Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Breathtaking First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction the moment I learned this hidden feature. Allow me to temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, leave it in a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. However, if you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret was included in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would operate prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I wandered the bustling streets of my city and toured stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I detected a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that I could not just look upon crop lands, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers have the budget for that), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting inside seating as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and conifer needles. The night, featuring dancing flames and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I then experimented with some number buttons and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
