Anno 117 wowed me with its superb city-building and weighty decision-making

When you ponder the Roman Empire (and per the meme, that's a daily occurrence for many), you of course think about its sprawling influence across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. An empire that relentlessly conquered and expanded, spanning from what is today the United Kingdom all the way down to Egypt. I expected Anno 117 to double down on that feeling - give me land, and let me build all the villas, aqueducts, and marble masterpieces I can. However, as I came ashore on its beautiful Celtic region of Albion during a one-hour demo at Gamescom, what I was actually given was a choice: push the Empire's agenda to create your very own Rome from Rome, or expand in a way that embraces the existing Celtic culture.

As someone who was born and raised in a Celtic region of the UK ('dydh da' to any Cornish readers out there), I immediately knew which of Anno 117's two starting regions I wanted to try. Sure, Latium would provide that proper Roman Empire experience as you build a city in the very heart of Italy, but Albion felt like a more interesting landscape and a truly new frontier. At the start of the one-hour demo (which is now available to all on Steam, by the way) your ship docks at a small harbor surrounded by beaches, and from there you can expand out into the island's forests, cliffs, and marshlands - a biome that is very important and is incorporated into Anno 117's new decision-making process. But more on that later.

While there always needs to be an element of challenge, tradeoffs, and limitations, my favorite memories with the best city-building games stem from just being able to naturally create what you want without too much stress. Immediately, Anno 117 struck the right tone in that regard. For those who want a bit more risk and pressure, there are ways to achieve that, especially in the later game when the prospect of war looms. However, conflict is optional, and in my brief time with the game, my focus was on the actual building mechanics.

There are some nice innovations here, including the introduction of more free-form and diagonal roads. While a grid-based city can look incredibly satisfying (and you can still play that way if you're an Anno veteran used to the 90-degree lifestyle), you can build much more organically in 117. Buildings will still snap to the paths you draw so that things don't get messy, but having this added level of freedom is only a good thing.

Despite going at a fairly slow and relaxed tempo, the demand for industry and produce soon sees me having to expand. Over on the far side of my island is the marshland, where mud and reeds can be harvested to make higher-tier buildings, while eels can be farmed for food and trade. But herein lies one of several key crossroads in my journey as Albion's governor.

To create more space for constructing villas and other important buildings that require solid foundations, the typically Roman thing to do here would be to drain the marshes. However, the local Celts have been working this land for centuries - draining it would eliminate this traditional way of life. Clearly, my own Celtic blood got the better of me. 'The marshlands stay, we will make room for expansion elsewhere,' I decree, internally.

This then aligns Albion more towards the Celtic way of life, rather than Roman, and it's one of many conundrums you'll come up against in your campaign. Do you prioritize the production of bread and wine (favorites of the Romans) over cheese and beer (the preference of the Celts), for example. I love this dynamic, and it immediately whiffs of replayability too, with scope for a compassionate Celtic run and then a stronger-handed Roman playthrough afterwards.

Aside from a few stutters where I needed to scour the menus for hints or the UI for visual pointers, the production and resource chains are pretty easy to follow and keep pace with in Anno 117. It's not simple or barebones by any stretch, but it's also not an overly complicated process to start scaling things up and growing your industries.

You must be wary of where you place some of these essential production facilities, though, as your residents' safety and happiness could be impacted. For example, a charcoal kiln or a bakery present a fire risk for other buildings within its radius, which is clearly shown on-screen when you're looking to place one down. Building and leveling up a fire station, however, would help mitigate the risk, so there's a constant balancing act to consider. Again, though, it never feels too overbearing or punishing, at least not in these early stages.

I also want to quickly commend Anno 117's visuals. The series is renowned for letting you create cities that look beautiful both from afar and when zoomed right in, and 117 takes that even further. I can't speak for Latium yet, but Albion looks resplendent both at the beginning in its wild form, and also once you've carpeted it with buildings and roads. The building models are also highly detailed, and as you upgrade them, they're given noticeable visual transformations.

Overall, I massively enjoyed my first hour with Anno 117 - in fact, it's one of my top three games I got to play at Gamescom. With the demo build I tried now on Steam, I'll certainly be diving back in to tackle Albion with a different approach. If the Roman Empire wasn't already on your brain, Ubisoft's new strategy game will certainly ensure that it is.