🔗 Share this article

Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches compared to my initial response when I discovered this secret option. I must step away from managing my empire, entrust it to a trusted assistant, commandere a carriage, and go for a joyride around the classical city.

Activating the First-Person View

Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced using a top-down camera. Yet, when you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you gain the ability to walk the empire as an ordinary Roman. Since a similar easter egg was included in Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would work until I found myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode can be a little buggy at times).

Roaming the Ancient Streets

Once I crawled out, I wandered the bustling streets across my settlement and toured markets, breweries, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to observe the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies I might have missed from above: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

Further Than Mere Wandering

However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted when I found out that I could not just observe crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter provided the entrance is missing.

Graphics and Ambiance

Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see specific hair details, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions anymore.

Experimentation and Customization

Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Comedy and Population Encounters

Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”

The Thrill of Transportation

At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).

Combat Limitations

The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was finding out I couldn’t partake in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces amidst fighting and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.

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