Anno 117: Pax Romana is out on November 13 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, inviting players to step into the sandals of a Roman governor, sent out by the Empire to govern its provinces. The first Anno game to launch on consoles and PC simultaneously, Anno 117: Pax Romana offers a host of accessibility features to ensure as many players can enjoy the game as possible.
Anno 117: Pax Romana was designed with accessibility in mind. We spoke with Lead UI Designer Jan Wawrzik to learn more about the team’s approach to accessibility, the challenges of implementing accessibility for a builder game, and designing features for PC and consoles.
Anno 117: Pax Romana is the eighth installment in the Anno franchise. How did the team approach accessibility? Was the approach different than in the past?
Jan Wawrzik: For Anno 117: Pax Romana, we took accessibility into consideration from the start. During preproduction, a dedicated team of Game and UI Designers collaborated on researching and defining accessibility goals. These goals were then shared as guidelines across the production team. Our goal was to be accessible by design from the beginning. For this, we defined several guidelines for our Visual and UX teams to follow. As a result, elements such as color contrast, text size, and icon size were baked into our visual style guide and then implemented as part of a design system. We also reviewed industry-standard accessibility features and focused on those most beneficial to players within the context of a builder game.
Does the real-time builder strategy genre bring any unique challenges to accessibility? How did the team work through those?
JW: We recognized gaps in accessibility and made it a priority to address them. Additionally, we introduced several features that enhance the overall player experience, regardless of input method or playstyle.
In Anno, players can settle and build cities on multiple islands, create hundreds of interdependent production chains, and interact with other rivals via diplomacy. This complexity can be quite overwhelming. To ease the experience, we’ve introduced active-pause, a feature that allows players to interact with the UI and game world while the simulation is paused. This reduces time pressure, cognitive load, and minimizes distraction from incoming messages. Once players have issued their commands, they can resume gameplay and continue building their empire at their own pace.
With the breadth of features, it is easy to overlook the subtle details of onboarding. Players can access our info corners, which are small contextual hints that help explain core concepts and refresh understanding as needed.
Colorblind settings in the game world, originally missing in Anno 1800, have been added and will continuously be refined when new features are added. Additionally, players can customize notification duration, which allows them to stay informed at their own pace.
Is there a new feature you’re particularly proud of?
JW: While the team introduced several new features, the UI scaling is probably the most noteworthy and impactful. The entire interface supports five platform-independent text sizes, with menus and icons adjusting accordingly.
As you can imagine, implementing this was no small task – the UI team had to come up with some creative solutions to ensure players have the necessary information readily available at the largest text sizes. Smaller satellite features were also added to support this: for example, to facilitate the use of screen readers, players can now pin Infotips to read them at their own pace on both PC and console.
This is the first Anno game to launch Day 1 on PC and console. Were there any challenges in implementing accessibility features for all platforms?
JW: Both PC and console platforms benefit from our commitment to accessibility by design. This and the use of a design system streamlined a lot of our efforts, as large parts of the UI are shared by both platforms.
For construction, a core loop of Anno 117: Pax Romana, we wanted to provide the best experience for all input devices. We went the extra mile and designed custom interfaces for controller and mouse and keyboard. Having recently ported Anno 1800 to console, we had a strong foundation, allowing us to carry over several features for our construction radial while also prototyping new improvements for future releases.
Anno 117: Pax Romana Accessibility Features
Color Blindness Modes
(Improves color visibility depending on the selected setting)
- Deuteranopia (green hues)
- Protanopia (red hues)
- Tritanopia (blue and yellow hues)
Customizable Key Bindings
- Support of main and secondary key input
- Support additional mouse buttons
- Keybind
Separate Volume Controls
- Master Volume
- Menu Sounds
- Music Volume
- Voice Volume
- Sound Effects Volume
UI Scaling
- Monitor: Small / Medium / Large
- TV: Small / Medium
Notifications
- Duration: Short / Standard / Long
Subtitles
- Subtitles: On / Off
- Size: Small / Medium / Large / Extra Large
- Background Opacity: 0-100%
- Show in Fullscreen: On / Off
- Subtitle Color: No Colour / Speaker’s Name / Speaker’s Name and Text
Interface
- Change Italics to Standard (Roman): Off / On
- Only use Sans-Serif: Off / On
Camera
- Edge Scrolling: On / Off
- Edge Sensitivity: 0-100%
- Edge Sensitivity: Camera Keyboard Sensitivity: 0-100%
Controller
- Partial Remapping: A selection of main input functions can be remapped
Haptic Feedback
- Vibration Intensity: 0-100%
Advanced Settings
- Trigger Sensitivity
- Long press duration
- Short Press duration
Axis
- Invert X / Y Axis: On / Off
- Invert X / Y Axis Panning: On / Off
- Invert Axis Rotate: On / Off
- Invert Axis Zoom: On / Off
- Invert Axis Tilt: On / Off:
- Invert Axis X / Y FPS: On / Off:
Deadzones
- Inner Deadzone Left / Right: Sets inner width of deadzone
- Outer Deadzone Left / Right: Sets outer width of deadzone
Drag Controls
(Allows players to choose how they create a selection rectangle in different contexts)
General:
- Two Step – press to select start point, then press to confirm end point
- Press and Drag - press and hold, then drag to create rectangle on release
Roads:
- Two Step – press to select start point, then press to confirm end point
- Press and Drag - press and hold, then drag to create rectangle on release
- Hybrid - Selects the more appropriate of the previous method depending of the player's input
Fields:
- Two Step – press to select start point, then press to confirm end point
- Press and Drag - press and hold, then drag to create rectangle on release
- Hybrid - Selects the more appropriate of the previous method depending of the player's input
Hold Settings
(Allows players to use a double tap on a button instead of a hold to enter a mode)
- Camera modifier toggle enabled: On / Off
- Ship Selection Toggle enabled: On / Off
- Construction Menu Access Toggle: On / Off
Radial Menus
- Radial Menus – Sticky Selection: On / Off
- Radial Menu – Entries: 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20
Input Swap
- Swap Right and Left Stick: On / Off
- Swap Trigger and Shoulder Buttons: On / Off
Pre-order Anno 117: Pax Romana today on Ubisoft+, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Ubisoft Store, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.
