Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Breathtaking First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response upon finding out this hidden feature. Excuse me while temporarily abandon my empire’s management, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and take a spin around the classical city.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is typically played from an overhead perspective. Yet, when you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. 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 before I discovered myself 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
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the lively avenues of my city and toured stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to observe all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
Yet, the experience extends to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that besides being able to look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the creators planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see separate follicular elements, but you will see engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, pupils, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities now.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and found I could alter my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that he “Can’t have a pet fox and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” while some cranky old lady decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
