Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person View.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response upon finding out this hidden feature. I must temporarily abandon managing my empire, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in the new release, yet I had doubts it would work until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this option can be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I strolled the bustling streets of my city and explored stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it was glorious to observe my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected all kinds of details I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, folks chilling on their balconies… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited when I found out that besides being able to look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio have the budget for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see separate follicular elements, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? 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. In case you’re wondering, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. 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 feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
