Anno 117's Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Impressive First-Person Mode.

Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction the moment I learned this concealed mode. Excuse me while step away from managing my empire, entrust it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.

Activating the First-Person Feature

In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. Yet, when you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would function until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this feature can be a little buggy at times).

Roaming the Ancient Streets

After extracting myself, I wandered the busy roads across my settlement and explored markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — the experience was splendid to observe my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the coloration on a post proves fascinating for those not residing in classical times.

More Than Just Walking

But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that I could not just look upon farming fields, but also access them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.

Appearance and Mood

Even though I expected to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench rather than on a bench, first-person mode looks much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, but you will see wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions now.

Experimentation and Customization

Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Comedy and Population Encounters

But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your gran will have your head.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A friendly native Celtic person then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”

The Thrill of Transportation

Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, 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 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 attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.

{Conclusion: More to Discover|Final Thoughts: Additional Exploration