Anno 117 Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know you can play 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 secret option. I must step away from overseeing my civilization, leave it in a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and take a spin around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “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. Since a similar easter egg appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would function until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature can be a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the bustling streets across my settlement and toured stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to see my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that besides being able to view agricultural plots, but also enter them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting inside seating instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe specific hair details, yet you will notice engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your gran will have your head.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.