Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response when I discovered this secret option. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — 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 gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was included in the previous Anno title, I was eager to try it out in the new release, yet I had doubts it would work prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this option is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I walked the lively avenues through my metropolis and toured markets, breweries, floral patches, and cockle pickers — it was glorious to witness the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I observed all kinds of details I might have missed from above: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that besides being able to view farming fields, but also enter them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe separate follicular elements, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities now.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with various digit inputs and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. 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, as they're remarkably entertaining. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
