Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as I was upon finding out this secret option. Excuse me while temporarily abandon my empire’s management, entrust it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 usually operates from a bird's-eye view. But, should you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg appeared in the previous Anno title, I was eager to experience it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would operate until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this feature tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I strolled the bustling streets across my settlement and explored markets, breweries, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to observe the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted when I found out that not only could I observe crop lands, but also access them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators have the budget for that), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
Even though I expected to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, pupils, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions these days.
Testing and Personalization
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and return. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (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. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just when I thought I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
