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Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this hidden feature. Excuse me while temporarily abandon my empire’s management, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride through Ancient Rome.

Activating the First-Person Mode

In its role as a city-builder, the game Anno 117 usually operates from a bird's-eye view. However, if you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — you can explore your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would work prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this feature is somewhat unstable occasionally).

Roaming the Roman Cityscape

Once I crawled out, I wandered the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to witness the fruits of my labor through a fresh lens. I noticed numerous fine points that would escape notice from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post proves fascinating to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.

More Than Just Walking

However, there's additional content to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that not only could I observe crop lands, but also step into them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I could walk onto clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure while lessons were in session, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the creators have the budget for that), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.

Visual Quality and Atmosphere

Even though I expected to observe my settlement depicted using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears far superior to anticipations. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating relative to the previous game, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities anymore.

Testing and Personalization

Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — the zoom function permitting me to change from first-person to third-person mode and back. I then decided to hit various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I attempted, naturally).

Comedy and Population Encounters

Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Moments after I entered the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A friendly native Celtic person then began complimenting my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”

The Fun of Vehicle Use

Just when I thought I’d discovered all there is to discover in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, 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 single feature that frustrated me regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and endeavored to damage them, yet was completely overlooked. The proximate observation was still rather spectacular, and observing foes flee, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.

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