Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Stunning First-Person View.
Surprisingly — did you realize it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 in first-person? If you're thinking that, your surprise matches as I was the moment I learned this secret option. I must briefly leave my empire’s management, delegate it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. Yet, when you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was part of Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would function before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode can be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Exploring the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I strolled the lively avenues across my settlement and visited stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to observe the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I observed all kinds of details that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
Yet, the experience extends to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that not only could I look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting within a bench instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, eye details, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons now.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my avatar's look. Yellow toga? 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; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child 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 proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The single feature that frustrated me regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
