Anno 117 Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person View.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was when I discovered this concealed mode. I must briefly leave managing my empire, entrust it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and take a spin across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates using a top-down camera. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard 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. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would work before I discovered myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this option can be a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I walked the busy roads of my city and visited stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to witness my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed a variety of intricacies I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted upon discovering that I could not just view agricultural plots, but also enter them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see any individual strands of hair, but you will see engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
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 grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed 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 people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
