Anno: Mutationem is an intriguing game that I personally enjoyed even more than I expected. The game mixes environments in a 2D and 3D setting while exploring which I found to be very cool and creative. There is quite a bit for me to explain in this review, but I will go into detail with my experiences while I was playing.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Interesting story with lots of mystery
References from other games
Fun hack-and-slash gameplay
Lots of weapons for you to get and use
Tons of side quests to do
Beautiful pixel art style
Cons
Parts of the story were forgettable
Enemies sometimes end up being sponges halfway into the game
The ability to weapon switch is too slow
Level design near the end of the game suffers
There is a glitch with changing costumes
Story
The story starts with Ann Flores who is on a mission to find N540 to help cure her Entangleitis. Along the way, she finds out that her brother Ryan, has gone missing and she must now go and find her throughout the many cities he has been to. While also getting help from her best friend and hacker Ayane Misuno.
The story for Anno: Mutationem is really interesting, it has some moments with it that do make it shine and the characters are very lovable. Some of them I wish got more screen time as their designs were flashy and had some nice moments. I even loved the references that were shown in the game that were cameos to other games. You can find Jill from Va-Hall at the bar where Ann’s sister works, which I thought was a very nice touch.
That being said, I do feel that there were parts of the story that were forgettable. This is due to the fact that some moments felt like filler and just were not worth remembering. It’s kind of sad that this is the case as I do think the story is very interesting in it’s own way. There is not much for me to really explain on the story, so you have to take my word for it on this one.
Gameplay
Anno: Mutationem is a hack and slash platformer, along the way you will face off against enemies where you can use your weapons to take them out. You have your light attacks, heavy attacks, and a gun to use at your disposal. Along the way, you can find other weapons to use, but you can also find material to make weapons. You can also upgrade the weapons themselves so they can do more damage or give them a passive ability by using microchips.
Ann can also transform into this super form, it’s like Dante’s Devil Trigger from Devil May Cry. She will do increased damage, is faster, and will heal any damage she has taken, this form is very useful for taking out bosses and when you are overwhelmed with enemies.
My favorite weapon to use in the game are the twin blades, they aren’t the most damaging weapon to use but they are fast and do long combos that will deal a ton of damage. The gameplay is very fun, and I really enjoyed slashing enemies. There are a ton of weapons and guns for you to collect throughout the game, it really depends on what you want to use and how you use it. This is something I really like about the game, the freedom to customize your character.
The game even has a skill tree that you can use to help upgrade certain stats or give you new abilities to help you in combat. You will need skill points to get these upgrades of course, you can get them from defeating bosses or taking out enemies. There is also a parry system, although I never used this until like the later parts of the game as I forget it was even a thing for a time.
There are also a ton of side quests for you to go out and do, and they all have their own unique ways of doing them. You will be rewarded for doing these quests, so I recommend doing them if you are someone who enjoys side adventures in games.
While Anno: Mutationem is a fun game, I can’t deny that there are a few issues with the gameplay. The first issue I had is that some of the enemies or bosses can get really tanky sometimes, to the point where you can’t really do much damage to them. Some of them and mostly bosses, will have sheilds that you have to get through before you do any real damage to them.
There are also times where I wish there was a quick switch for your guns that you used, you can get your hands on a few different guns but there is no way to do a quick switch with a button press. However, I should note that there is an option where you can hold down the right stick on the controller to get a weapon wheel up and you can then switch weapons that way. Although I prefer to have a button that would switch the weapons faster.
The level design near the end of the game also suffers as well, the platforming in the game is not fun and getting through that part of the game can be a slog. One of those moments that I honestly did not like about the game. Also, there is a glitch where switching costumes are also bugged, I believe this was patched but I have never tested it as mine was stuck on this one outfit, and I never changed it.
Graphics and Performance
The pixel art style that the game has is very beautiful and the areas that the game has are very detailed and feel alive. I tested the game on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Quad-Core Processor 3.50, and 16 GB of RAM, the game ran very well with no issues and should be able to run on low-end computers.
Final Verdict
Anno: Mutationem is a very fun game that I really did enjoy for it’s gameplay and story. The game is at least 10 hours long with lots of side content for you to enjoy in the game so there is lots to enjoy with it. The game is 28.99 CDN at full price and I feel that the game is worth it at that point for the amount of content that you can get. Although if you are a bit skeptical, then waiting for a sale is always fine.
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