Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, your surprise matches as I was upon finding out this secret option. Excuse me while briefly leave managing my empire, leave it in a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you press a covert button sequence — 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 — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would work prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this feature is a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I walked the lively avenues across my settlement and explored stalls, alehouses, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to witness my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from the top-down view: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted upon discovering that besides being able to look upon crop lands, but also step into them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting in a bench rather than on 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 separate follicular elements, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
However, I had no desire to injure my people, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
