Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this secret option. Allow me to temporarily abandon managing my empire, leave it in a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Feature
Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on 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. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in the new release, though I was uncertain it would operate until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this option can be prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I walked the busy roads through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to observe all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted when I found out that besides being able to view agricultural plots, but also enter them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, however, you can observe engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions now.
Testing and Personalization
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
