Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as I was upon finding out this secret option. I must temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, leave it in a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and take a spin around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. However, if you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Since a similar easter egg was part of the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would work prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I wandered the lively avenues through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to observe all my hard work through a fresh lens. I observed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to view agricultural plots, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I was able to enter earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe separate follicular elements, yet you will notice engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and stars shining in the distance, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions now.
Discovery and Modification
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I then decided to hit some number buttons and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed the first-person view, 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.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies 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 Fun of Vehicle Use
At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.