This game was fun, I had a good time with it. I'm pretty mixed on the experience though. It feels like the devs poured a lot of love into this game, which I always love to see. However, my qualm is that it feels like they got a little lost in the sauce.

At first, it's pretty much just "find your brother" and then things start to spiral from there in a way that sometimes makes like... no sense??? I read my way through a lot of the material I found in game, hoping to help make things make sense. Unfortunately, it only made things worse. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

However, the actual gameplay felt pretty solid. Some pretty fun fights, regular enemies were pretty fun to handle, and Greatsword + Katana + Pistol felt solid. The tech tree has some fun, albeit simple options and a parry that feels really good to master. Equipment felt kind of tacked on??? It didn't bother me to much. I spent a good while gushing about how good the roll feels, can't really explain why. Just feels good.

Where this game really shines though is it is STUNNING to look at. Lots of fun cyberpunk environments with a mixture of high res pixel art and 3D backgrounds that are a treat to look at. Most of my rating just comes from the look of the game alone.

If I had to rate every part individually I'd say:
Gameplay 7/10
Story 5/10
Art Direction 9/10
Landing it at a clean 7ish for my tastes. It's wild, and a solid time. Plus Protag has a ponytail which is always a plus.

Heard this game was good a while back decided to give it a try and it wasn't bad. The game was short, to the point, and entertaining.

Game-play had pretty basic hack and slash elements but did a serviceable job to keep me engaged in the game-play loop. I did notice there were some moments where I was over-powered but that may have to do more with how much experience I have with hack and slash games. Mini games were there nothing that particularly got my attention except for the bar tending mini game. The world was beautiful and the developer seemed to understand what to do to make a captivating scene. The environments were well put together either during cut scenes or within the game-play itself. Just a side note I loved that we got to see some of the cast of VA-11 Hall-A.

Writing is where I would say was underwhelming. When I first saw this game I was thinking what the developers take of a cyberpunk world would be?, what would be different?, How would the world be built?, etc. When it comes to the story of the main character I did like the motivation behind why things happen in the story but when it comes to the world itself it didn't add anything exciting to the table. Another thing that I thought was odd was the fact that the outfits don't really stay the same as what you put on while you go through the story. The were some glitches here and there that were odd but nothing game breaking (afaik).

Overall not a bad game to play for $25 but it would be better to wait for a sale instead. It is short, sweet, and to the point and the side missions are really just for extra resources if you need them.

Anno is a very funny japanese word. What oh you mean the game? Sorry, Right then! Anno: Mutationem is a 2D Cyberpunk Hack and Slash with a ton of charm, soul and shortcomings.

To start off with the good stuff, the games art-style is incredibly unique, the mix of 2D and 3D elements combined with the great environment design creates a very beautiful and interesting world that I had great fun exploring, the character sprites are very emotive and animate a lot even during casual conversation, weapon animations are fast and fluid and beating foes feels great, there's also a ton of weapons to choose from, like simple swords, great-swords, guns, particle cannons and rocket launchers.

The Combat loop is pretty simple, you can get by just fine by mashing square, personally i don't mind this but if you do then that sucks obviously, something I did mind was the games difficulty, it doesn't ramp up enough until very late, now there is a hard mode but you have to beat the game first to unlock it which I think is stupid and only serves to take enjoyment away from certain players, seriously why.

The games soundtrack is alright, not of all the tracks stand out on their own but they each fit the scene they accompany, I often found myself listening to the main menu theme for a bit before starting, definitely my favorite.

The story and the characters start off pretty harmless, in fact it starts off pretty interesting and then just completely goes off the rails by the end, it doesn't help that most of the endgame cutscenes just don't have voice acting, which leads to a lot of characters just standing around doing nothing and emoting at each other, not cool.

Also on the topic of not cool... While the game runs just fine for most people during my playthrough I encountered a ton of minor bugs that really killed my immersion, now some of them were pretty funny like my characters orientation getting completely messed up which led to Ann looking like she'd been featured on the hydraulic press channel. But ultimately they did kill my immersion which sucks because the vibe this game has going for it when everything works is insane.

I think that's it, I can't think of anything else to add anyways so let's call it here, in short Anno is a great game with an even greater vibe that has a lot of potential but ends up falling short when it really matters most, I would still heavily recommend this to anyone looking for a fun sci-fi fix over the weekend. Thanks for reading!

The game is... weird. It has a lot of inspirations from Evangelion, SCP and more. The combat is pretty fun but also wonky very often. The main problem is with the games story the game starts dragging out for too long with no real reason, and while I did say the game is inspired quite a bit SCP its really only the end of the game where the game literally just decides to completely copy pretty much all of it and sprinkle on a bit of Evangelion.
The game is also kinda buggy but overall I don't know, should you play the game? Probably maybe

This game was just so.... mid.

The environments, the art style, the soundtrack were all really, really enjoyable.

The writing and the story however, was just so lackluster. Not to mention this game has the most grating/annoying side-kick ever, I was just left rolling my eyes every time there was dialogue between the two.

The story is bare bones at best and I quickly lost interest in whatever plot they were trying to play out.

The combat is fun but just far too easy, I don't even think I had a single death in the game?

Overall, a forgettable experience.

ANNO: Mutationem is a game that I have had my eye on for a while. For both its cyberpunk aesthetic, and its beautiful pixel art/3-D asset mix. Going into the game I had no idea that this was going to be an open-world metriodvania. Characters in this game are at the forefront of the experience and they are all very well written. Ann, and Ayane being the highlights here. I also didn't expect this game to actually have voice acting, and it is also some pretty good acting on top of that. There are two different gameplay styles that this game has, the open world exploration and the metriodvania. The open world is very pretty to look at and interact in. While the metriodvania is mainly focused on exploring and combat. Combat is pretty basic at first but gets really intense later. Although, there are upgrades I never really found myself using them (other than stat upgrades) as they don't really add anything to the combat. Overall, a really good game to sink some time into, would highly recommend to at least try it out.

Wanted to like this game based on the awesome spritework and environment design, but there just isn't much to keep you engaged. The overworld looks amazing, the cities are bustling and there are interesting locations in each of them, but the game largely takes place underground, which is quite bland aside from the underground encampment. Seems like an unforced error to me. Story is vaguely interesting, but the gameplay is not great. The combat is pretty bland, there's 3 weapon types and a whole host of unlockable combo moves, but you don't need any of it besides the light weapon and the upgrade the game gives you for free. There's a crafting system that doesn't add anything of value to the experience, and I wasn't ever sure what I should do with all the money and junk I picked up along the way- because I didn't need any new gear, and the game makes healing items plentiful. The upgrade tree also feels a little out of place. You don't get to use it that often, so it feels like each choice should make a big impact, but it didn't really feel that way. Unironically the best part about this game is the Jill Stingray cameo. There are some interesting elements here but they feel diluted. This game feels like the halfway point between a mystery game and a beat-em-up, while failing at what makes both of those genres fun. Points for making an interesting world with cool art, but I am not compelled to finish out the game

Pretty art, great music, great gameplay. This game was really fun to play, and even if the story is not a new thing (you can expect a lot of the plot-twists), one can have a lot of fun playing it and trying to complete bosses by only doing parrys.

Overall I'm happy I played it, and this being the first game from that studio only makes me to want to play more of their games if they make another one in the future. I think too that this is the definition of a "mid game but that everyone that likes pixel art or metroidvanias" should play because even if it doesn't innovates that much, you can find a nice world and have fun since the game is not even hard. I see myself playing it in the future again if I ever have the chance of getting it physical for Switch, though it will be hard since its a Limited Run Game.

TL;DR I really recommend this game if one just want to have a nice weekend playing something short (that has a good amount of side quests and collectibles) or doesn't knows what to play.

Anno Mutationem isn't very good, but its not that bad either. The incredible pixel art can't make up for an entirely predictable and derivative story (SCP in a cyberpunk setting but we kind of forget by the end and go generic sci-fi), horribly floaty and unsatisfying combat and a generic feeling of bugginess to everything.

It's not really a useful benchmark as its kind of obscure, but Cris Tales reminds me a lot of this game, where an indie team is made up of incredible artists that are let down by the rest of the team. Anno clearly doesn't feel like the product of a trained writer, and the gameplay feels like a student project. But damn if they can't make some nice screenshots. It is also playable front to back with decent pacing, has some fun side quest narratives and feels like someones directorial vision, as derivative as it is.

ANNO: Mutationem is a beautifully crafted game that uses phenomenal pixel art to bring to life a world that is so rich you want to keep coming back. It's a game that combines incredibly fun exploration, combat, world-building, characters, beautiful art direction, and stunning sound design to such a degree that the 10-20 hours I spend with this game just isn't enough. It's such an incredible hidden gem that I encourage everyone to pick up and play.

The most common criticism I see about ANNO: Mutationem is a lackluster story. I understand this complaint to a degree because if a player tends to avoid the extra in-game articles, data logs, and lore/world-building information there will be a disconnect from what occurs in the story to what you should have learned through other material in-game. If I had any criticisms at all, they would just be to implement a dash mechanic for overworld traversal to make back-tracking during collectible hunting more efficient. I'm very hopeful for a sequel and if we were to get one I would be incredibly grateful (and excited) and appreciate side quests that genuinely touched upon some of the world-building elements present in the game and a better incorporation of the extra lore hidden around the world into the main story. Otherwise, even despite this, I continue to enjoy my time with this excellent title.

I had originally played ANNO: Mutationem some time ago because I had heard Vanguard Sounds was responsible for the OST and I continue to not be disappointed at all. They delivered nothing but quality and love with every track in this game. It's amazing.

es un juego con bastante estilo que te entra por los ojos muy guapo, me gusta la dirección de arte, la música y el combate es divertido. Pero la historia y narrativa son enredadas y mal contadas, quiere hacer por momentos un nier y no le sale, además que los personajes son francamente olvidables. Pero bueno mientras escuchaba algún podcast avanzaba y me lo termine pasando, me gusto el arbol de habilidades aunque tienes que avanzar mas o menos para cambiar un poco tu estilo de combate y demás, hay upgrades que tienes que hacer si o si por que si no se vuelve un souls xd Hay momentos cool y algún mini juego curioso como el de bartender, algún combate shonen interesante pero la mayoría es eso el juego intentando ser cool xd, también lo jugué con voces en japones que ayuda un poco a sentirse algo anime. Me jode por que casi me hago el 100% pero hay un par de logros que son agarrar todos los posters y unos nekos(objeto) y me da una pereza buscar los que me faltan jaja.

This game is such a mixed bag for me. On the one hand the art direction is wonderful and I loved looking at the game, outside of the fan servicey moments. The combat is also pretty fun, albeit easy. The story, and the world building though are at the absolute best of times, generic. And at absolute worst, it's extremely poorly written with annoying characters and convoluted plot. The level design Is very uninspired and along with the dragging story was a major reason I decided to shelve it after about 11 hours. I don't know how much of the game was left but I just couldn't force myself through it any more. If the combat was a bit better, if the level design was more involved or if the story was any good, I could see myself finishing it

Even the parts of the game I enjoy come with caveats, and the parts I hate are really grating. There are much better cyberpunk games, even if this game has some pretty good positives.

A cool game with a stylish and fitting look for it's story. Gameplay wise it changes between exploration and sidescrolling combat and separates between the two very clearly. Some of the visual clues in the exploration are too vague and the combat could've needed some tuning, but works fine otherwise. The VR side companion is a tad too "goofy anime character" for my taste and does not fit the tone of the game at all.

I got fed up at the final boss. I kept dying at the exact same spot in the "fight", even though I had maxed out all the abilities and made sure to save the special ability to the third stage of the fight. Probably because I'm not using one of the gameplay mechanics correct (obviously), but then again the game doesn't prepare you for this fight, because there's nothing earlier in the game with a similar type of fight teaching you.

Pros:
- Great 2d sprite work, seamlessly incorporated into 3d environments.
- Design-wise the game is beautiful.
- The world is dense and feels lived it.
- Lots of varied enemies.
- The bosses are entertaining.
- The fighting system is a bit rudimentary, but feels good to play.
- Ayane's a clichéd, but fun and lovable character.

Cons:
- Nonsensical plot that has a bunch of unexplained plot holes and feels unfinished. Some of this is clearly intentional, but it still just feels like bad writing.
- A bunch of text logs that like to use gibberish pseudo-science talk.
- Most characters are either 2-dimensional cardboard cutouts or have motives so convoluted you'd never figure it out on your own. Like why the main villain did what they did.
- The game has a craft system and a lot of trash to pick up that pad out the game's playtime, and that you'd never probably use.
- A few typos, weird phrasing etc. are still present in the game's text even after patches. Though a lot fewer than there were on release.

The game's premise is basically a fusion of Evangelion/SCP homages, easter eggs and references.
Can't recommend, but I actually had fun with this game. Flawed as it is. Just don't expect it to be a clear, coherent story.

Aside from the ridiculously bad ending, this game is such a gem. Play this if your into the cyberpunk genre with a 2D sidescrolling twist. The world in this game is so intriguing and I cannot stress that point enough. World building is honestly what kept me going for most of my playthrough. The combat is simple, yet fun and rarely ever gets boring despite the simplicity. The story is very well done too but boy oh boy, does it fall flat in the final act. It doesn’t take away from the fact that this is still an otherwise good game and an enjoyable experience