Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked as I was the moment I learned this hidden feature. I must temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and take a spin across the Roman world.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates from an overhead perspective. However, if you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I wandered the busy roads of my city and explored shops, taverns, floral patches, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to observe all my hard work from a brand-new perspective. I detected numerous fine points I might have missed from above: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that I could not just look upon farming fields, but also access them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented with outdated visual quality, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting inside seating instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe specific hair details, but you will see wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, eye details, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons now.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
