Anno 117’s playable demo arrived on Steam on September 2, offering a first look at Ubisoft’s new city-building strategy game. Early hands-on impressions have been largely positive, but the community response on Steam paints a more mixed picture.
At the time of writing, just 44% of more than 200 user reviews are positive. Players praise the concept but point to several pain points that dull the experience:
– A busy, cluttered user interface that can feel overwhelming
– High system demands that make smooth performance tough on older hardware
– A hefty install footprint of over 90 GB
The loudest complaint, however, isn’t about gameplay or visuals—it’s the strict timer. The demo is limited to 60 minutes of play, which many feel is far too short to understand the mechanics, pace, and progression of a complex city-builder like Anno 117. For a series built on slow-burn planning and optimization, that one-hour cap can make it hard to judge the full potential.
If you’re curious to try it, expect a promising foundation with some rough edges, and plan around the time limit, the demanding specs, and the large download size. Whether that feedback leads to adjustments remains to be seen, but interest in the full release is clearly strong.
