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Hold on — were you aware it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction when I discovered this hidden feature. I must temporarily abandon managing my empire, delegate it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.

Activating the First-Person Mode

As a city-building game, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates from an overhead perspective. Yet, when you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “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. Because an analogous secret was part of Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would work prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode can be a little buggy at times).

Exploring the Roman Cityscape

Upon freeing myself, I strolled the lively avenues of my city and visited shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to see my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I noticed all kinds of details that would escape notice from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.

Further Than Mere Wandering

Yet, the experience extends to Anno 117’s first-person mode aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that I could not just observe crop lands, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter clay pits, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely meander across a cereal plantation, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.

Visual Quality and Atmosphere

While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, 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

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 switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Red toga? Blue and purple toga? 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. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I attempted, naturally).

Humor and Citizen Interactions

But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Rightly so, Roman dad. One lovely local Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”

The Joy of Joyriding

Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate 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 learning about my exclusion from in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, yet was completely overlooked. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.

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