🔗 Share this article

Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction upon finding out this concealed mode. Excuse me while temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.

Unlocking the First-Person View

As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates using a top-down camera. Yet, when you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. Since a similar easter egg appeared in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would function prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature is prone to glitches now and then).

Discovering the Ancient Streets

Once I crawled out, I strolled the bustling streets across my settlement and explored markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to see all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I observed a variety of intricacies I might have missed from above: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.

Further Than Mere Wandering

Yet, the experience extends to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to view agricultural plots, but also access them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.

Appearance and Mood

Even though I expected to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, but you will see wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions anymore.

Testing and Personalization

Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit some number buttons and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).

Humor and Citizen Interactions

But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated 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.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”

The Joy of Joyriding

Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Fighting Restrictions

The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.

{Conclusion: More to Discover|Final Thoughts: Additional Exploration