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Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117: Pax Romana in first-person? If you're thinking that, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction when I discovered this secret option. I must briefly leave managing my empire, delegate it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and take a spin around the classical city.

How to Access the First-Person View

As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 usually operates using a top-down camera. But, should you press a covert button sequence — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of the previous Anno title, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, yet I had doubts it would work before I discovered myself chin-deep in a Celtic floorboard (which probably wasn’t intended — this option tends to be somewhat unstable occasionally).

Exploring the Streets of Rome

After extracting myself, I walked the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited stalls, alehouses, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to witness all my hard work through a fresh lens. I observed numerous fine points I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

Further Than Mere Wandering

But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that not only could I observe crop lands, but also access them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers have the budget for that), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack provided the entrance is missing.

Visual Quality and Atmosphere

While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, flames emitting from lights, brick decoloration, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Nighttime, with its flickering fires and distant stellar illumination, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities these days.

Discovery and Modification

Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and zoom in or out — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I then decided to hit some number buttons and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues

However, I had no desire to injure my people, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you feed it one more chicken, your elder will punish you.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then proceeded to praise my outstanding integration methods by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”

The Joy of Joyriding

Just as I assumed I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even people-powered transports; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine any GTA-like shenanigans — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).

Battle Constraints

The only thing that disappointed me within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.

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