Anno 117's Hippodrome DLC turns a single building into a chaotic, satisfying production challenge

Anno 117: Pax Romana's mid-season DLC, the Hippodrome, has arrived, and it is far more engaging than its modest premise suggests. Historically, the middle-of-the-season DLC for Anno games tends to be weaker than the expansions that bookend it, often serving as a foundation for later content rather than a highlight in its own right. So expectations for the Hippodrome were measured. That turned out to be shortsighted.

The DLC unlocks a new research branch that allows players to build the Hippodrome, a single monument-class building. In the real world, these structures held immense political and social significance in Byzantium and Rome. Nobles and commoners would gather in the same space to watch chariot races, and emperors frequently used the location for ceremonies, executions, and other major state events. Anno 117's version does not add executions, so the building is dedicated to chariot racing, but the pomp and ceremony surrounding it are just as important as the historical inspiration.

The process of constructing the Hippodrome is splendidly chaotic, as is typical for Anno's giant buildings. It happens in phases, each requiring a gargantuan amount of resources. Players need hundreds of tons of timber and concrete, which are relatively easy to source, and then hundreds more of marble and mosaics. The difficulty of obtaining these materials depends on the game's difficulty setting and how cruel the world generation was when it decided which islands could provide what.

The Hippodrome adds an extra layer of complexity by requiring additional materials like cloth, which means players will need to divert their flax fields from producing togas. It also demands granite from the province of Albion, a surprise that forces players to pay attention to regions they might have neglected. In one playthrough, the player had paid little attention to the marshy, eel-ridden province outside of getting consumables for the Roman elite. They hastily built up a modest society there to support granite cutting, acquired new islands to actually get the granite, and started the lengthy process of shipping it to Rome.

All that production chain chaos is just part of building a marvel. The building requires hundreds of workers, which, thanks to shortsighted planning on some islands, severely restricted where the Hippodrome could be built. The big island of Cinis, from the Prophecies of Ash expansion, proved to be a godsend in this regard. When that expansion was covered, it was noted that Anno 117 lacks guided purpose from the mid-game onward. Building the Hippodrome and the kind of society that can support it is another step toward adding that much-needed structure.

Once all the production was done and the four construction phases ended, the Hippodrome opened to the public, and the enjoyment increased further. The building has a splendor level and provides production buffs to the entire island. Raising that splendor level increases the power of those buffs, giving players a clear incentive to keep improving the structure. The DLC turns a single building into a satisfying, chaotic production challenge that adds purpose to the mid-game and beyond.