The latest game in the long-running Anno strategy city builder series has had a great launch week—depending on where you're standing, at least. Anno 117: Pax Romana, which released on November 12, has been met with "Mixed" reviews on Steam and has been the target of complaints about the use of AI to create in-game assets.

But, according to Ubisoft, that hasn't stopped the city builder from breaking a few records.

Anno 117: Pax Romana is "the fastest-selling title in the franchise’s 25-year history," Ubisoft said in an email to PC Gamer. Ubisoft also said that with an average of 85 on Metacritic (PC Gamer's Anno 117: Pax Romana review scores it an 80) and a 94% "Recommended" on OpenCritic (with an average score of 84), Anno 117 has become "the highest-rated Anno in the franchise's history."

Steam reviewers haven't been as generous. Amid scattered complaints of bugginess, a shortened campaign, and connection issues with its co-op mode, one user summed it up with the most damning sort of praise a game can get: "Anno is fine."

Most of the negative reviews are focused on how unhappy players are that AI assets have been used in the game. This is the first Ubisoft game to post an "AI generated content disclosure" on Steam, which states: "AI tools were used to help create some in game assets. In all such cases, the final product reflects our team’s craft and creative vision." That vision apparently includes background images where people's heads are missing and hands are deformed—that old AI oopsie classic. Some of the AI-assisted artwork is being replaced, per Kotaku, though I'm not sure that's going to smooth the troubled waters.

Or maybe the waters aren't really that troubled after all? Ubisoft also says Anno 117 has "reached unprecedented player numbers, making it the fastest growing title in the series," though it doesn't specify exactly how many total players that is. SteamDB shows a peak concurrent player count of over 50,000, though—roughly twice the peak of Anno 1800, which launched in 2019.

Normally crime happens before the police arrive, but Darktide's done things a little bit differently. Its first DLC class was the law-enforcing Arbites, and its second has just been announced as the law-breaking Hive Scum. Though technically, the Hive Scum is also here to enforce order—they're fixers working for the crime lords of Tertium Hive who have realized plague daemons are bad for business.

The trailer showcases the Hive Scum's crowbar, one of the class' improvised melee weapons (they can also swing a saw), as well as their dual-wielded guns. For the first time in Darktide you'll be able to go full Rise of the Triad with either autopistols or stub pistols. You can also dual-wield shivs in melee.

The Hive Scum's other selling point is better living through chemistry. They can buff themselves with a customizable stimm called the Cartel Special and turn their drugs against enemies by throwing chem bombs and coating their saw in a variety of toxins.

Like all of Darktide's player-characters the Hive Scum gets plenty of cosmetic options, with full-body tattoos and punk hairstyles, and they're the only class to have access to face paints so far. The other thing that marks them out is that they're locals. Where most of the dubious heroes of Darktide come from other worlds like Cadia, the Hive Scum are protecting their homes (and their stimm labs). It'll be interesting to see how the ongoing story of Darktide incorporates them—presumably with something like the Arbites' bespoke introduction.

The Hive Scum Class DLC will be available on December 2, along with a Cosmetic Upgrade DLC if you want even more hairstyle, outfit, tattoo, and weapon skin options.