Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Stunning First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response when I discovered this concealed mode. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person View
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out 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 mode is a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I wandered the lively avenues across my settlement and toured shops, taverns, floral patches, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to witness my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I noticed a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted when I found out that besides being able to observe agricultural plots, but also access them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, however, you can observe engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart 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 cart, in particular, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.
