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Wait — did you know it's possible to experience the game Anno 117 using a first-person camera? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as my own reaction when I discovered this concealed mode. I must temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, leave it in a trusted assistant, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.

Activating the First-Person View

In its role as a city-builder, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played using a top-down camera. But, should you input a hidden code — such as “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on 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. Because an analogous secret was included in Anno 1800, I looked forward to experience it in Ubisoft's newest game, yet I had doubts it would work until I found myself stuck in a Celtic building (which probably wasn’t intended — this option tends to be a little buggy at times).

Discovering the Streets of Rome

After extracting myself, I wandered the lively avenues across my settlement and toured shops, taverns, flower fields, and shellfish gatherers — it was glorious to witness all my hard work using an entirely new viewpoint. I observed 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, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the form of a ledge and the paint layers on a column proves fascinating for those not residing in classical times.

Further Than Mere Wandering

Yet, the experience extends to the game's immersive perspective aside from meandering through streets. I felt particularly pleased the moment I learned that besides being able to look upon agricultural plots, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I managed to access mud extraction sites, tour an esteemed educational structure as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the developers planned for that functionality), but it’s entirely possible meander across a cereal plantation, observe people digging and transporting bags, and take a peek inside any small shack when there's no doorway obstructing.

Graphics and Ambiance

Even though I expected to witness my city rendered using primitive rendering, excluding a few unpolished motions and periodic inhabitants sitting within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears considerably improved over predictions. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent in what is still, essentially, a top-down game. You may not see separate follicular elements, but you will see writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.

Experimentation and Customization

Given the covert first-person feature doesn’t come with an instruction manual, I opted to try different commands, and quickly discovered the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and revert. I subsequently tried pressing certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Yellow toga? Ruby clothing? Sapphire and amethyst dress? 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 shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, it’s not possible to kill civilians (not that I’ve tried, of course).

Humor and Citizen Interactions

However, I had no desire to injure my people, as they're remarkably entertaining. Shortly after I activated the immersive perspective, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “Owning a fox is prohibited and should you provide another poultry, your grandmother will be furious.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my outstanding integration methods by describing it as “Ideal combination,” while some cranky old lady decided to threaten me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”

The Joy of Joyriding

Just when I thought I’d discovered all there is to discover in the title's first-person feature, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Entirely by accident, I selected a carriage and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you can control each one as desired. The donkey-powered transport, notably, moves quite quickly, though you shouldn’t imagine open-world vehicular chaos — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (again, not saying I’ve tried).

Fighting Restrictions

The single feature that frustrated me within the immersive perspective was learning about my exclusion from in combat situations. Equipped in warrior attire, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and tried to harm them, yet was completely overlooked. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and watching the enemy run, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, yet it would have been exciting to successfully impact objects via my incendiary bolts.

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