Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 in first-person? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was when I discovered this concealed mode. I must briefly leave my empire’s management, delegate it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in the previous Anno title, I was eager to test it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would operate until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this mode is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I walked the lively avenues through my metropolis and toured shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to witness all my hard work through a fresh lens. I noticed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the shape of a window sill and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted upon discovering that besides being able to view farming fields, but also access them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the developers have the budget for that), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench rather than on a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, pupils, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I then experimented with various digit inputs and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Comedy and Population Encounters
However, I had no desire to injure my people, since they're incredibly amusing. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting 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 Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
