Anno 117's Pax Romana's Best-Kept Secret Reveals Itself as a Impressive First-Person Mode.
Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches compared to my initial response upon finding out this secret option. Excuse me while temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, leave it in a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride around the classical city.
How to Access the First-Person View
In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 usually operates using a top-down camera. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam the realm as a regular inhabitant. Because an analogous secret was included in the previous Anno title, I was eager to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would work prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (which probably wasn’t intended — this feature tends to be a little buggy at times).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
Upon freeing myself, I strolled the busy roads across my settlement and toured shops, taverns, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to see my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I noticed a variety of intricacies I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the form of a ledge 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 game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that besides being able to look upon agricultural plots, but also enter them. And despite my expectation interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting in a bench rather than on a bench, first-person mode looks far superior to anticipations. The highly detailed textures (especially stone surfaces) shouldn't logically be this impressive within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with some number buttons and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).
Comedy and Population Encounters
Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered the first-person view, I overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Joy of Joyriding
Just as I assumed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (once more, not admitting any attempts).
Fighting Restrictions
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy during active combat and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The proximate observation was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something via my incendiary bolts.
