Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction when I discovered this hidden feature. Excuse me while briefly leave my empire’s management, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person View
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. But, should you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Since a similar easter egg was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would operate until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode can be prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I strolled the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited shops, taverns, flower fields, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed numerous fine points I might have missed from above: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to observe crop lands, but also enter them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting inside seating rather than on a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see separate follicular elements, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, pupils, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities these days.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Golden robe? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate 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 proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
