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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 feel equally astonished as I was upon finding out this secret option. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and enjoy a ride across the Roman world.

How to Access the First-Person Feature

Being a city-building title, Anno 117: Pax Romana usually operates from a bird's-eye view. But, should you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you can explore the realm as a regular inhabitant. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in Anno 1800, I felt excited to test it in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would function before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (likely not meant to happen — this mode is somewhat unstable occasionally).

Roaming the Roman Cityscape

Once I crawled out, I wandered the lively avenues of my city and visited markets, breweries, floral patches, and seafood collectors — it was glorious to witness the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected all kinds of details I wouldn’t have spotted when viewing from overhead: Entryway ornaments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, people relaxing on their verandas… Merely examining the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

Further Than Mere Wandering

But there’s more to the game's immersive perspective beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased upon discovering that besides being able to observe crop lands, but also enter them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don’t try to open any 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 glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.

Graphics and Ambiance

While I was completely ready to observe my settlement depicted with outdated visual quality, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench rather than on a bench, the immersive perspective seems much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (notably masonry elements) are unexpectedly excellent for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see any individual strands of hair, however, you can observe engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, eye details, and conifer needles. The night, featuring dancing flames and stars shining in the distance, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating versus the earlier title, given that the populace appears unlike nightmarish entities now.

Experimentation and Customization

Because the game's hidden immersive perspective has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and promptly found the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I subsequently tried pressing some number buttons and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Crimson attire? Sapphire and amethyst dress? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? 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 attempted, naturally).

Comedy and Population Encounters

But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, because they’re way too funny. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and if you offer additional fowl, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”

The Thrill of Transportation

At the moment I believed I had found everything available in Anno 117: Pax Romana’s first-person mode, I found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Entirely by accident, I clicked on a wagon and quickly occupied the transport. Oxen, donkeys, even people-powered transports; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Battle Constraints

The sole aspect that let me down within the immersive perspective was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, but was entirely disregarded. The front-row seat remained quite impressive, and observing foes flee, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.

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