Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response the moment I learned this concealed mode. I must temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and take a spin around the classical city.
Unlocking the First-Person Feature
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. However, if you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard 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. Since a similar easter egg was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in the new release, though I was uncertain it would operate before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature is prone to glitches now and then).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I wandered the busy roads of my city and toured stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to witness my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I noticed numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that I could not just observe crop lands, but also enter them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto 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 studio have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Even though I expected to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe separate follicular elements, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies 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 Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I uncovered all possible content in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
