Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction when I discovered this concealed mode. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, leave it in a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and take a spin across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. However, if you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg appeared in the previous Anno title, I felt excited to try it out in the new release, though I was uncertain it would function prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I walked the bustling streets of my city and toured shops, taverns, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it was glorious to observe all my hard work through a fresh lens. I detected all kinds of details that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that besides being able to observe farming fields, but also access them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Although I was fully prepared to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see any individual strands of hair, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I had found everything available in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Battle Constraints
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.