I only heard about this game just before playing it, so I didn’t know much about it. So, upon looking it up I was moderately intrigued as it looked like it may have been right up my street, turn-based combat, a heavy anime influence, and looked to be taking influences from other similar titles. So, I was surprised I had let this one slip under my radar.
The game takes place in the fictional city of Mato where the first of 2 main protagonists, Doe, a private detective, accidentally finds himself falling into what is known as a Lair and meets an exorcist by the name of Gram, who is battling an enigmatic creature known as Bane Tide. Doe, Gram and a team of other likeminded characters are tasked with helping the city of Mato with resolving the problems that plague the city, from business giants to gang bosses, to religious groups, they have their work cut out.
Both characters play vastly distinct roles in the game, Doe is who you control when walking around the main world and is used to collect intel from the citizens of Mato using his Mind/Hack ability as he doesn’t have any physical abilities so is not used for combat. Gram on the other hand is controlled when exploring lairs as he is the fighter of the two.
Sadly, there isn’t a whole lot to get excited about when playing Mato Anomalies, the turn-based combat is rather dull and laborious, and Doe’s Mind/Hack ability which is a card-based battle system unique to the character, doesn’t feel fun and is a chore to get through. The world is bland and uninspiring with janky movement controls. The lairs, even with their obvious inspiration from the Persona series, with each one having a unique design based around the mind of the person you are trying to take down, they just feel empty and are no fun to traverse through. Enemy types are extremely limited, and there are no random encounters. This is the same for side missions too, where it is very much just more of the same with little variety.
Despite the downsides, there are some good things. The visual novel cutscenes are well drawn and put together in an anime art style and play out not too dissimilarly to the likes of the Pheonix Wright games. The soundtrack is also a decent and much welcome addition, as it does help make you feel like you are in a dystopian world. It’s just a shame it doesn’t make the world feel more alive. One good thing I will say about the combat, is even though it is rather laboured, you are required to think a bit more about what attacks or buffs you are using, and when you’re using them because each character doesn’t have their own individual health value, they are instead pooled together to make a party health value, so there does feel like there is a layer of peril with the combat.
Maybe over time this game may grow on me, and it will have a sort of cult classic charm to it, as it does at its core have the makings of a decent game, it just doesn’t feel very well executed at this current stage of the game.
-Jim
