Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Perspective.
Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished compared to my initial response the moment I learned this concealed mode. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, leave it in a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Unlocking the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret appeared in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would operate until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).
Discovering the Roman Cityscape
After extracting myself, I strolled the busy roads through my metropolis and visited markets, breweries, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to observe all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, an ass transporting a floral pail, fowl roaming freely, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the coloration on a post proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that not only could I look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto earthen quarries, investigate a respected schoolhouse while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.
Graphics and Ambiance
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, eye details, and conifer needles. The night, featuring dancing flames and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons these days.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman decided to threaten me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
At the moment I believed I had found everything available in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective 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 tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
