Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches compared to my initial response upon finding out this secret option. Allow me to temporarily abandon managing my empire, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride around the classical city.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of Anno 1800, I felt excited to experience it in the new release, yet I had doubts it would operate before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature can be prone to glitches now and then).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I wandered the busy roads through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I noticed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from above: Front door decorations, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that besides being able to observe farming fields, but also enter them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see separate follicular elements, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, eye details, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions these days.
Testing and Personalization
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Comedy and Population Encounters
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that he “Can’t have a pet fox and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman 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 had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you can control each one as desired. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.
