Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person View.
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 upon finding out this hidden feature. I must briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates from an overhead perspective. However, if you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “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 previous Anno title, I felt excited to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would operate until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature tends to be somewhat unstable occasionally).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I walked the busy roads across my settlement and explored markets, breweries, floral patches, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to observe the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that not only could I view crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, 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 compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities now.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with some number buttons and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, 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. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. 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).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, but was entirely disregarded. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
