Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished as I was the moment I learned this hidden feature. Excuse me while temporarily abandon managing my empire, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and take a spin around the classical city.
Activating the First-Person View
Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. But, should you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Since a similar easter egg was included in Anno 1800, I was eager to test it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would operate until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I wandered the bustling streets across my settlement and explored shops, taverns, floral patches, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to see the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that not only could I view farming fields, but also enter them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.
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 within a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, pupils, and evergreen foliage. 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, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I then experimented with some number buttons and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
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. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
