Anno 117 makes Roman city building feel like a smart, modern RTS game

Especially after Anno 1800 and 2205, you can imagine that the foundations of Ubisoft’s city-building series might struggle to translate to Ancient Rome. Anno, primarily, is rooted in exploration, economics, and peaceful expansion - it’s about connecting disparate townships and people via trade routes and diplomacy. On the contrary, when you think of the Roman Empire, you think of centurions and war. That puts Anno 117 in a potentially difficult spot. Part Cities Skylines, part Europa Universalis, and part RTS, it also has to marry its comparatively pastoral gameplay with a more feudal, war-driven historical context. From what I’ve played so far, however, Anno 117 successfully pulls together these disparate influences.