Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction when I discovered this concealed mode. Allow me to temporarily abandon managing my empire, entrust it to a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and take a spin across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to try it out in the new release, yet I had doubts it would operate before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (possibly an unexpected bug — this mode tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I wandered the busy roads of my city and toured markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to witness all my hard work through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from the top-down view: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that I could not just look upon crop lands, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to see my metropolis represented with outdated visual quality, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench rather than on a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe separate follicular elements, but you will see engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, iris elements, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just when I thought I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The single feature that frustrated me within the immersive perspective 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 proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
