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Surprisingly — did you realize gamers have the option to enjoy Anno 117: Pax Romana using a first-person camera? Should that be your response, you feel equally astonished as I was upon finding out this hidden feature. Excuse me while briefly leave managing my empire, leave it in a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and take a spin around the classical city.

Unlocking the First-Person View

Being a city-building title, Anno 117 Pax Romana usually operates from a bird's-eye view. However, if you input a hidden code — 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 can explore your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg was included in the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to test it in the new release, but I wasn’t sure it would operate before I discovered myself submerged in a structural glitch (which probably wasn’t intended — this mode can be somewhat unstable occasionally).

Exploring the Roman Cityscape

Once I crawled out, I wandered the bustling streets through my metropolis and toured shops, taverns, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to witness my diligent efforts using an entirely new viewpoint. I noticed all kinds of details that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, a beast of burden holding a blossom container, fowl roaming freely, people relaxing on their verandas… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar proves fascinating to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.

More Than Just Walking

However, there's additional content to the first-person feature in Anno 117 aside from meandering through streets. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that besides being able to observe agricultural plots, but also access them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I was able to enter clay pits, investigate a respected schoolhouse as teaching was underway, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible wander through a grain field, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.

Appearance and Mood

Even though I expected to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench rather than on a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (particularly rock faces) really have no business being this good in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You won't necessarily notice any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, iris elements, and conifer needles. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, is especially atmospheric, and also a lot less scary versus the earlier title, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.

Experimentation and Customization

Because the game's hidden immersive perspective lacks official documentation, I chose to test various actions, and quickly discovered the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — the last option enabling me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I subsequently tried pressing various digit inputs and discovered that I could change my representative's visual design. Amber garment? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, personally chosen, equip a shooter's costume; if you hit the interaction button, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Comedy and Population Encounters

Yet, I didn't want to damage my population, since they're incredibly amusing. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I overheard a father telling his child that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your gran will have your head.” Understandable stance, father character. A friendly native Celtic person then proceeded to praise my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by labeling it “Perfect fusion,” whereas an irritable elderly woman opted to menace me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”

The Fun of Vehicle Use

Just as I assumed 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 immediately found myself in the driver's position. Oxen, donkeys, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, although you shouldn't expect any GTA-like shenanigans — colliding with pedestrians or other carts is impossible (reiterating, without confirming testing).

Battle Constraints

The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I ran up to the enemy in the midst of battle and attempted to attack them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their limbs waving wildly, proved very satisfying, but it would’ve been cool to successfully impact objects with my burning arrows.

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