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Wait — did you know you can play Anno 117 Pax Romana using a first-person camera? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction upon finding out this hidden feature. Excuse me while briefly leave my empire’s management, entrust it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.

Activating the First-Person View

As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced from an overhead perspective. However, if you enter a secret combination — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the previous Anno title, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, yet I had doubts it would function before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this option can be a little buggy at times).

Exploring the Roman Cityscape

Once I crawled out, I walked the busy roads across my settlement and explored stalls, alehouses, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — it was glorious to witness the fruits of my labor from a brand-new perspective. I detected all kinds of details I might have missed from the top-down view: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, poultry scattering about, people relaxing on their verandas… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.

More Than Just Walking

But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that I could not just look upon farming fields, but also access them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I was able to enter mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the creators allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.

Graphics and Ambiance

While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, apart from certain rough movements and the occasional civilian resting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent for a title that remains primarily overhead. You might not observe any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, flames emitting from lights, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons anymore.

Experimentation and Customization

Because the game's hidden immersive perspective doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I decided to experiment a bit, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and return. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. If you're interested, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues

But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Only seconds after I landed first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” while some cranky old lady opted to menace me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”

The Fun of Vehicle Use

Just when I thought I uncovered all possible content in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (again, not saying I’ve tried).

Battle Constraints

The single feature that frustrated me within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and endeavored to damage them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.

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