Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
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 as I was when I discovered this secret option. Allow me to temporarily abandon managing my empire, leave it in a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and take a spin around the classical city.
Activating the First-Person Mode
Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 is typically played from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the previous Anno title, I felt excited to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would work until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this mode is a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
Upon freeing myself, I walked the bustling streets through my metropolis and explored markets, breweries, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to see all my hard work through a fresh lens. I detected all kinds of details I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating for those not residing in classical times.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that I could not just look upon agricultural plots, but also step into them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers have the budget for that), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, pupils, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons these days.
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 alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just when I thought I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
