Anno 117: Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person View.
Wait — did you know you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? If you're thinking that, your surprise matches compared to my initial response when I discovered this concealed mode. Allow me to briefly leave overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret appeared in Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would function until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature is a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I wandered the lively avenues through my metropolis and toured markets, breweries, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to see my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed numerous fine points I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that I could not just view crop lands, but also step into them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I then experimented with some number buttons and found I could alter my avatar's look. Amber garment? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the immersive perspective, I heard a parent advising their offspring 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 pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just when I thought I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
