Ubisoft Mainz takes Anno into antiquity without breaking what makes the series addictive: needs, production chains, trade and expansion still form a delayed-action machine where one bakery can eventually dictate the layout of an entire island. Pax Romana is more approachable than Anno 1800, occasionally at the expense of depth, but Latium, Albion, area effects, religion and returning land combat keep that simplification from becoming mere reduction.