Anno 117 Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction the moment I learned this concealed mode. Allow me to step away from managing my empire, leave it in a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you input a hidden code — 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 the empire as an ordinary Roman. Since a similar easter egg was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would operate before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Exploring the Roman Cityscape
Once I crawled out, I wandered the busy roads of my city and visited shops, taverns, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to see all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I detected a variety of intricacies that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that besides being able to view agricultural plots, but also access them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities now.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered 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 revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just when I thought I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
