Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction upon finding out this secret option. Allow me to step away from my empire’s management, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and take a spin across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates from an overhead perspective. However, if you enter a secret combination — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would work before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this feature can be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I strolled the lively avenues across my settlement and explored markets, breweries, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to see the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I observed all kinds of details I might have missed from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted upon discovering that besides being able to view farming fields, but also step into them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and found I could alter my representative's visual design. 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 activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered 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 gran will have your head.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in combat situations. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.