Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware you can play the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction the moment I learned this concealed mode. I must briefly leave managing my empire, entrust it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person View
Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 usually operates using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore the empire as an ordinary Roman. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out in the new release, though I was uncertain it would function prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this feature can be prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the busy roads of my city and visited markets, breweries, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to see all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I observed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging for those not residing in classical times.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that not only could I observe crop lands, but also access them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
Even though I expected to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting in a bench rather than on a bench, the immersive perspective seems far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe specific hair details, but you will see wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, eye details, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities these days.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I then experimented with some number buttons and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, 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 should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
