Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Breathtaking First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response when I discovered this hidden feature. I must temporarily abandon my empire’s management, leave it in a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
Activating the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is typically played from a bird's-eye view. But, should you enter a secret combination — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg appeared in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would operate before I discovered myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature can be a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Roman Cityscape
Once I crawled out, I wandered the bustling streets of my city and visited markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that I could not just view farming fields, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators have the budget for that), however, you can definitely wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see specific hair details, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons now.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then experimented with some number buttons and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Thrill of Transportation
At the moment I believed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
