Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches as my own reaction the moment I learned this hidden feature. Excuse me while briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and take a spin around the classical city.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was part of the previous Anno title, I looked forward to test it in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would operate prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I walked the busy roads across my settlement and visited shops, taverns, floral patches, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to observe all my hard work through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies I might have missed from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted when I found out that besides being able to look upon agricultural plots, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, 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, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented 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 far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, however, you can observe engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, is especially atmospheric, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons now.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Amber garment? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies 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 as I assumed I had found everything available in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I experienced the pleasure of driving through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.
