Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction the moment I learned this hidden feature. Allow me to temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, leave it in a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 usually operates from a bird's-eye view. However, if you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls 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. Because an analogous secret was part of the previous Anno title, I looked forward to experience it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would work until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this option can be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
Once I crawled out, I walked the lively avenues across my settlement and visited stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to observe the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I observed numerous fine points I might have missed from the top-down view: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post becomes engaging for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited when I found out that besides being able to view crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I then experimented with some number buttons and learned I could modify my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.
