Anno 117: Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Turns Out to Be a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this secret option. I must briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. But, should you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would work until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this option can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I wandered the busy roads across my settlement and explored shops, taverns, floral patches, and shellfish gatherers — it felt magnificent to witness the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I detected all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted from above: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Further Than Mere Wandering
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that besides being able to observe crop lands, but also enter them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench rather than on a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see specific hair details, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, eye details, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons these days.
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 immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? 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 launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
