Anno 117 Pax Romana is getting three post-launch DLCs to keep you thinking about the Roman Empire every day

I'm not sure if men really ponder the Roman Empire every day. I think that I'm an outlier, pondering the Roman Empire upwards of a dozen times a day, and I should not be counted as I'm an anomaly bringing the numbers way up. Still, that makes me the perfect target audience for Anno 117 Pax Romana, and boy am I excited. Its precursor, Anno 1800, features on our list of the best city building games, but I have no interest in the industrial revolution. Okay, that's a lie, but I have less interest in it than I do in the Roman Empire. It's a once-a-week thought, at most. I have no doubt that Anno 117 will usurp its predecessors (in my personal ranking at least), especially after developer Ubisoft Mainz recently detailed the game's campaign and post-launch roadmap.

Anno 117 Pax Romana already looked good before the new trailer. The series' grid-based city building system makes perfect sense for Roman civilization, which was presumably built entirely with a protractor and framing square. My colleague Jamie Hore left our Anno 117 Gamescom preview practically glowing, but maybe that has something to do with his Celtic roots.

What I'm saying is, things were already looking positive. But Ubisoft's recent 12-minute deep dive only made me more excited to get my hands on the Roman strategy game. First, it details the campaign, which can be played as either Marcus or Marcia. They have very different personalities and backstories, which should give subsequent playthroughs a bit of Mediterranean spice.

As Jamie discusses in his preview, each will face difficult choices. In Albion, they may colonize with ruthless efficiency, forcing the Celtic people to homogenize with Roman ideals. Alternatively, you can integrate more peacefully, taking in Celtic traditions and placing them alongside their own. Now we have to take the temperament of our governor into account, too.

In addition to this news, Ubisoft teased three pieces of post-launch DLC for the game. The first, Prophecies of Ash, takes us to the untamed island of Latium, which brings unique cultural encounters, a new deity, and a volcano on the verge of eruption. It sounds like a mix of Pompeii and Lazio, but on an island far from either. A Sicilian influence, perhaps? Corsican?

The second piece of DLC is The Hippodrome, openly inspired by the Circus Maximus. I've always wanted a proper chariot racing game, and this feels like my best route to one. Finally, Dawn of the Delta takes us to the Egyptian desert, as the Roman Empire pushes south.

All of the DLC will be available as a part of the Year 1 Pass, which is included in the game's Gold Edition or available as a separate purchase.

Anno 117 Pax Romana releases on Thursday, November 13. You can pre-order, wishlist, and play the demo here.

If you, too, ponder the Roman Empire on a daily basis (or more), plenty of the best grand strategy games cover this epoch. If you just want more games to add to your calendar, we've got a list of upcoming PC games ready for you to transcribe.

You can also join our community Discord server, where staff and readers debate their favorite Roman emperors as often as I can make them.