Anno 117: Dawn of the Delta Launches Today: Aegyptus, Seasons, and Pyramid Restoration Close Out Year One

Aegyptus is a landmass split by the Nile, and that split shapes everything you build there. Most of the habitable land is dry desert: to farm it, you must build water basins and cut irrigation channels, a step up from the irrigation work introduced in Albion. The exception is the floodplains, a new land type where crops grow without irrigation. The floodplains run on seasons, a new concept for Anno

117. According to ButWhyTho's review, during Flooding, floodplain production falls, while during the Harvest Season it rises, increasing yield by one. The river itself is narrow and winding, very different from the wide-open water of Latium and Albion, and its choke points make harbor defenses matter more.

The Nile gives, and it also takes. Granaries, new storage buildings for Aegyptus, house your crops and buff your farms, but filling them past capacity raises the chance of a rat infestation, which cuts your storage overall, according to ButWhyTho. That turns overproduction into a real risk: you need surplus goods to feed your residents and to donate to the Pyramid Restoration, but stockpile too much and rats eat into the stockpile. The river changes fleets, too. ButWhyTho reports that Aegyptian reed boats move nearly twice as fast on the Nile as the Roman galleys brought over from Latium, so one fleet no longer fits every stretch of water. Your people change as well: Threshers upgrade along the Aegyptian path into Potters, or along the Romanized path into Scribes, and the third population tier is made up of Chanters and Gymnasiarchs.

The pyramids were already very old when the Romans added Egypt to their empire, and in Anno 117 they have fallen into disrepair over the centuries. Restoring them is a province project, not a building on one player's island: it sits near the port of Naukratis and its bonus applies to the whole province. Rebuilding takes several phases, and each phase needs large quantities of resources delivered to the pyramid dock near Naukratis: hundreds of tons of tiles, granite, and marble, plus tunics and food for the workers and dromedaries to speed up transport. After each phase, a buff applies to all your islands, decreasing the imperial land tax and increasing your prestige. When rivals are in play, the project becomes a race: every governor contributes, and whoever provides their share first receives a stronger buff than their rivals. Once the last delivery is made and the pyramidion is placed on top, the province gains a prestige bonus and a temporary boost to the chance of receiving heroic specialists, with three new heroic specialists added by the expansion. Ceremonies held at the restored pyramids can extend the buff, and the completed pyramids also serve as a Public Service need for the third-tier residents, Chanters and Gymnasiarchs, providing happiness and prestige.

Aegyptus worships deities rooted in its own land and traditions. Sobek is available right away, while the cults of Isis-Bastet and Thoth-Trismegistos must first be discovered through the research tree. Sobek boosts food production, including cheese, sausages, stuffed geese, and sanga cattle, and his local effect also increases water supply for irrigation and grants bonus population; his global devotion bonus unlocks dovecotes that attach to plantations and raise their productivity. Devotion to Isis-Bastet boosts production of lavender, perfume, and dates, and reduces how much your residents consume; globally, she extends the duration of festivals and unlocks large cat shrines that boost population, income, and prestige. Thoth-Trismegistos boosts refined production such as glass, wine, writing tablets, and scribing sets, and ties an island's income and prestige to the knowledge it produces; where his worship spreads globally, librarians boost the production of all buildings within range of a library. Worshipping an Aegyptian deity also changes the look of your sanctuary or temple, giving it an Egyptian form.

A new region means new people. The first character most players will meet is Epistrategos Heron, the Emperor's representative in Aegyptus, who oversees the province from the large port of Naukratis and acts as a trader. On the far side of the delta is the Kandis of Kashta, a raider who uses the Valley of the Pharaohs as a hideout and attacks ships and settlements unless paid ransom. A new rival governor also enters play: Decimus Naukratius Nerva, the tyrant of Aegyptus and father of the campaign characters Marcus and Marcia. The main story is a murder mystery: the body of Nymphaeus, a well-loved local figure who advocated for coexistence in Naukratis, is fished out of the Nile, and it is up to the governor to find out what happened.

There is no standalone price to quote for Dawn of the Delta: no separate Steam store page for the expansion was live at the time of writing, and Ubisoft has not announced a standalone price. The Year 1 Pass, which contains Prophecies of Ash, The Hippodrome, and Dawn of the Delta, plus five cosmetic bonuses, is $24.49 on Steam at the time of writing (list price $34.99), checked November 5,

2026. The free Update 3.0 launches alongside the expansion for all players, with new features, improvements, and changes; Ubisoft said full patch notes would follow the release.

ButWhyTho published its review on November 3, 2026, and scored Dawn of the Delta 8.5/10. That is one outlet's verdict, not a consensus: no review aggregate is cited in this article. The review calls the DLC a great end to Year One and the most robust release for Anno 117 this year, praising the seasons, gods that do more than serve one area, and a provincial project worked on with other governors. Its main wish for the future is more collectible-focused building, of the kind Anno 1800 offered with zoos, museums, and botanical gardens.