Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response when I discovered this concealed mode. Excuse me while temporarily abandon managing my empire, leave it in a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates using a top-down camera. However, if you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. Since a similar easter egg was included in the previous Anno title, I was eager to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this feature tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I strolled the bustling streets of my city and visited markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — it felt magnificent to observe all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that not only could I view farming fields, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio 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 provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating rather than on a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe specific hair details, but you will see writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, pupils, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and should you provide another poultry, your gran will have your head.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate 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 in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I experienced the pleasure of driving through classical settlements. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
