Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked as I was when I discovered this concealed mode. Allow me to step away from overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person View
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret appeared in Anno 1800, I felt excited to test it in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would work until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this mode is a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I wandered the bustling streets of my city and toured markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to see my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I detected a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from above: Front door decorations, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the creators allocated resources 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 when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and conifer needles. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions now.
Discovery and Modification
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 functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and return. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. 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 offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
At the moment I believed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
