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Molecule 117: Pax Romana It’s a clear return to simplicity for the long-running city-building strategy game franchise. Some returning fans may find that it offers a little basic, but for others, the more casual development will be a welcome, more comfortable change — especially paired with the countless quality of life features available from day one.
Review the review information
Platform reviewed: PC
Available: PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC
Release Date: November 13, 2025
On the contrary, Its prevention Anu 1800 One of the most complex city builders I’ve ever played. The civilization-building process is a complex dance of long supply chains in which you micromanage the production of resources across two continents (or more of all downloadable content) while simultaneously wielding a wealth of overlapping effects generated by buildings in your town center.
It was incredibly rewarding to master, but there were plenty of YouTube tutorials to do, and a fair amount of frantic searching on community wikis.
A new beginning
Molecule 117: Pax Romana Much more accessible to newcomers, an area that was clearly a major concern for developer Ubisoft. This is especially evident in the campaign, which is one of the most engaging in the history of the series.
Don’t get me wrong, in story mode Anu The game has always been little more than a glorified tutorial – basically showing you what to do to get started in a safe environment before letting you loose in a wider sandbox – and it’s no different here, but choosing to play as a designated character adds an extra layer of narrative detail.
The best bit
Molecule 117: Pax Romana Absolutely beautiful, and will please the nerves of a true date. Its Roman setting has been wonderfully recreated with intricate details that lead to stunning and life-like streets. There are even some authentic painted sculptures, which is always great to see.
Of the two options, I chose Marcia Teritia, a wealthy Roman daughter who is married to a troubled governor whom she has never met. After several events in Latium (the Roman region of the game) that I won’t spoil, she is banned from Albion (Celtic England), where she secretly serves as governor to try and get back into the Emperor’s good books. In general Anu Fashion, the dialogue is hilarious, and I found myself enjoying some of the twists and turns.
It’s a much shorter campaign than that 1800‘, lasts only six hours instead of around 15, though it’s running strong and doesn’t overstay its welcome as a result. Once I’ve hit the end I can’t resist diving into my sandbox games, though I’m still eager to try out the story as the other main character – Marcus Naucrats. There are a handful of narrative decisions and some side activities that I wouldn’t mind going back for replays.
The best thing I can say about the mod is that it does a great job of telling you what you need to know. I finished 1800 A story with more questions than answers, but a new player here would likely be perfectly qualified to dive into the sandbox or even online multiplayer.
Soggy sandals
But what exactly is it that you are doing exactly? Anu Fans will know Drill, but for everyone else, this is a city-building game about building a supply chain to collect the resources your citizens need. Molecule 117: Pax Romana Lets you choose whether to start your game in Latium or Albion, and each region plays out slightly differently.
In Latium, there are four classes of population: liberties, plebeians, aequites, and patricians. Requirements become more complex as you move between levels, with citizens initially needing porridge and straw sandals eventually progressing to access to running water for communal baths, education through libraries, flashy jewelry, and even bird’s tongues on tasty treats.
The map is divided into several islands, each island only able to supply certain resources. No single island will offer every resource you need late in the game, so at some point, you’ll inevitably need to load up a ship and populate them. As you set up trade routes and on higher difficulties, your return to the main city center becomes a chore to deal with the disruption caused by frequent raids.
This is the same formula that demonstrated the fuel 1800but the important thing is that I 117, You don’t actually have to meet all the needs of a particular group to thrive.
If you’re struggling to get a nice enough glass, for example, you can skip it and focus on olive oil instead. This has greatly reduced the complexity, and while you’re rewarded for completing all the requirements at once, less confident players don’t have to worry about overwhelming themselves with too many types of resources to manage.
Better than ever
You shouldn’t take it for granted Molecule 117: Pax Romana Feels incomplete, though. There are a lot of things here, including quality-of-life changes that will appeal to longtime fans.
It is from small things like a day and night cycle (which was not available in 1800 At launch) and the ability to play using keyboard and mouse on consoles, plenty of changes like the option to diagonalize buildings for the first time and a planning mode that lets you visualize your city with blueprints.
Some major DLC features from past games are also included for free. For example, your governor’s villa effectively corresponds to a palace 1800The power extension seat allows you to connect parts of your island with well-placed specialists. Once built, the villa is also a prime target for attackers as the land fighter, whose feature is completely missing Anu 1800is also back.
Fighting has always been one’s weakest part Anu Game in my eyes. It largely boils down to clicking on enemies, and battles are usually won by the side with the most troops. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much progress in this regard, although I hope the fact that ground combat is back will be a good basis for some combat-focused DLC or updates in the future.
There were also some weird bugs that I hope will be addressed. The most annoying of these was with my island’s fire safety rating, which would randomly drop a few thousand points without warning. Hovering over the icon told me it was due to “city status”, which it meant, and apparently there was little I could do to remedy it.
I endeavored to move my most inflammable buildings, such as bakeries and kilns, to a separate island, making sure that they were well spaced to avoid their influence, and to empty every street corner with a watchman (Roman fire department).
The actual fire didn’t show up all that often either, but this large red number led to some frustrations with diplomacy as other leaders eyed my apparently highly flammable settlement.
On the other hand, I am enjoying my time very much Molecule 117: Pax Romana. It is more comfortable Anu The formula compared to 1800, And while not that complicated, it’s easy to lose track of hours as you watch your city grow.
Should I play Anu 117: Pax Romana?
If you play it…
If you don’t play it…
Accessible features
It does not have a dedicated access menu Molecule 117: Pax Romanawhich is a bit of a shame given Ubisoft’s stellar track record in this area.
There are still some useful options in Settings, though, such as the ability to remap your keys and scale the UI. Dialogue features subtitles, with the option to use only sans serif font for reliability or to remove italics.
How I reviewed Anu 117: Pax Romana
I played for about 20 hours Molecule 117: Pax Romana Using a copy provided by Ubisoft on PC, a bit of time was also spent trying out the PS5 version, including testing its mouse and keyboard support.
My system is a 5070 TiPower model from retailer Scan with a compact Corsair 2000 DRGB airflow case, Asus Rogue Strix B860-i Gaming WiFi motherboard, Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU, 2TB WD Black SN770 SSD, 32GB of 32GB, asus.
This setup allowed me to easily play the game at its highest graphics settings using NVIDIA DLSS. For peripherals, I relied on my trusty Razer Dither V3 Pro mouse and Cherry XTRF’s K5V2 keyboard, plus an Astro A20 X PC gaming headset for audio.
Throughout my time with the game, I compared my experience with my main experience with other games Anu Sports, incl 1800for , for , for , . 2205, 2070and 1404.
First reviewed November 2025
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