Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction the moment I learned this hidden feature. Allow me to temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person View
Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I felt excited to test it in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would work until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature tends to be a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I strolled the lively avenues through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to observe all my hard work through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies 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… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post proves fascinating for those not residing in classical times.
Further Than Mere Wandering
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that I could not just look upon agricultural plots, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, but you will see engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located 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 subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and found I could alter my avatar's look. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; 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
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the immersive perspective, I heard a parent advising their offspring that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady decided to threaten me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I encountered the delight of riding in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The single feature that frustrated me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their limbs waving wildly, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.
