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Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 in first-person? If you're thinking that, you feel equally astonished as I was the moment I learned this hidden feature. Excuse me while briefly leave overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, borrow a cart, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.

How to Access the First-Person View

As a city-building game, the game Anno 117 is typically played from an overhead perspective. But, should you input a hidden code — for example “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — it becomes possible to roam your domain as a common citizen. Because an analogous secret appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I looked forward to try it out in the latest installment, but I wasn’t sure it would function before I discovered myself stuck in a Celtic building (possibly an unexpected bug — this option is prone to glitches now and then).

Discovering the Streets of Rome

Upon freeing myself, I wandered the lively avenues through my metropolis and toured shops, taverns, blossom gardens, and cockle pickers — the experience was splendid to see my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I noticed a variety of intricacies I might have missed from the top-down view: Entryway ornaments, an ass transporting a floral pail, poultry scattering about, folks chilling on their balconies… Even just observing the form of a ledge and the coating on a pillar is quite interesting for those not residing in classical times.

Further Than Mere Wandering

But there’s more to the first-person feature in Anno 117 than strolling along the road. I became extraordinarily excited upon discovering that not only could I view crop lands, but also access them. And even though I thought the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto clay pits, tour an esteemed educational structure during active classes, and even trespass into people’s gardens. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the creators allocated resources for that), however, you can definitely stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and look within any modest shelter as long as the door is absent.

Graphics and Ambiance

While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented using primitive rendering, besides some crude animations and sometimes citizens positioned within a bench as opposed to atop a bench, the first-person view appears much better than expected. The highly detailed textures (notably masonry elements) shouldn't logically be this impressive for a title that remains primarily overhead. You may not see any individual strands of hair, yet you will notice engravings on walls, sparks flying from torches, brick decoloration, eye details, and evergreen foliage. Evening, with glowing light sources and distant stellar illumination, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and proves significantly less intimidating compared to Anno 1800, given that the populace appears unlike terrifying apparitions these days.

Testing and Personalization

Since Anno 117’s super-secret first-person mode has no guided tutorial, I decided to experiment a bit, and quickly discovered the functions for jumping, dashing, and changing perspective — the zoom function permitting me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and back. I then decided to hit some number buttons and discovered that I could change my character’s appearance. Yellow toga? Crimson attire? Blue and purple toga? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You might hold a weapon and defense, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, eliminating citizens cannot be done (though I didn't test this, obviously).

Amusement and Inhabitant Dialogues

However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated first-person mode, 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.” Rightly so, Roman dad. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” while some cranky old lady chose to intimidate me: “Say that one more time, and they’ll never find your body.”

The Fun of Vehicle Use

Just as I assumed I had found everything available within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding through classical settlements. Completely unexpectedly, I clicked on a wagon and was promptly seated on the box. Bovines, equines, even human-pulled carts; you can control each one as desired. The ass-drawn vehicle, specifically, travels rather rapidly, though you shouldn’t imagine Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (reiterating, without confirming testing).

Battle Constraints

The only thing that disappointed me in Anno 117’s first-person mode was learning about my exclusion from in battle encounters. Sporting my soldier fit, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and tried to harm them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, proved very satisfying, though it might have been amazing to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.

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