Anno 117 Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person View.
Surprisingly — did you realize you can play the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction upon finding out this secret option. I must step away from managing my empire, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Since a similar easter egg was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would function until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this option is a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I strolled the busy roads through my metropolis and toured stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to see all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I observed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that I could not just look upon agricultural plots, but also enter them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting in a bench instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, eye details, and conifer needles. The night, featuring dancing flames and distant stellar illumination, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Thrill of Transportation
At the moment I believed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
