Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response upon finding out this concealed mode. I must temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and take a spin around the classical city.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to test it in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would operate before I discovered myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
Upon freeing myself, I walked the lively avenues through my metropolis and toured stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and shellfish gatherers — it felt magnificent to observe all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed numerous fine points that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, fowl roaming freely, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted when I found out that I could not just view crop lands, but also step into them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see any individual strands of hair, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, eye details, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
However, I had no desire to injure my people, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” 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
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces during active combat and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
