Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, your surprise matches compared to my initial response the moment I learned this concealed mode. Allow me to briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
Activating the First-Person View
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “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. Since a similar easter egg was included in Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would operate until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature is prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the lively avenues of my city and toured markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to witness my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I observed a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that not only could I view crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio have the budget for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe separate follicular elements, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, iris elements, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires 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 sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just as I assumed I had found everything available in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (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 battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
