Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was upon finding out this secret option. Allow me to briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and take a spin around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. However, if you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Since a similar easter egg was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to test it in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would function before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this mode can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I walked the busy roads across my settlement and visited markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to see all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I noticed all kinds of details that would escape notice from the top-down view: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
Further Than Mere Wandering
Yet, the experience extends to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted upon discovering that not only could I look upon crop lands, but also access them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted with outdated visual quality, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, but you will see writings on surfaces, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons now.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.
