The demo for Anno 117 is now available and playable. However, many players criticize the short playtime per session. The developers have now explained that they cannot extend the time. This is said to be due to both technical and balancing reasons.
The demo for Anno 117 has been playable since September 2, 2025, and runs until September 16. However, many players criticize that the playtime of the demo is far too short: After 60 minutes, the allowed playtime is already over, and players are actively removed from their ongoing game.
Many players also criticize the limitation because the demo for Anno 1800 back then had no time limit at all. Here, players could simply play, but at some point, they could no longer develop their population further.
The developers have now responded to the players’ criticism, stating: Unfortunately, an extension of the playtime is not possible.
Extension of playtime not possible for technical reasons
This is what the developers say: On Steam, the developers have made an extensive post regarding the launch of the demo. Here, the Anno team explains that they have heard the criticism regarding the short playtime, but they cannot and do not want to change it. They have already doubled the playtime compared to the demo at gamescom.
If they wanted to further increase the playtime, they would have to test the demo again and make many changes, which they do not want to do:
A topic that has been frequently discussed was the limitation of playtime to one hour per session. We have internally discussed extending the demo but then decided to continue focusing on finishing the best possible version of the game for release on November 13.
To give you some background on this decision: This demo was originally developed for gamescom with a time limit of 30 minutes, which we doubled for the downloadable demo. This version was specifically optimized and tested for this playtime and does not support longer gameplay sessions or the construction of large cities for balancing reasons.
Further extension of the playtime would require a revision and testing of many systems to ensure a smooth gaming experience – and would draw resources that we would prefer to invest in completing the full game.
What else is important? The developers emphasize in their post that the playable demo is based on a version from early June 2025. Therefore, the demo does not represent the state of the release version, which you can purchase and pre-order in November.
Gaming hardware is expensive, and many new games require ever faster PCs. Battlefield 6 and Anno 117: Pax Romana take a different approach to system requirements: Both games can be played smoothly even on older hardware. Read more about it directly on MeinMMO: Battlefield 6 and Anno 117 are finally good news for budget gamers: You don’t need an expensive high-end PC
