NO: Mutationem is the definition of a world building RPG. From the simple platforming to the flashy combat, you're guaranteed to find some enjoyment out of it!
The world of ANNO Mutationem is endearing full of life with beautiful sprites with 3D aspects you'll be ogling at your screen through the entire game. The story takes place with our main protagonist Ann Flores who is struggling with a bit of an identity crisis; you travel through multiple beautiful levels; and this games version of dungeons fighting of hordes of creative enemies with the occasional boss fight searching for your missing brother Ryan Flores. Something I noticed playing ANNO is that a lot of the depth-full story telling is done through reading (typical of an RPG) but a little less interesting than one would have hoped, you read multiple paragraphs off of a usually blank blue background off of a computer you find hidden in various levels; that at moments it all felt too similar and mind-numbing at moments in terms of story. Ann Flores is an interesting protagonist to say the least, she is badass, unique, and the ability to dress her, upgrade her, and build her in your own way adds flavor to the already flashy incredible combat.
Identity Crisis
A lot of the combat is a typical progression system, you start off pretty weak and over time you build your arsenal with an array of unique weapons you unlock over-time. The game has a lot of systems that it introduces through the game such as scrapping, crafting, even weapon upgrades! Ann's skill is naturally upgraded as you play the game characters will help you learn new abilities such as dashing, and wall climbing that keeps the game fresh and exciting; on top of the natural upgrades unlocked as you play; Ann gets upgrades from your choice in a skill tree with two columns dedicated to separate progression systems for Ann. One column dedicated to: Health, Strength, Defense (etc) that you unlock points for by doing story-missions, and side quest. The other one being an abundant amount of combat upgrades that are unlocked by simply defeating common enemies. I really liked this feature because it kept the combat exciting and fresh introducing many things to Ann's already bad-ass character and making combat more fluent than it already was. Anno Mutationem is such a pleasure to just run through slashing enemies as they get harder, you get stronger, they do too; keeping things balanced and fresh, as most RPGS you can just level infinitely to go through any dungeon merely slaughtering everything in sight, Anno makes sure to keep things equal so combat always keeps you on your toes.
My biggest impediment with the game; is that sometimes the dungeons themselves felt like a puzzle, as you switched from 2D to 3D it all felt condensed and confusing, the maps were frustrating to read at moments causing a lot of confusion on exploration with some areas being locked till later hindering the experience of exploration. The 3D aspects could have definitely used a sprint button, at moments back tracking felt like a pain because you had to watch Ann slowly run as you simply look around for a collectible you may have missed causing it to feel jaded at certain moments, but never enough to make you want to quit. The areas you explore lead from a robot civilization tucked underground to a beautiful city sprawling with dialogue and side content. Those helped enhance Anno in many ways building off an already solid combat system, sometimes it felt nice to just relax in the city and see what the world had to offer. The dungeons are all unique and never felt too similar to each other, always throwing new enemies into the mix, beautiful backgrounds, and delightful character logs, it kept you interested and focused on the task at hand.
Family & Friends Always Come First
The characters you meet are fun and quirky enough to interest you. The voice acting sometimes feels a little jarred like the words were said too fast with too little emotion killing some of the scenes. (Not too much though) Ayane her innocuous spirit always kept me smiling at the screen, sometimes annoyed, but never done with her; she joins you through most of your journey being a sort of "sidekick" who interacts with Ann at a lot of pivotal plot points and realization, As a hacker she has unique skills to help Ann; usually by hacking computers with simple twist-puzzles or having to look around the area your in for a password. Ann's family is one of my favorite parts of the game, her sister Nakamura Flores runs a bar and has Ann doing tasks for her in one of many minigames. She is a cutesy, caring older sister and having siblings of my own I felt like I really related to Ann as a character. Ann's younger brother who you're trying to save through-out most the game is portrayed as stubborn, yet caring through the logs you find him. (GREAT VOICE ACTOR) and finally settling on Ann's dad, every-time he was the screen I found myself laughing, or just smiling at his care for his children. The family alone made me feel apart of Ann's character and sucked me into the gameplay loop for seamless hours.
The side content is plentiful as well with about 25 quests adding new elements to Ann's character. Sometimes feeling a little obfuscating, one will have you solving a gruesome crime scene, while the other will have you fetching a blueprint, it felt nice to have that on top of an already decent story. The story itself was good enough to keep you interested but sometimes introducing characters too early/too late and not spending enough time with them, or using story-telling through computers scattered around the dungeons you find, it felt like the story didn't exactly know where it wanted to end up but settled on a pretty decent, yet confusing world. It's just enough to keep you in tune but not enough to be fully committed.
FINAL VERDICT
Anno Mutationem finds it self perfectly in the sweet spot: satisfying combat with flashy visuals, beautiful 3D constructed environments, a pleasing main character will leave you satisfied with the game making it well worth your time and money. Though the story is a little underwhelming at moments leaving you confused; the combat more than enough makes up for any time spent sulking over it. Our protagonist really shines through making the game more enjoyable alongside creative dungeons sprawling with life for you to take and weapons to craft, various character upgrades to keep you attached. You're in for a treat from any angle you look at this game. The only thing it could have possibly benefitted from is better writing and a sprint button.
FINAL SCORE: 8/10 WORTH A TRY
Pros: Visually Appealing combat
Beautiful Soundtrack
Great Characters
Gorgeous Theme/World
Cons: Messy Script
Awkward Voice-lines
(Could Benefit From A Sprint Button)
