Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished as I was upon finding out this hidden feature. I must temporarily abandon managing my empire, entrust it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride 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 input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore the empire as an ordinary Roman. Since a similar easter egg was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, yet I had doubts it would work before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this mode can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I walked the bustling streets of my city and explored stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — it felt magnificent to witness all my hard work through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that I could not just observe crop lands, but also access them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench rather than on a bench, first-person mode looks much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, eye details, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and found I could alter my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
