Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Breathtaking First-Person View.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was the moment I learned this hidden feature. Excuse me while step away from overseeing my civilization, leave it in a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Feature
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 usually operates using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret appeared in the previous Anno title, I felt excited to test it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would work prior to being stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Exploring the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the lively avenues across my settlement and toured markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to see all my hard work through a fresh lens. I detected a variety of intricacies I might have missed from above: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted upon discovering that I could not just look upon crop lands, but also step into them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. 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 as long as the door is absent.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, eye details, and conifer needles. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then experimented with various digit inputs and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; 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 (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. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.
