Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches compared to my initial response the moment I learned this concealed mode. Allow me to temporarily abandon my empire’s management, delegate it to a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. But, should you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg was included in Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would work before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this mode tends to be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Discovering the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I wandered the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to see the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I detected a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that not only could I look upon farming fields, but also enter them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities now.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and found I could alter my avatar's look. Amber garment? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and endeavored to damage them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
