Key Takeaways
1. New Gameplay Features: Anno 117 introduces fresh elements like starting areas in Latium and Albion, unique swamp mechanics, and a modular road system at 45-degree angles.
2. Research and Area Effects: The game features a detailed research system that impacts building upgrades and alliances, along with area effects from production buildings that influence income and health.
3. Puzzle-like City Building: Players must integrate production buildings thoughtfully into their cities, promoting visual diversity and strategic planning, although mixed-use areas are underdeveloped.
4. Enhanced Military Options: The game adds land and naval battles with distinct units and strategic capabilities, impacting player relationships and introducing new challenges.
5. Steep Learning Curve and Challenges: Anno 117 presents a challenging experience with a steep learning curve and potential imbalances in city management, but offers smooth gameplay and solid performance.
We got the chance to try out Anno 117 before it officially launched, not just for an upcoming tech review but also to dive deep into the gameplay. It’s important to highlight that Anno 117 is an enormous game, and we couldn’t finish it in our testing period of about 15 hours. For instance, our Colosseum remains unfinished, and we haven’t fully explored the extensive research tree. Nevertheless, we’re excited to share our initial thoughts on this new Anno title.
First Impressions
Let’s start with the positives: anyone who enjoys Anno will likely find something to appreciate in this newest version. Anno 117 brings several fresh features right from the start. In sandbox mode, players can select to begin in either Latium or Albion—essentially, the core of the Roman Empire or what is now known as Great Britain.
Players quickly learn that Albion is the tougher starting area, which we can generally back up. Nevertheless, starting in Albion isn’t an impossible task even for newcomers. However, the swamp zone has a rather unique gameplay mechanic. Certain items, like eels, can only be harvested in this swamp, which can be drained using researchable technologies to create valuable building land, especially in Albion.
Gameplay Mechanics
As players advance in Albion, they can opt for a Germanic or Roman route, which shapes the needs of the growing population.
The gameplay stays true to the classic Anno style. Production buildings create goods, often through intricate production chains, which are used as construction materials and to satisfy the needs of inhabitants. To level up the population, not every need has to be met, allowing for quicker expansion. However, this freedom of choice is somewhat limited. Meeting certain needs provides benefits; for instance, tax income from residents increases when non-essential needs are fulfilled.
The same principle applies to certain production buildings with area effects. If residential buildings are near a sardine hut, they generate extra income. The significance of these area effects is considerable and can definitely affect the treasury, though they are not always advantageous. For example, the marble mason boosts the prestige of nearby buildings but harms their health.
A Puzzle-like Experience
This aspect means that Anno 117 takes on a puzzle-like quality and encourages the integration of production buildings into the central city. This approach adds visual diversity and stops settlements from appearing too uniform. However, the new Anno version misses a chance for genuine mixed-use areas. In ancient Rome, structures often had workshops and shops on the ground floor. A modular construction system could have made cities visually richer and created new opportunities. Staying true to Anno tradition, population density rises with each civilization level, so patricians no longer inhabit spacious domus houses but rather sleek high-rises.
The area effects also tie into a new gameplay feature: aqueducts. These allow water to be transported from mountains to lower regions, significantly enhancing residents’ happiness and health. Water supply can also greatly improve the productivity of farms and mines. If aqueducts aren’t planned ahead, city builders may face considerable demolitions or relocations. While this may seem tedious, it actually adds an engaging layer to the gameplay.
New Road Options
Anno 117 is the first game in the series to support roads at a 45-degree angle. This feature primarily works for farms, which now accommodate half-square tiles without losing usable building space. Still, this new road-building capability enables players to create visually distinct cities if they wish.
Another significant gameplay feature is the research system. This is crucial from the onset and grants access to building upgrades and alliance options, among other things. The research tree branches into three categories: economy, civil society, and military. Advanced technologies are closely linked to milestones. Players need to generate a certain amount of knowledge and also fulfill specific requirements, like constructing several mines or aqueducts and achieving certain population thresholds.
Religion and Military Options
Anno 117 introduces a fully developed religion system that unlocks important bonuses. For example, worshiping Ceres dramatically boosts agricultural output. The game differentiates between global and local effects. The strong local effects make it impractical to separate production and residential zones like in Anno 1800, especially after the introduction of the commuter pier and the establishment of a global workforce reserve. In Anno 117, workers cannot commute to other islands, making it essential to create multiple functioning settlements.
Specialists who can be accommodated in your villa or officium must first be acquired, researched, or recruited through festivals, and they can provide significant bonuses.
Expanding Military Capabilities
Anno 117 also enhances military options. There are now true land battles with various unit types, each having unique strengths and weaknesses. Catapults are effective for breaking down enemy fortifications, while archers should stay back from the frontline. Your settlement, especially your villa, should be safeguarded by defense towers and walls during wars or uprisings.
Naval battles benefit from the modular design of ships. Depending on the vessel, multiple modules can be attached to enhance effectiveness against buildings, for instance. During our testing, we managed to take down one of the weaker pirates and another AI praetor in land combat. The stronger pirate sibling in Latium agreed to a truce after costly fights, but this displeased the emperor. Our actions not only impact relationships with other rulers but also influence our standing with the emperor, potentially leading to war.
Overall Assessment
Anno 117 represents a significant evolution for the series but doesn’t completely reinvent it. It’s a very solid game that is likely a must-play for fans of city-building and strategy genres. The new features integrate well into the familiar Anno atmosphere. While the research system may occasionally lead to brief downtimes, it generally facilitates smoother progression and slowly introduces new gameplay elements.
Religion provides substantial bonuses, particularly in the mid-game. The bonus system can encourage deeper structural adjustments within settlements and rewards players with powerful boosts and diverse cities visually. Graphically, Anno 117 varies from very attractive to stunning, depending on your hardware setup.
Challenges and Alternatives
One main issue might be the steep learning curve. Additionally, rapid expansion can quickly lead to imbalances with fire risk, happiness, and health, as larger cities face significant penalties based on difficulty levels. We did not experience any death spirals during our review, and the difficulty can be gradually adjusted even while playing.
That said, the interface can take some time to get accustomed to, even for veterans of Anno. The statistics interface is helpful, but we would like to see more user-friendly features, such as an indicator showing how many production buildings at a specific efficiency are necessary to meet demand. Whether Anno 117 can rival Anno 1800 will likely become clear after its DLCs are released, but for now, Anno 117 is definitely worth the $60 price.
There are also several noteworthy alternatives in this genre. Captain of Industry offers more intricate production chains and a contemporary setting. Foundation presents a more flexible building system, while Farthest Frontier includes survival elements, seasons, and food spoilage. Kingdoms Reborn is another highly praised title that features an interesting research system and various civilizations with unique gameplay styles.
From a technical standpoint, the game performed well on our test system equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super, and 32GB RAM. On high graphics settings, this GPU-intensive title ran smoothly at 40 frames per second. With DLSS in balanced mode, we gained about 10 additional fps. For a more in-depth analysis of the game, please refer to our comprehensive tech review. Lastly, we didn’t encounter any bugs during our testing.
