Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Perspective.

Wait — did you know you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction upon finding out this secret option. Excuse me while temporarily abandon my empire’s management, delegate it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.

How to Access the First-Person Feature

In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. However, if you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would work before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature is somewhat unstable occasionally).

Discovering the Ancient Streets

Once I crawled out, I strolled the busy roads across my settlement and visited stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — it felt magnificent to witness the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from above: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the design of a windowsill 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 than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted when I found out that I could not just observe agricultural plots, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.

Graphics and Ambiance

Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.

Testing and Personalization

Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Humor and Citizen Interactions

But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed 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.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding 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 Joy of Joyriding

Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).

Combat Limitations

The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.

{Conclusion: More to Discover|Final Thoughts: Additional Exploration