Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Surprisingly — did you realize you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches as I was the moment I learned this concealed mode. Allow me to briefly leave overseeing my civilization, leave it in a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret was part of the previous Anno title, I looked forward to test it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would work prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this feature tends to be a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I wandered the bustling streets across my settlement and visited shops, taverns, floral patches, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to observe the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I noticed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, folks chilling on their balconies… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted when I found out that I could not just look upon farming fields, but also enter them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I managed to access clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see specific hair details, but you will see writings on surfaces, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then experimented with various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Thrill of Transportation
At the moment I believed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Battle Constraints
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. 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 still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.
