Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was the moment I learned this secret option. I must temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and take a spin across the Roman world.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in the new release, yet I had doubts it would work until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature can be a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I wandered the bustling streets across my settlement and explored stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to witness my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed all kinds of details I might have missed from the top-down view: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
Beyond Simple Strolling
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted when I found out that besides being able to view agricultural plots, but also enter them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe separate follicular elements, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities now.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then experimented with some number buttons and found I could alter my avatar's look. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (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. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces during active combat and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
