Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Surprisingly — did you realize you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction when I discovered this hidden feature. Excuse me while briefly leave managing my empire, leave it in a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. But, should you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in the new release, yet I had doubts it would operate before I discovered myself submerged in a structural glitch (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode is a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I walked the busy roads through my metropolis and explored markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to see all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to view crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see separate follicular elements, yet you will notice engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities now.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Comedy and Population Encounters
However, I had no desire to injure my people, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited 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 brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
