Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Breathtaking First-Person View.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this secret option. Allow me to temporarily abandon my empire’s management, delegate it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and take a spin across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. However, if you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you can explore the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I felt excited to experience it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would function before I discovered myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this mode can be prone to glitches now and then).
Exploring the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I strolled the lively avenues through my metropolis and toured markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to see my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I observed numerous fine points that would escape notice from the top-down view: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted upon discovering that not only could I observe farming fields, but also step into them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting inside seating instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” while some cranky old lady decided to threaten me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
