Anno 117: Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Reveals Itself as a Stunning First-Person Mode.
Surprisingly — did you realize you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as I was the moment I learned this secret option. Allow me to step away from overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and go for a joyride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates from an overhead perspective. However, if you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would operate before I discovered myself submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this mode is somewhat unstable occasionally).
Exploring the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the busy roads of my city and explored shops, taverns, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to see all my hard work through a fresh lens. I observed all kinds of details that would escape notice from the top-down view: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective than strolling along the road. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that I could not just view agricultural plots, but also step into them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I managed to access mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench rather than on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see any individual strands of hair, but you will see writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like sleep paralysis demons these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Golden robe? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
However, I had no desire to injure my people, 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 elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.