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Wait — did you know you can play the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, your surprise matches as my own reaction upon finding out this hidden feature. Allow me to briefly leave overseeing my civilization, delegate it to a capable deputy, commandere a carriage, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.

Unlocking the First-Person View

Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you enter a secret combination — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on a controller — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I felt excited to try it out in the latest installment, though I was uncertain it would function before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this mode tends to be a little buggy at times).

Exploring the Roman Cityscape

Once I crawled out, I wandered the busy roads through my metropolis and visited markets, breweries, blossom gardens, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to see my diligent efforts from a brand-new perspective. I detected a variety of intricacies that would escape notice from above: Doorway embellishments, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, chickens running loose, citizens lounging on their terraces… Merely examining the shape of a window sill and the coloration on a post becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

More Than Just Walking

Yet, the experience extends to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I was especially delighted the moment I learned that not only could I look upon crop lands, but also enter them. And despite my expectation the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio planned for that functionality), however, you can definitely wander through a grain field, observe people digging and transporting bags, and look within any modest shelter when there's no doorway obstructing.

Visual Quality and Atmosphere

While I was completely ready to witness my city rendered in PlayStation 1 graphics, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned inside seating rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice separate follicular elements, however, you can observe writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, fading on bricks, iris elements, and conifer needles. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, now that the citizens don’t look like nightmarish entities now.

Discovery and Modification

Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and immediately located the functions for jumping, dashing, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to switch between first and third-person views and revert. I then decided to hit certain numeric keys and learned I could modify my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Azure and violet outfit? Or — perhaps even better — full armor? You can wield a blade and protection, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; when you press the action key, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).

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 overheard a father telling his child that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your gran will have your head.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. A pleasant regional Celt then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman 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 found the joys of joyriding in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I interacted with a cart and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Battle Constraints

The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in any fighting. Sporting my soldier fit, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view was still rather spectacular, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, proved very satisfying, yet it would have been exciting to actually hit something using my fiery projectiles.

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