Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this hidden feature. I must step away from my empire’s management, leave it in a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. However, if you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “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. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the previous Anno title, I felt excited to test it in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this option can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I wandered the busy roads across my settlement and visited stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to see the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I detected all kinds of details that would escape notice from the top-down view: Front door decorations, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that I could not just view agricultural plots, but also access them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the developers allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Even though I expected to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, yet you will notice engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and should you provide another poultry, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman decided to threaten me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just when I thought I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.