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Wait — did you know you can play the game Anno 117 in first-person? If that’s your reaction, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction the moment I learned this hidden feature. Allow me to temporarily abandon my empire’s management, entrust it to a capable deputy, take a wagon, and enjoy a ride around the classical city.

Unlocking the First-Person Feature

Being a city-building title, the game Anno 117 is normally experienced from a bird's-eye view. Yet, when you input a hidden code — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or else “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” on console — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Given a comparable hidden feature appeared in the earlier game Anno 1800, I felt excited to test it in the new release, though I was uncertain it would operate until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (which probably wasn’t intended — this option is prone to glitches now and then).

Roaming the Roman Cityscape

Once I crawled out, I strolled the lively avenues of my city and visited stalls, alehouses, flower fields, and cockle pickers — it felt magnificent to observe the fruits of my labor using an entirely new viewpoint. I detected numerous fine points I wouldn’t have spotted from the top-down view: Front door decorations, a donkey carrying a flower bucket, fowl roaming freely, citizens lounging on their terraces… Simply noticing the design of a windowsill and the coloration on a post is quite interesting to modern individuals unfamiliar with ancient life.

Beyond Simple Strolling

But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I felt particularly pleased when I found out that I could not just observe crop lands, but also enter them. And even though I thought interiors would be restricted, I managed to access earthen quarries, explore a prestigious Grammaticus building as teaching was underway, and intrude into private gardens. Don't bother with door access (not even the studio allocated resources for that), yet it's completely feasible stroll around a barley farm, see citizens working with tools and burdens, and glance into any tiny hut as long as the door is absent.

Graphics and Ambiance

While I was completely ready to see my metropolis represented in PlayStation 1 graphics, excluding a few unpolished motions and the occasional civilian resting inside seating instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks considerably improved over predictions. The intricately designed surfaces (especially stone surfaces) really have no business being this good within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You may not see separate follicular elements, yet you will notice wall inscriptions, fiery particles from lamps, discoloration of masonry, iris elements, and pine tree leaves. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, creates a particularly moody setting, and also a lot less scary relative to the previous game, now that the citizens don’t look like terrifying apparitions these days.

Discovery and Modification

Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I chose to test various actions, and immediately located the abilities to leap, run, and adjusting the view — with the latter allowing me to change from first-person to third-person mode and revert. I then experimented with certain numeric keys and discovered that I could change my avatar's look. Golden robe? Red toga? Azure and violet outfit? Or — potentially preferable — armored suit? You may carry a sword and shield, or, preferably, wear an archer's uniform; if you activate the engage command, you shoot flaming projectiles upward. Should you be curious, harming inhabitants is impossible (though I didn't test this, obviously).

Humor and Citizen Interactions

However, I had no desire to injure my people, because they’re way too funny. Shortly after I activated the first-person view, I listened to a dad instructing his kid that “You cannot keep a fox as a pet and should you provide another poultry, your elder will punish you.” Appropriate response, paternal figure. One lovely local Celt then started applauding my excellent cross-cultural strategies by calling it the “Best of both worlds,” 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 within the game's immersive perspective, I found the joys of joyriding across historical settings. Totally unintentionally, I selected a carriage and immediately found myself in the driver's position. Cattle, asses, even human-pulled carts; you can drive them all at your leisure. The donkey cart, in particular, travels rather rapidly, but don't anticipate Grand Theft Auto-style mischief — you can’t drive into people or other wagons (once more, not admitting any attempts).

Combat Limitations

The only thing that disappointed me regarding the first-person view was discovering my inability to participate in combat situations. Wearing my military outfit, I charged toward adversaries amidst fighting and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The front-row seat was nonetheless magnificent, and seeing opponents retreat, their arms flailing about, felt highly gratifying, but it would’ve been cool to effectively strike targets via my incendiary bolts.

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