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Wait — did you know it's possible to experience Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, your surprise matches compared to my initial response when I discovered this concealed mode. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and take a spin around the classical city.

Unlocking the First-Person View

In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 is typically played using a top-down camera. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in the previous Anno title, I was eager to experience it in the latest installment, yet I had doubts it would operate prior to being chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature can be a little buggy at times).

Discovering the Streets of Rome

Once I crawled out, I wandered the bustling streets through my metropolis and toured stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to observe my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected all kinds of details that would escape notice from above: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

More Than Just Walking

Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that besides being able to observe crop lands, but also enter them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse while lessons were in session, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.

Graphics and Ambiance

Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating instead of on a bench, the immersive perspective seems considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, but you will see wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, fading on bricks, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons these days.

Testing and Personalization

Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I then experimented with some number buttons and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you’ll fire burning arrows into the sky. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).

Comedy and Population Encounters

However, I had no desire to injure my people, as they're remarkably entertaining. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate 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 in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Completely unexpectedly, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Bovines, equines, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Combat Limitations

The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.

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