Anno 117: Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Is a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction when I discovered this secret option. I must briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.
Activating the First-Person Mode
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. However, if you press a covert button sequence — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of the previous Anno title, I felt excited to try it out in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this option is prone to glitches now and then).
Exploring the Ancient Streets
After extracting myself, I walked the bustling streets of my city and visited markets, breweries, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to see all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from above: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.
Further Than Mere Wandering
Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that not only could I look upon agricultural plots, but also enter them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, however, you can observe engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, eye details, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities these days.
Experimentation and Customization
Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I decided to experiment a bit, and immediately located the options to jump, sprint, and adjusting the view — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I then experimented with some number buttons and found I could alter my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you offer additional fowl, 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 labeling it “Perfect fusion,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just when I thought I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Equipped in warrior attire, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets using my fiery projectiles.
