Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Stunning First-Person View.
Wait — did you know you can play the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction upon finding out this concealed mode. Excuse me while temporarily abandon my empire’s management, leave it in a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. But, should you enter a secret combination — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was part of Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in the new release, yet I had doubts it would function until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Once I crawled out, I strolled the busy roads of my city and explored markets, breweries, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to witness my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I noticed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging 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 felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that I could not just observe farming fields, but also step into them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the creators planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Even though I expected to see my metropolis represented 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 considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, iris elements, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and learned I could modify my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
However, I had no desire to injure my people, as they're remarkably entertaining. 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 offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you can control each one as desired. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
