Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, your surprise matches compared to my initial response when I discovered this secret option. Excuse me while temporarily abandon managing my empire, leave it in a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and take a spin around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person View
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would work before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this option can be prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
Upon freeing myself, I wandered the busy roads of my city and explored shops, taverns, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to witness all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I observed numerous fine points that would escape notice from above: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that I could not just view crop lands, but also step into them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators have the budget for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Graphics and Ambiance
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions now.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and learned I could modify my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The single feature that frustrated me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat 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 via my incendiary bolts.
