Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches as my own reaction upon finding out this hidden feature. Allow me to step away from managing my empire, delegate it to a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Unlocking the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is typically played using a top-down camera. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would function prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I strolled the lively avenues through my metropolis and explored markets, breweries, flower fields, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to observe my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted when I found out that besides being able to look upon crop lands, but also enter them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I managed to access mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the developers allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Graphics and Ambiance
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, pupils, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons now.
Testing and Personalization
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and learned I could modify my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You can wield a blade and protection, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” while some cranky old lady decided to threaten me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just as I assumed I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
