Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response upon finding out this hidden feature. Excuse me while step away from managing my empire, entrust it to a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates from a bird's-eye view. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would operate before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I strolled the bustling streets across my settlement and visited shops, taverns, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to observe the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I observed numerous fine points I might have missed from above: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that not only could I observe farming fields, but also access them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting inside seating instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, 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 anymore.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — 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 discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” 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
Just when I thought I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
