Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as I was the moment I learned this secret option. Excuse me while temporarily abandon managing my empire, delegate it to a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and go for a joyride around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person Feature
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates using a top-down camera. However, if you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam the empire as an ordinary Roman. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in Anno 1800, I was eager to try it out in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would operate until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this feature can be a little buggy at times).
Exploring the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I walked the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited markets, breweries, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to observe my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected numerous fine points that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
Beyond Simple Strolling
However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that not only could I look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the creators have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Graphics and Ambiance
While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and the occasional civilian resting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see separate follicular elements, yet you will notice engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, creates a particularly moody setting, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities these days.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I then experimented with some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I’d discovered all there is to discover within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Battle Constraints
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, seemed enormously rewarding, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.
