Anno 117: Pax Romana's Top Secret Is a Breathtaking First-Person Perspective.
Wait — did you know you can play the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? If that’s your reaction, your surprise matches as my own reaction upon finding out this secret option. Excuse me while temporarily abandon my empire’s management, entrust it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and go for a joyride across the Roman world.
Unlocking the First-Person View
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “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. Since a similar easter egg appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would work before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (likely not meant to happen — this mode tends to be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Roman Cityscape
Upon freeing myself, I wandered the bustling streets across my settlement and explored stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to observe my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I detected all kinds of details that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the paint layers on a column is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.
More Than Just Walking
Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited when I found out that not only could I view farming fields, but also access them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I managed to access clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the studio allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut provided the entrance is missing.
Visual Quality and Atmosphere
Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench as opposed to atop a bench, first-person mode looks much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You might not observe specific hair details, yet you will notice engravings on walls, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble terrifying apparitions anymore.
Discovery and Modification
Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Blue and purple toga? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. In case you’re wondering, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female decided to threaten me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”
The Fun of Vehicle Use
Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I experienced the pleasure of driving through classical settlements. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, moves quite quickly, although you shouldn't expect open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).
Fighting Restrictions
The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something with my burning arrows.
