Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience Anno 117 Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response when I discovered this concealed mode. Excuse me while step away from managing my empire, delegate it to a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.
How to Access the First-Person View
Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played from a bird's-eye view. However, if you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would operate before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this mode tends to be a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Once I crawled out, I walked the lively avenues of my city and visited shops, taverns, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to witness the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I detected a variety of intricacies I might have missed from the top-down view: 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 paint layers on a column becomes engaging for those not residing in classical times.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that not only could I view crop lands, but also access them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the developers have the budget for that), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to see my metropolis represented with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see separate follicular elements, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, pupils, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.
Testing and Personalization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and back. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” while some cranky old lady opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces during active combat and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.
