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| Ironically forgotten. |
When everyday objects like socks, lamps, and clocks have been forgotten by their owners, they are transported to a world where they come to life and are called "forgotlings". We follow Anne, an enforcer whose sole purpose is to maintain peace and order in the forgotten lands. However, when a rising resistance group threaten the order of the forgotling world, it's up to Anne to put a stop to them. In her adventure, Anne will meet a slew of colorful characters such as Fig, the charismatic resistance leader, to the trigger happy Officer Magnum, which were some of my favorites. Anne will also have to make various choices in the story, which to a certain degree will affect how NPCs treat her throughout the adventure. From the very beginning you have a choice of either letting a rebel forgotling escape or "distill" them from existence. Ultimately, some of your choice will leave a mark on how the public perceives you. Moreover, Anne shares her thoughts regarding the people she meets and her experiences in her notebook, which offers additional insight to the game's world. While much of the cast have heir own charm to them, I found myself liking Anne the most as she significantly evolves based on the choices I made.
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The story was moving from the beginning
all the way to heartbreaking end.
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Forgotton Anne is a 2D platformer with puzzle elements. You control Anne as she solves puzzles while also interacting with the world's NPCs. Anne carries a device known as the "Arca", in which she uses it to manipulate an energy source known as "Anima". Throughout the levels, Anne will come across various machinery such as levers, doors, and pipes that she'll need to power-up in order to advance. There was one point in the game where you have to manipulate the anima flow in order to stop a speeding train whose breaks have been fried, which was a lot of fun to solve. That being said, she doesn't have an infinite supply of anima as she needs to constantly refill her arca using containers scattered throughout the levels. Anne also gets mechanical wings, which help her reach higher grounds, early on to help with some of the platforming. The platforming is good for the most part, however, there were parts that I found were pretty annoying. Since you'll be solving many of them, we might as well talk about the puzzles. The puzzles themselves were moderately challenging though nothing mind-bending. As a guy who's generally bad at puzzle games, I had little no difficulty in solving the game's puzzles.
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Despite the many puzzles to solve, the gameplay
takes a backseat to the story.
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Let's get the obvious out of the way, the visuals look like they're straight out of a Studio Ghibli film, which is very remarkable coming from a small indie team. I'll be honest here and say that it's one of the few game where the visuals were a selling factor rather than the gameplay and story for me. The animations are well-made though I found that there were some stuttering between frames. While brief in length, I found the animated cutscenes to be absolutely stunning. The high quality of the voicework came as a surprise since many of the residents of the forgotling world come to life thanks to many great performances. Additionally, the game features an orchestral soundtrack that packs many memorable tracks and complements the world well.
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Coming from a rather small team, the
presentation is simply gorgeous.
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Forgotton Anne was a delightful adventure and one of best indies I've played this year so far. It took me over 7 hours to beat the game and aside from alternate choices and achievements, the game's pretty low on extra content. Despite that, Forgotton Anne remains an fun experience with likable characters and solid gameplay. The presentation alone makes you feel like you're playing an interactive anime. If you're looking for an interesting story similar to some of Studio Ghibli's works, then Forgotton Anne is a solid recommendation.
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