Anno 117 Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished as I was when I discovered this concealed mode. Allow me to temporarily abandon my empire’s management, leave it in a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret appeared in 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 (which probably wasn’t intended — this option tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I strolled the busy roads of my city and explored shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to witness all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed numerous fine points that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, folks chilling on their balconies… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that besides being able to look upon farming fields, but also access them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, but you will see wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
However, I had no desire to injure my people, since they're incredibly amusing. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, 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 started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
