Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Hold on — were you aware you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, your surprise matches as I was upon finding out this concealed mode. Allow me to step away from my empire’s management, leave it in a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. But, should you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was part of Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would function until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this option can be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I wandered the bustling streets of my city and visited markets, breweries, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I noticed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from the top-down view: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating 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 upon discovering that I could not just look upon crop lands, but also step into them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see specific hair details, but you will see wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, is especially atmospheric, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities now.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and return. I then decided to hit some number buttons and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” 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 when I thought I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
