Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Stunning First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response upon finding out this concealed mode. Excuse me while temporarily abandon my empire’s management, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would function prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature is a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I strolled the bustling streets through my metropolis and explored stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to observe the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected numerous fine points I might have missed from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to observe agricultural plots, but also access them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure 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, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe separate follicular elements, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons now.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, 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 avatar's look. Yellow toga? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
