Anno 117: Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction upon finding out this hidden feature. Allow me to temporarily abandon my empire’s management, delegate it to a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret was part of the previous Anno title, I was eager to experience it 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 mode is a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
Upon freeing myself, I walked the busy roads of my city and visited markets, breweries, floral patches, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I detected numerous fine points 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 form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that not only could I observe farming fields, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed interiors would be restricted, I managed to access earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
However, I had no desire to injure my people, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.
