Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished as I was when I discovered this hidden feature. Excuse me while briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
Activating the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg appeared in Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would operate until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this mode is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I strolled the busy roads across my settlement and toured shops, taverns, flower fields, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to witness my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I detected all kinds of details I might have missed from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that not only could I look upon agricultural plots, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see specific hair details, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the options to jump, sprint, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. In case you’re wondering, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Comedy and Population Encounters
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, 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 pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
