Anno 117: Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Surprisingly — did you realize you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches compared to my initial response the moment I learned this concealed mode. Allow me to step away from my empire’s management, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is typically played using a top-down camera. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “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 empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in the latest installment, yet I had doubts it would operate until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I strolled the lively avenues across my settlement and visited markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to observe my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I noticed a variety of intricacies I might have missed when viewing from overhead: 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 paint layers on a column proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that besides being able to look upon crop lands, but also access them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio have the budget for that), yet it's completely feasible meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe specific hair details, but you will see writings on surfaces, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I had found everything available in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I encountered the delight of riding in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
