Why Anno 117 Feels Most Like a New Civilization Among 5 Great Multiplayer Games

A roundup of multiplayer strategy games for Civilization fans highlighted five picks, with Anno 117: Pax Romana named the top recommendation. The article’s case is straightforward: all five keep the classic 4X core of exploration, expansion, exploitation, and conquest, but each pushes that formula in a different direction, from Roman history and fantasy to space grand strategy and 19th-century economic simulation. The standout, according to the list, is Anno 117: Pax Romana, which supports up to 8-player multiplayer and received its latest DLC, Ashes of Prophecy, on April 30.

If you treat this lineup like a performance sheet for the genre, Anno 117: Pax Romana is the most complete all-rounder. It still operates on a grand strategy backbone, but compared with Civilization, its focus leans much harder into city-building, production chains, and historical immersion. For players who enjoy turning food, roads, and mineral output into a tightly tuned urban machine, that management feel is stronger here, and so is the sense of place.

More importantly, its multiplayer suite sounds fully fleshed out. The article notes that Anno 117: Pax Romana supports up to 8 players, and that both its campaign and sandbox modes allow PvP as well as co-op multiplayer. That matters. This is not a game that bolts multiplayer onto the menu and calls it a day. It gives groups room to set their own pace, whether that means peaceful co-development or pushing custom rules all the way into full-scale war. Cross-platform multiplayer and real-time save-based co-op progression make it especially friendly for regular groups: three friends can log in one night to build roads and farms, then two more can join later and keep the same match moving.

The new DLC, Ashes of Prophecy, is also more than a simple map expansion. At the northernmost edge of Latium, it adds Sinis, a massive continental island built around a volcano that erupts on a cycle. The volcano has five stages. Eruptions cause damage, but the volcanic ash improves soil quality afterward, raising farm productivity by as much as 50%. That risk-reward structure is what makes the expansion interesting: if you are willing to build around danger, the payoff is substantial.

On the resource side, the DLC adds Obsidian, two new production chains, and a new deity, Vulcan, who boosts the productivity of mines and quarries. For players who enjoy optimizing throughput and laying out long supply chains, that kind of addition has more staying power than simply adding more units. The article also points out that the game supports diagonal layouts and curved roads for the first time. That may sound minor, but it meaningfully improves city planning freedom and the look of your settlements over long play sessions.

If preserving Civilization’s turn-based rhythm matters more to you, Age of Wonders 4 is presented as one of the closest fits. It also supports up to 8-player multiplayer, keeps the familiar high-level structure of alliances, declarations of war, and custom races, and runs its world map in turns. The difference is combat: battles switch into a tactical layer where unit counters, spell use, and terrain management all matter directly.

Endless Legend, from Amplitude Studios, is framed as the veteran option. Its core 4X structure is said to align closely with Civilization, but its biggest hook is its eight asymmetrical factions, which can make each run feel very different. The article also says multiplayer stability improved significantly after the 2025 version update, which is a meaningful point for anyone thinking about returning to an older strategy game. In this genre, losing is tolerable; desyncs and disconnects are not.

Then there are Stellaris and Victoria 3, which push the formula in two very different directions. Stellaris, from Paradox, is described as a “space version of Civilization.” Its multiplayer supports real-time with pause, and players can form federations, share technology and fleets, and interact through votes in the Galactic Community. Add more than ten major DLCs and Steam Workshop mod support, and it becomes the deepest content well on this list. Victoria 3, by contrast, is the recommendation for Civilization players who prefer economics over frontline maneuvering. It is a multiplayer grand strategy game built around a dynamic global market and population simulation, where factory output affects international goods prices and better living conditions can attract skilled workers immigrating from other countries.

The practical takeaway is clean. If you want the closest thing to Civilization with stronger building systems and better co-op potential, start with Anno 117: Pax Romana. If you want to keep a more traditional turn-based world-map pace, go with Age of Wonders 4. Pick Endless Legend for asymmetric factions, Stellaris for a galaxy-spanning grand strategy sandbox, and Victoria 3 if you want to turn strategy into an economic race. I would not fully endorse the claim that these five are the final answer to “Is there a better game than Civilization?” But as multiplayer alternatives, all five make a strong case.