Anno 117: Pax Romana Preview (PC)

The eighth installment in the Anno series, 117: Pax Romana, takes players way back into the past to Ancient Rome, the earliest historical setting in the franchise. Another first for the series is the fact that players can now choose between starting provinces: Latium or Albion.

For the purpose of this preview, I chose the Albion map, which offers a more challenging experience, but also some interesting options like the ability to combine both Celtic and Roman cultures to develop my city.

The Celtic kingdom is positioned in an area with a lot of marshes, which, typically, should pose a major issue when you want to expand your settlement. Thankfully, many of the Celtic buildings require they are built on muddy terrain. Regardless of whether you’ll convert your entire population into Roman culture, the start of your settlement will always require placing some of your production buildings on the muddy terrain in the marshes.

One thing that I found very interesting abo...