Anno 117 Pax Romana's Top Secret Turns Out to Be a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction upon finding out this concealed mode. Excuse me while briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and take a spin around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person View
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates from an overhead perspective. However, if you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would function until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (possibly an unexpected bug — this option is a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
Once I crawled out, I wandered the lively avenues of my city and explored shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — the experience was splendid to observe the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I observed all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Further Than Mere Wandering
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted when I found out that not only could I observe crop lands, but also access them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You might not observe separate follicular elements, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, eye details, and conifer needles. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons now.
Testing and Personalization
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Red toga? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, 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 (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The single feature that frustrated me regarding the first-person view was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
