Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches as I was upon finding out this concealed mode. I must briefly leave my empire’s management, leave it in a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates from an overhead perspective. However, if you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I felt excited to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would operate until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this feature is a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I wandered the busy roads of my city and explored shops, taverns, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to see my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected all kinds of details that would escape notice from above: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that besides being able to view crop lands, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the developers planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench rather than on a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see separate follicular elements, but you will see wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, eye details, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions these days.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and return. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, 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
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. 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 if you feed it one more chicken, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just when I thought I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
