Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this hidden feature. I must temporarily abandon my empire’s management, leave it in a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and take a spin across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person View
Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates using a top-down camera. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would operate until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I wandered the bustling streets through my metropolis and toured shops, taverns, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to witness all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I noticed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from the top-down view: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, fowl roaming freely, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that I could not just observe farming fields, but also access them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready 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 far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe specific hair details, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities now.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Golden robe? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, 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. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I heard a parent advising their offspring that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.
