Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know you can play the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction upon finding out this secret option. Allow me to briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this feature tends to be a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I wandered the lively avenues through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to see all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I observed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that I could not just observe farming fields, but also step into them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I managed to access earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, but you will see engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions now.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting 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’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The single feature that frustrated me 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, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
