Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Turns Out to Be a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize it's possible to experience Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction when I discovered this concealed mode. Excuse me while briefly leave my empire’s management, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is typically played from an overhead perspective. However, if you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I was eager to test it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (possibly an unexpected bug — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I wandered the busy roads across my settlement and explored markets, breweries, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to observe the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I noticed numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Front door decorations, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted when I found out that not only could I observe agricultural plots, but also enter them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (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 provided the entrance is missing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted with outdated visual quality, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, but you will see engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman decided to threaten 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 experienced the pleasure of driving through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
