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

Surprisingly — did you realize you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was the moment I learned this hidden feature. Excuse me while temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and take a spin around the classical city.

How to Access the First-Person Feature

As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. But, should you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I was eager to experience it in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would function prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature is somewhat unstable occasionally).

Discovering the Roman Cityscape

After extracting myself, I walked the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited shops, taverns, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to observe all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected a variety of intricacies I might have missed from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.

More Than Just Walking

But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to observe farming fields, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.

Appearance and Mood

Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting inside seating instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, pupils, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions anymore.

Testing and Personalization

Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the options to jump, sprint, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I then experimented with some number buttons and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You can wield a blade and protection, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues

Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”

The Thrill of Transportation

Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I encountered the delight of riding across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Combat Limitations

The single feature that frustrated me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was finding out I couldn’t partake in combat situations. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.

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