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Surprisingly — did you realize you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked compared to my initial response the moment I learned this secret option. Allow me to temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.

Unlocking the First-Person Feature

Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced using a top-down camera. But, should you enter a secret combination — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls alternatively “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature was included in Anno 1800, I felt excited to test it in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would work until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this mode tends to be somewhat unstable occasionally).

Roaming the Streets of Rome

Upon freeing myself, I walked the bustling streets of my city and toured shops, taverns, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to see my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I observed a variety of intricacies I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

Beyond Simple Strolling

However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I was especially delighted when I found out that I could not just look upon farming fields, but also access them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I managed to access earthen quarries, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don’t try to open any doors (not even the creators planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack as long as the door is absent.

Appearance and Mood

Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and periodic inhabitants sitting in a bench instead of on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (especially stone surfaces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see specific hair details, however, you can observe wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, eye details, and pine tree leaves. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble sleep paralysis demons now.

Testing and Personalization

Given the covert first-person feature lacks official documentation, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and learned I could modify my representative's visual design. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Comedy and Population Encounters

Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I heard a parent advising their offspring that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and if you offer additional fowl, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my excellent cross-cultural strategies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”

The Joy of Joyriding

At the moment I believed I’d discovered all there is to discover in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Completely unexpectedly, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, but don't anticipate open-world vehicular chaos — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).

Battle Constraints

The single feature that frustrated me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in battle encounters. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy amidst fighting and tried to harm them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.

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