Ubisoft's city-building franchise Anno has taken gamers to numerous historical settings throughout its 27-year life. Numerous centuries, both past and future, have been explored in great detail through previous installments, and now the series is taking its players to one of history's most interesting settings, Ancient Rome. Anno 117: Pax Romana aims to explore the titular year of 117 when Rome was at the height of its power and prosperity.
The Best War Games recently spoke with Anno 117: Pax Romana's game director Jan Dungel about the decision to take the game to Ancient Rome was a no-brainer and what the opportunities it presented were. Pax Romana will allow players to step into the role of a ruler, tasked with creating a thriving city complete with a fully-developed ecosystem.
Ancient Rome is Perfect For Anno
Recently, Ubisoft has been keen to listen to its fan base and, more importantly, act on the feedback. The massive changes made to Star Wars Outlaws post-launch are proof of that, as is this setting. For years, polls conducted by Anno fans have regularly cited Ancient Rome as the most wished-for setting, so it was an easy decision to set the next game in this period. As Dungel explained,
''Anno is a very successful brand. It has existed for 27 years. There was a high probability that we would do a game in Rome at some stage. The only question was when. We always do research in terms of what our fans want, and we know that it is one of the most wished-for settings for our fan base.''
Combat Will Be Optional in Pax Romana
The Romans are perhaps best known for their adept approach to military warfare despite being a rather intricate civilization. With this in mind, Ubisoft Mainz has ensured Pax Romana features both ground and naval combat. The game remains a city builder first and foremost, however, and Dungel confirmed that the combat would be completely optional. Some choices will lead players to more combat, some to less, with Dungel explaining,
''There is a way not to engage in any combat. It was important that the game was still first and foremost a premium city builder. We wanted to stay truthful to that. We know that there are a lot of people who are excited by land combat, but there are also people who don't want to participate in that at all. We will have a lot of accessibility settings you can customize. You can disable AI, for example. However, even if you don't actually change any setting, we will have more peaceful characters in the game, so not everything will result in violence.''
The freedom to engage in combat or avoid it entirely is a clever way to appease both sets of fans. Dungel also explained that Anno 117: Pax Romana is in the unique position of trying to bring in completely new fans by making the game as accessible as possible and including things like combat while appeasing the Anno franchise's loyal and long-standing fan base. It's a tricky balance, but Pax Romana is pulling out all the stops to make it happen.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 92%
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- City Builder, Simulation, Strategy
