Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response when I discovered this hidden feature. Allow me to briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 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 “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would work prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this option is a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the bustling streets across my settlement and toured shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to witness my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted upon discovering that besides being able to look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and found I could alter my avatar's look. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You can wield a blade and protection, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
