Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response when I discovered this secret option. I must step away from overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and take a spin across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person View
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Since a similar easter egg was included in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to test it in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would function until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (possibly an unexpected bug — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited markets, breweries, floral patches, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to see all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I detected a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from above: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted upon discovering that not only could I observe agricultural plots, but also access them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio have the budget for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see specific hair details, but you will see engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions now.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated 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 pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady decided to threaten me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
