In Anno 1800, the topic of slavery was ignored, but in Anno 117, this tragic practice of ancient times is at least not concealed.
In Anno, the world is perfect – at least if we ignore war, exploitation, land grabbing, and constant shortages of goods. Nevertheless, Anno never delves into the real depths of human depravity, which, sadly, were all too deep in the past.
Not even in Anno 1800, despite the fact that there were even items for child labor. However, the topic of slavery was only touched upon very vaguely in the form of the AI opponent George Smith. Yet slave labor and human trafficking were not only widespread in the United States at that time. However, the team behind Anno did not want to delve deeper into this very dark topic and, above all, did not want to implement it as a game mechanic – which was met with both criticism and understanding.
In Anno 117, the team faces the same problem. After all, the Roman world was largely supported by slaves. At the unveiling of the first gameplay footage from Anno 117 in Rome, the team also revealed how it plans to address the topic of slavery this time around.
Slaves are not game mechanics
In one area, the team is staying true to its previous approach. Anno 117 will continue to avoid a overly dark tone, and above all, slavery will not be something we have to actively deal with during the game. There is no population class consisting of slaves, and slaves are in no way a human commodity.
In short: Slaves are not a game mechanic in Anno 117 either. However, this very real social class of ancient times should not disappear behind the idyllic Anno façade.
Your new advisor
To give the slaves of the ancient world a face, you will meet a slave of the emperor named Ben-Baalion in Anno 117. This simple, intelligent man will be assigned to you by the emperor or empress (you decide).
In the game, Ben-Baalion introduces you to the basics and is there to offer advice whenever you discover a new game mechanic. At the same time, Ben-Baalion may approach you from time to time to bring the concerns of the population to your attention.
Ubisoft has not yet commented further on the story of the campaign, but we suspect that the slave Ben-Baalion will also play a role here.
With this solution, the team hopes to be able to portray this difficult aspect of Roman life without turning ourselves into slave drivers by exploiting their labor or trading them.
However, what does appear in the game and contributes labor as the first population tier are liberti. Historically, these were freed slaves with their own rights. In reality, however, depending on the situation, these liberti could still live in a strong relationship of dependency on their former owners and often continued to have restrictive obligations toward them.
