ANNO: MUTATIONEM

Disclaimer: the game reviewed here is not a new instalment of the classic Ubisoft strategy series. You probably already realized it from the teaser image in the article, but it's good to clarify a few things so that there are no misunderstandings. After all, Chinese ThinkingStars' Anno: Mutationem is a completely different "fruit". It's an action/RPG, under the cyberpunk filter of Ghost in the Shell, that is a Far East approach rather than the westernized Blade Runner type. Therefore, if you like to see cities full of neon lights, mysterious protagonists with extreme hairstyles, fancy swordfights and obscure scenarios, keep reading.

As far as the last feature is concerned, Anno: Mutationem goes too far. The reason is that the game's premise suffers everywhere, leaving a lot of question marks and loose ends, and at almost no point are we given adequate explanations as to why we do what we do. In essence, the story revolves around Ann Florez, a girl with quite unusual fighting powers, which she uses to help the police work in the town of Skopp. Ann suffers from amnesia, while also suffering from a disease called Entangelitis, which, according to her doctor, is only a matter of time before it reaches the stage of mortality. However, together with her AI girlfriend Ayane, they are making sure that for as much time as she has left they stay busy with their investigations, except for her brother Ryan.

Ryan, who adores his sister, tries to find a solution to her illness, with his research leading to the drug N540. A drug that no one knows its origin, but behind it, the purest of intentions are not hidden. It won't be long before the story takes another turn, with corporate interests involved, supernatural phenomena making their appearance, and a never-ending chase for Ann to both locate Ryan, who has all but disappeared from the face of the earth, and to recall the past she can't remember.

In general, this is the story that Anno: Mutationem is trying to tell, and we stress the verb "trying". As we mentioned before, the game has a serious problem in the narrative aspect, as it feels like you're reading a book with entire chapters missing between its pages, with the result that you don't understand anything and soon stop caring about the story's protagonists' outcome. For a game that moves along action/RPG paths, this is a serious flaw that cannot be overlooked. Therefore, what remains to be judged is whether the game's gameplay manages to keep the player's interest.

Things are clearly better there and it's a shame there isn't a solid plot to accompany it. The game shows a quirky mix of 3D and 2D visuals with pixelated graphics. While this isn't the first time we've seen something like this (see Octopath Traveler), we can't recall a recent indie production that did something similar.

The game is divided into two parts: exploration and combat. In exploration, the perspective remains two-dimensional, but we have the ability to move in depth. In this part we chat with NPC's, undertake quests, read emails, visit shops to buy equipment or cosmetic items (like sexy dresses for Ann), hack devices through an easy mini-game and collect items. There are four areas to visit, which are very lively and well-done, but quite limited in scope, with very few points of interest.

The good thing is that in them there is an abundance of side quests, which we will often have to discover on our own, and which do not only require the use of weapons to solve. And there are a few that we will have to put our minds to work, such as the mission to find the killer in the apartment building we live in or being called upon to make a decision. Of course, we never learn the consequences of our decisions, but that's another thing. Anyway, apart from the side quests, it's worthwhile to engage in collecting all kinds of... junk (burnt motherboards, broken headphones, archaic keyboards, etc.), scavenging every corner of the city, which we can then disassemble to get the right materials for crafting. The crafting element is quite strong in the game and often the game encourages us to engage in it, but there is a balance issue in terms of the cost of implementing new weapons. Crafting a weapon is very expensive in both materials and money, which is hard to acquire (unless you feel like grinding while serving cocktails at Ann's sister's bar), making the process a near-unpalatable one for an important part of the game. It's no coincidence that in my playthrough, I managed to make a new sword when I was about 3/4 of the way through the game.

Speaking of swords, the game's combat system takes us to a purely 2D environment, where Ann has three types of weapons: the classic sword (single or later double), a greatsword and a firearm (initially, a pistol with limited bullets), all of which can be tweaked by placing a chip in the relevant slot (increased critical, fire damage, etc.). By pressing the appropriate button, we use the corresponding weapon, and by combining them we create combos that inflict more damage on the enemies in question. Of course, there is a block button that, if pressed at the right time, becomes parry and creates an opening for counterattack, while there is also dodge which also makes us invulnerable for as long as the roll lasts.

Nothing new or groundbreaking and the combat system works just fine. It doesn't create a tremendous adrenaline rush, as the best approach in all battles without exception is to continuously dodge, followed by backstabbing blows to enemies. It's so easy to decipher the enemies' movements, which are limited to two or three patterns at a time, where the whole parry system is rendered useless. Of course, there are some difficulty spikes that are mainly found in certain bosses, where we will have to work a little more on our reflexes, but nothing really difficult. At least the battles end up being quite fun, fast and often impressive, especially when we strengthen Ann enough. This is accomplished by placing the points earned from battles and/or completing missions into the appropriate skill tree, thus unlocking new combos, gain more health, increase our defense, etc.

And just like that the game runs for about twelve to thirteen hours, a little more if you want to take on all the side quests it has to offer. Admittedly, aside from the poor narrative, we can't find anything really bad in Anno: Mutationem, and it's clear the pure intentions of its creators to make as good an RPG as their budget allowed. It would be unfair of me to say I didn't have fun playing the game, however it still failed to blow my mind at any point.

On the technical aspects, the implementation of the pixel-art is excellent and surely one of the best we have seen. At times it's so high quality that you forget about it, but it's still pixel-art, so if you have doubts about that approach, Anno: Mutationem won't change your mind. As far as the soundtrack is concerned, the game hits the bull's-eye with its catchy musical themes, which naturally belong to the realm of electronic music, while as far as the (English) voice-over is concerned, where it exists, our impressions are mixed. There are cases where the actors do their job well and emphasize the words as they should (especially in the lead duo Ann-Ayane), in others they just plainly read the text in front of them.

To sum up, Anno: Mutationem is a nice attempt from ThinkingStars, which certainly has a lot to improve on if it goes ahead with a sequel, as the game's ending suggests. If you're a fan of the cyberpunk style it represents and action/RPGs with an emphasis on action, give it a look, as long as you keep a small basket when you do so.