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Surprisingly — did you realize it's possible to experience Anno 117: Pax Romana from a first-person viewpoint? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction upon finding out this hidden feature. Excuse me while step away from my empire’s management, delegate it to a capable deputy, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.

Unlocking the First-Person Feature

Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana is typically played from a bird's-eye view. But, should you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” using PC controls or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature was part of Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, though I was uncertain it would work prior to being submerged in a structural glitch (likely not meant to happen — this mode can be somewhat unstable occasionally).

Exploring the Roman Cityscape

After extracting myself, I strolled the bustling streets through my metropolis and visited markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — it felt magnificent to see my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed numerous fine points I might have missed when viewing from overhead: Entryway ornaments, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the design of a windowsill and the paint layers on a column becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

Further Than Mere Wandering

However, there's additional content to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I was especially delighted when I found out that besides being able to look upon agricultural plots, but also enter them. And despite my expectation structures would be inaccessible, I could walk onto clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and invade personal courtyards. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers planned for that functionality), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, observe people digging and transporting bags, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.

Visual Quality and Atmosphere

Although I was fully prepared to observe my settlement depicted in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see separate follicular elements, yet you will notice engravings on walls, fiery particles from lamps, brick decoloration, iris elements, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and also a lot less scary compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike sleep paralysis demons now.

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 adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and return. I then experimented with some number buttons and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? 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 shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Humor and Citizen Interactions

However, I had no desire to injure my people, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child 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. One lovely local Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” meanwhile a grumpy senior female chose to intimidate me: “Utter those words again, and your fate will be sealed.”

The Joy of Joyriding

At the moment I believed I uncovered all possible content in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I encountered the delight of riding through classical settlements. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and was promptly seated on the box. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Fighting Restrictions

The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries during active combat and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their appendages thrashing around, seemed enormously rewarding, but it would’ve been cool to actually hit something with my burning arrows.

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