Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction the moment I learned this concealed mode. Allow me to temporarily abandon managing my empire, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “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. Since a similar easter egg was included in the previous Anno title, I felt excited to test it in the new release, yet I had doubts it would operate until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I strolled the busy roads of my city and explored shops, taverns, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to observe my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I noticed numerous fine points I might have missed from above: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited when I found out that I could not just view agricultural plots, but also enter them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see separate follicular elements, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and found I could alter 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, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.
