Anno 117 Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person Mode.

Hold on — were you aware you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was the moment I learned this secret option. Excuse me while temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.

Unlocking the First-Person Feature

Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls 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 appeared in Anno 1800, I was eager to test it in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would work until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this option is prone to glitches now and then).

Roaming the Ancient Streets

Upon freeing myself, I walked the busy roads across my settlement and visited shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — it was glorious to witness my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I observed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from above: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.

Beyond Simple Strolling

However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that besides being able to observe crop lands, but also access them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.

Visual Quality and Atmosphere

Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, but you will see engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, iris elements, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons these days.

Testing and Personalization

Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I then experimented with various digit inputs and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Comedy and Population Encounters

Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”

The Joy of Joyriding

Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Fighting Restrictions

The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.

{Conclusion: More to Discover|Final Thoughts: Additional Exploration