Hey Anno Community,
While – as communicated before – you will have to be a little bit more patient until we show you our “baby” in action, we nevertheless want to give you an update on the current state of the development today. So, how are things looking like on Anno 117: Pax Romana right now, development-wise?
What happened in the last months
Over the last months, we have made very good progress on the game and recently reached an important milestone which, of course, demanded to be properly celebrated with cake.
Having implemented the vast majority of features, with more content being added each milestone, we wanted to put the game in the hands of players once again and organised our largest playtest yet (a one-week diary study) in September.
We very much appreciated the input from all participants who – in this very much still in-progress version with certainly not final balancing – provided us valuable insights into topics like the progression, various UI elements (e.g. trade route setup or the location of the game speed options) and the age-old question of island size.
So, what are some of the most recent additions and improvements for Anno 117: Pax Romana?
- We have made large steps in regard to the islands and terrain, having recently overhauled many of the island designs as well as trees and rock textures and – going by the feedback from the last internal presentation – reached “I want to go there on vacation” territory.
- Since a few months, there now also are work-in-progress versions of NPCs and the diplomacy system to deal with – no more “I can grab any island I want” situations in the playtests. Time to build more Triremes and protect those trade routes!
- The life of your citizens has always been an important aspect of Anno, and Anno 117: Pax Romana is no different. Reason enough for our animator to add a completely new set of feedback units (people and animals) to the game. Plus, we went and did some motion-capture! More on this in a future DevBlog.
- We’ve also made great strides on the topic of controller support, building on the learnings of Anno 1800’s console version. Providing the best experience for each platform without negatively impacting another remains one of our key principles.
Let’s take a look at some islands!
We have just mentioned that we made significant progress on the islands in the past months. So, as a little (early) Christmas present, we’re excited to give you a first small look at the world of Anno 117: Pax Romana with some early screenshots of the two provinces: Latium and Albion!
Keep in mind these screenshots have been taken from a work-in-progress version of the game and do not reflect the final quality of the game.
This is the province of Latium, close to the heart of the Empire: wide open areas, sandy beaches, lavender fields and cliffs to stand on and watch the sunset from.
“We took strong inspirations from the beautiful Amalfi coast and the bay of Naples. Our goal was to create the typical warm and welcoming Anno feeling. A place that delivers on the fantasy of a game set in this era. It’s sunny, you feel a mild breeze – it’s a place where even the rich Romans in ancient times liked to spend their vacations.” – Manuel Reinher, Creative Director
The province of Albion, much further in the north, has its own visual design: rocky landscapes with high cliffs and mountains, marshy areas, fog and rain – a significant change in scenery.
“We wanted to create a striking contrast between the provinces and the mystic Celtic Albion is perfect for that. It’s the most alien place within the Empire. It’s wet, misty, full of marshland – a place far from home where no civilized Roman wants to be. You will face new challenges in this province, but also new exciting opportunities that these wetlands and the local people unlock in your adventure as a governor.” – Manuel Reinher, Creative Director.
These are the lands our dear Towncrier wandered through back in June in our reveal trailer (Build it!), as you might remember. We’re sure he would also really, really enjoy wandering through these lands in-game…
Anno 117: Pax Romana on Steam
In further news, as you've likely noticed since you're reading this post: We’re pleased to confirm that Anno 117: Pax Romana will be available on Steam from Day 1 when it releases in 2025 together with all the other previously communicated platforms.
You can wishlist Anno 117: Pax Romana on Steam now via the Store Page and follow us to not miss out on any future articles.
We can’t wait for you to get your hands on the game next year on the platform of your choice!
A look into the future
For the next months we have plenty on our hands, including – of course – the feedback points from the latest playtest, all the while planning our communication for 2025.
There’s work to be done on the character portraits and the quests, but also on the music side of things: it wouldn’t be an Anno game without a fantastic soundtrack!
As mentioned above already, we’re also busy working on the UI elements for the many menus that help you with your tasks , as well as the general user experience, the look and feel for Anno 117: Pax Romana.
And there’s the topic of incidents: it wouldn’t be an Anno game without the occasional fire, for example. How often and in which way these appear and how players can act against them, however, are topics the team is still exploring further.
This topic of course also plays into the general topic of “difficulty”, which we touched on above when we talked about the recent playtest.
We will continue to give you the occasional more general development updates like this in the future and – next year – will be able to show you gameplay and impressions of these topics as well.
Until next time!