s Latium province for three hours, which was roughly enough time to get bored of zooming into all the wonderfully detailed buildings and work out everything on the UI. What I played was a beautiful, lively, and dangerously compulsive management game, albeit one that both needs and is clearly destined for a little more time in Fornax’s toasty embrace.
As the title suggests, the game is set in AD 117, a year that “marks the height of Rome’s power,” creative director Manuel Reinher tells me, and also marks a time of peace befitting the series’ more contemplative tone. “Spanning over 3 provinces, this offers us fantastic opportunity to tell the story about how it was to govern Roman provinces in this huge cultural blender”. There’s another detail for longtime fans in that year, too, adds Reinheir. “The checksum of the title is 9, just like in previous Anno titles.” There is, as far as anyone knows, no real reason for this besides tradition. There’s even an easter egg in Anno 1800 – a hidden cave painting showing a group of musicians worshipping a giant number 9.
You play as a Roman governor – a much more distinct role than previous titles, Reinher says. “You’ll be able to take a lot of bold choices in this role, from choosing your starting province in the sandbox mode to features like the new discovery tree”. Anno 117 is also reintroducing land combat, to place players firmly in this period in history – “a feature we believe is essential to fully deliver on the Roman fantasy,” says Reinher. Don’t worry if you don’t fancy a scrap though – there’ll be options to play purely peacefully. There’s also a system of ‘Romanization’ – something that sounds like it’ll be far more relevant in the game’s second province, Celt-inspired Albion. Throw in unique infrastructure like aqueducts, and it seems like Ubisoft Mainz are going all out on the Roman colonial fantasy.
No aqueducts for me though. I still need to build my Liberti some houses, and get some porridge into their faces. After that, they’ll want either a marketplace or a tavern before I can start gaining upper tier Plebian pops. This new, flexible needs system is another of 117’s new features. “We want to soften the linearity that has often been part of our previous titles,” says Reinher. “Previously, progression was quite rigid – for example, the game forced players at some point to expand and connect multiple regions, whether they wanted to or not”. But this new system aims to allow more flexibility, offering “opportunities to fine-tune their economies in ways that suit their preferred playstyle”. In terms of my session, this means it’s not a huge deal that the fish I need to make (fermented fish sauce and ketchup prequel) Garum isn’t available on my island, since I can fulfil other food needs instead.
If I do want build up a fish-based economy, though, I might actually want to build a sanctuary first – one dedicated to Neptune, specifically. “The rich polytheistic society of Rome offered us the opportunity to represent this with a deep and dynamic religion and belief system,” says Reinher. “Just as Rome incorporated deities from various cultures, you’ll be able to do the same. As you progress, you’ll discover new deities, each offering unique psychological effects on your population. For example, worshipping Neptune will make your fishermen less fearful of the sea, leading to larger catches”.
If not, you can always trade for the fish you need anyway, with trading boats being able to take advantage of the new modular ship building – something I sadly wasn’t able to test out in my session. And this is the approach I take, manually delivering clay tiles to my neighbour Licia Ma and building up my own settlement until she decides I’m worthy of entering a trading pact. I just manage to clinch it before my session ends, which I’m counting as a victory, despite remaining in negative income for the entire three hours. Ah well, Rome wasn’t built in three hours in a work-in-progress build, as they say. Anno 117 is due out sometime this year, and the studio will be showing off Albion in the coming months, Reinher tells me.
Also, you can build diagonally for the first time. Reinher offered this as a very excited answer when I asked what long-requested features had made it into the game, so I assume it’s going to make someone very happy.
