Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person Mode.

Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked as I was upon finding out this hidden feature. I must briefly leave managing my empire, leave it in a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.

Unlocking the First-Person Mode

Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. However, if you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret appeared in Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would operate until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this feature can be a little buggy at times).

Exploring the Ancient Streets

After extracting myself, I walked the busy roads of my city and visited shops, taverns, flower fields, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to witness all my hard work through a fresh lens. I detected all kinds of details I might have missed from above: Entryway ornaments, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.

More Than Just Walking

However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted when I found out that besides being able to observe crop lands, but also enter them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.

Appearance and Mood

Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe specific hair details, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities these days.

Experimentation and Customization

Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).

Comedy and Population Encounters

Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”

The Thrill of Transportation

Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Fighting Restrictions

The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and endeavored to damage them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.

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