Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Wait — did you know gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 in first-person? If that’s your reaction, you feel equally astonished as I was the moment I learned this hidden feature. Allow me to briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Mode
Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg was part of Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would function until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this option can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Ancient Streets
Upon freeing myself, I wandered the lively avenues of my city and toured shops, taverns, floral patches, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to witness the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed numerous fine points that would escape notice from above: Front door decorations, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that I could not just view crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, but you will see engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, fading on bricks, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons now.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in combat situations. Equipped in warrior attire, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets with my burning arrows.
