So far it's my least favorite science adventure game, the game sacrifices characterization for the grand scale of the plot, characters are static and doesn't really grow that much with the exception of like 4 people and even then it's really minor, there's also a clear lack of backstories to the character and an overly used "tell, don't show" method of storytelling I really disliked, the main plot of the game which is clearing hacking "quests" almost feels like filler that it's baffling they even do it so many times, it really feels like they don't know how to write it into the long stretch of the final arc

The first half was amazing, but the rest of the game really went downhill for me.

After 7 years in development and several rewrites, it feels like Shikura Chiyomaru gave up trying to find a use for his original ideas and went with whatever version they had at the time. An interview with him in Famitsu from July 7, 2020, suggests that to be the case. When jokingly asked if the game is ready to release, Shikura Chiyomaru states, "We were busy until the last second, but I think it should be fine. However, I would not say that the game is finished. Instead, we decided to stop here."

The opening chapters kick off confidently, filled to the brim with content. There are comic-style animated scenes, manga-like expositions, tons of CGs, scooter segments and more. The story itself keeps up a good pace, moving from one 'incident' to the next. However, the whole game comes to a halt around Chapter 8 and never truly picks up again. You could argue this is a deliberate narrative choice, but I feel there are so many other things that could have worked better. The storytelling also resorts to conventional text+sprites with rare CGs and animated scenes. The Save-Load gimmick, which was interesting for the first few hours of the gameplay, gets beaten to death. The only impressive moment comes towards the end, when the player is tasked to solve a puzzle. However, forcing the player to use a gimmick that was entirely optional up to that point in the story in order to reach the true ending is a bad design choice with no other way to put it. The second half drags on for too long, but paradoxically, when the credits roll, it feels like you missed half of the game—or better yet—there is a second half somewhere waiting to be found. It is a shame that this is the product we have got. In the same interview, Shikura Chiyomaru notes how they tried to make the game "easy to understand"—especially in relation to in-game terminology—and I am curious if this decision influenced the production of the second half in some way.

Anonymous;Code went through a number of rewrites, and I wonder what other iterations looked like. One can hope there is a world line where Shikura Chiyomaru decided to push through and finish the game. But alas, it seems out of reach.

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Here is the aforementioned interview:
https://www.famitsu.com/news/202207/07267624.html

I've been following the Science Adventure series (SciADV for short) for the last 4 years now, ever since I checked out the Steins;Gate anime, read some of Chaos;Child, and read the Chaos;Head NoAH spanish translation in full, which made me a diehard fan of the series for a time, and I even helped work on the Committee of Zero Translation and QoL improvement patches for a good while too. That said, while I will still always be grateful to NoAH for putting my own shut-in lifestyle into perspective and helping me get out of that hole I dug myself into, as I've gotten older and graduated college I've come to realize that I've drifted away from this series, and don't like a lot about it in retrospect. I've found the series more often than not is more plot-driven and really chokeholds the potential of its characters to be more compelling due to heavy plot devices and fast pacing in a good amount of entries, with the only real exceptions being Robotics;Notes and Chaos;Child. I've also really grown to not care for the heavy fanservice and objectification of women in the series, there's a lot of misogyny that goes on in the series that feels like it's done for otaku bait, among other fanservice things. For these reasons and a few more, I'm not the biggest fan of SciADV anymore, and I planned to make Anonymous;Code be the final game I check out in the franchise, and I think I might still stick to that. That said...

I have to stay I was pretty impressed with A;C itself. I don't plan to spoil the plot in detail, but I will say some general things. Firstly, I think this game truly is meant for those long-term SciADV fans first and foremost. The game explains enough that newcomers can enjoy and understand a decent bit of the plot, but I think most of the returning SciADV concepts really make a lot more sense and hit much harder in terms of impact if you're already familiar with the series. I'd really recommend most people read Chaos;Head NoAH, Steins;Gate, and Steins;Gate 0 at the minimum before playing this, to get the full impact.

The game is very plot-driven and only really fleshes out its two lead characters, but the main appeal of the game really is the worldbuilding and payoff to long term SciADV plot points and themes in my opinion, and it does a fantastic job of that. So many things I'd theorized and figured out on my own beforehand were finally vindicated after so many years, so that was nice. The very brisk, thriller-esque pacing of the plot was very welcome too, after dumping so many hours of time investment into this series with its earlier entries that are more slow burn plots. I didn't really want another slow burn story with SciADV after this much time investment, and I'm really glad A;C delivered there. I was able to beat the game in 4 days thanks to that.

The OST is also amazing, definitely one of Takeshi Abo's best. Also, after seeing SciADV's horrible decline in quality following Chaos;Child, it's nice to see that Naotaka Hayashi, the original scenario writer for NoAH, S;G, and R;N come back to return the series to form was very nice. Also, thank goodness that they FINALLY got rid of the fanservice crap aspect this series is infamous for. There's next to no fanservice in this game which was super refreshing.

That said, as an Orthodox Christian, this game is pretty blasphemous to my beliefs, but I wasn't too surprised as I said, because a lot of those aspects of the story were already foreshadowed and built up to long in advance in previous games. So I won't hold that against the game itself, even if it's another reason I probably won't revisit this series or read later games.

Overall, the story was good for what it was going for. It's far from perfect, lots of missed opportunities with better character writing and portrayal, some kind of one-dimensional views of religion and other concepts, but I think the game succeeds in what it was trying to be: a full realization of SciADV's overarching themes and sci-fi concepts, and shows them taken to their natural extreme to answer enough of what the narrative's been leading up to all these years. I enjoyed it enough, and I think this is a great place to end my time with Science Adventure.

It's been a fun ride, and may the delusions you wish for come true.

Total playtime: 18 hours.

Waited 7 years after being announced, and eventually played it the moment it gets released and localised.

I've been following the SciADV series throughout my entirety of High School, starting with Steins;Gate and eventually falling in love with both Chaos;Head & Child -- visual novels that would make me fall into the rabbit hole of the medium. The many theories spiraling around the series were engaging and wanted me to know more, which Anonymous;Code would deliver while being an overarching narrative to the entirety of SciADV.

What's heartbreaking was that I didn't enjoy it as much compared to the prior titles, emotional-wise. There were many instances of moments that had many stakes at hand, but didn't resonate with me due to how the length and pacing of the narrative felt "fast". Another complaint from readers is the short length of A;C compared to the prior which were about 20+ hours -- the longest being Chaos;Child. The pacing was perfect but it felt more as if it didn't know how to approach its overarching narrative while building upon a new story, that being A;C. Despite the theories spiraling around SciADV being resolved and explained in A;C, it's more satisfying compared to how MGS4 would tackle a certain overarching narrative. Regarding the narrative, the characters didn't feel as memorable despite being the main motivation for the narrative to be driven forward -- with our main trio of characters being more memorable and the motivation of the 'antagonist' feeling lackluster.

A bit disappointed that I was not fond of it as much compared to some of my SciADV mutuals, regarding it as superior to Chaos;Child though it's probably because I expected more from this. It doesn't fail to impress since it without a doubt has a high production value with its presentation, animation, transitions from visual novel UI to manga panels (done by the amazing Haruhisa Nakata, who worked on Levius!), Takeshi Abo's score and sound design, and the amazing direction with A;C.

At least this was better than Robotics;Notes DaSH.