Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 in first-person? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches as I was upon finding out this concealed mode. Excuse me while temporarily abandon managing my empire, entrust it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and take a spin across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person Mode
Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in the new release, though I was uncertain it would function before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this option can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Once I crawled out, I wandered the lively avenues through my metropolis and explored markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to see the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I observed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that not only could I look upon crop lands, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed interiors would be restricted, I managed to access mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting inside seating as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then experimented with some number buttons and found I could alter my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? 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; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I heard a parent advising their offspring that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
