Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 in first-person? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches compared to my initial response the moment I learned this secret option. I must step away from my empire’s management, delegate it to a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and take a spin across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to experience it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would work prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I walked the busy roads across my settlement and explored stalls, alehouses, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to witness the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I detected a variety of intricacies I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that not only could I view crop lands, but also step into them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, but you will see engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and evergreen foliage. 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 nightmarish entities these days.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my avatar's look. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Comedy and Population Encounters
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The single feature that frustrated me regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
