Anno 117 Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Impressive First-Person View.
Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this hidden feature. I must step away from my empire’s management, leave it in a trusted assistant, borrow a cart, and take a spin across the Roman world.
Activating the First-Person View
As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret appeared in Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would function until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature is a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I walked the bustling streets across my settlement and toured stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to observe the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I noticed numerous fine points I might have missed from the top-down view: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted when I found out that I could not just observe crop lands, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems much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 may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions anymore.
Testing and Personalization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and return. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Red toga? 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 launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I uncovered all possible content in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
