Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Breathtaking First-Person View.
Wait — did you know it's possible to experience Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction when I discovered this secret option. I must briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is typically played from an overhead perspective. But, should you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would function until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Exploring the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I walked the lively avenues of my city and toured stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to observe the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I observed numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that I could not just look upon farming fields, but also access them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (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, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise 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 Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I had found everything available in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart 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, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Battle Constraints
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
