Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction upon finding out this secret option. Allow me to step away from managing my empire, delegate it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “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. Since a similar easter egg was included in Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would work until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this mode is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the lively avenues through my metropolis and explored markets, breweries, floral patches, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I observed numerous fine points that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post becomes engaging for those not residing in classical times.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that I could not just observe crop lands, but also access them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, 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, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting inside seating instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, eye details, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that he “Can’t have a pet fox and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Thrill of Transportation
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
