Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person View.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction the moment I learned this hidden feature. I must briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “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 appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature is a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Streets of Rome
Once I crawled out, I walked the bustling streets through my metropolis and explored markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — it was glorious to witness my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted when I found out that I could not just observe agricultural plots, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — with the latter allowing me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and return. I then decided to hit some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
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 interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.