Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished as I was upon finding out this hidden feature. I must step away from my empire’s management, leave it in a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is typically played from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of Anno 1800, I was eager to test it in the latest installment, yet I had doubts it would function before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I wandered the busy roads through my metropolis and explored stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I observed all kinds of details that would escape notice from the top-down view: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, people relaxing on their verandas… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
Beyond Simple Strolling
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that not only could I look upon agricultural plots, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see separate follicular elements, but you will see engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Combat Limitations
The single feature that frustrated me regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
