Anno: Mutationem (PC) Review

A stylish cyberpunk adventure.

 

 A cyberpunk indie, Anno: Mutationem comes to us from ThinkingStars games. Featuring a neon-soaked world, it follows a young woman on an adventure to search for her lost brother. The game caught my attention earlier this year when I saw it on Steam. As a fan of cyberpunk and indie genres, I decided to finally give it a try and see if I like it. So does Anno: Mutationem manages to impress or is it all flash?

 Taking place in the futuristic Skopp City, we follow private investigator Ann, who has a mysterious illness related to her hazy past. When her brother suddenly disappears as he looks for a cure for her, Ann along with her hacker friend Ayane, must track him down while unknowingly getting caught up in a secret conspiracy. The story doesn't make sense initially with characters and names being thrown constantly, leaving you puzzled most of the time. 

 It tries to tie everything together towards the end by making Ann the focal point, but I still didn't find myself engrossed in it that much. Aside from Ann and Ayane (who slowly managed to grow on me), the rest of the characters were one-dimensional and lacked any backstory that would make them interesting. That aside, the ending was a nice one, even teasing a sequel in the future.

Neat premise aside, the story and characters leave a lot to be desired.

 Anno: Mutationem is a 2D action-adventure game where you control Ann as she explores various levels while beating up enemies. Ann has access to light and heavy blades, in addition to guns for ranged combat. Said weapons can be upgraded with chips that can be found or crafted by getting the required items. The gameplay is a fast-paced affair with snappy controls, and I enjoyed it a lot being a fan of flashy action. There's a decent amount of enemy variety to help make each level feel distinctive too. Levels are presented in 3D and you get to explore them with Ann's 2D sprite similar to the Paper Mario games. 

The gameplay is fun and faced-paced.

 

 The levels are often catchy with bright neon signs, bustling with a variety of NPCs to chat with, and shops that'll sell you stuff like weapons, items, and even cars too. Some of the later levels like the underground research facility weren't that eye-catching but the boss fights in store were fun. Anno took around 14 hours to beat and that included completing all side-quests and doing a fair bit of exploration. My only gripe was that the game ended soon and you don't get much opportunity to fully be immersed in the cities by taking on more side-quests.

 Anno is a solid-looking game with its neatly drawn 2D sprites mixed with the stylish 3D environments. The lighting effects are worth noting too and look vibrant in the game's locales. It ran fine on my PC despite some stuttering occasionally, however. As for the voicework, it was good with some commendable performances-- though Ayane's annoying voice will take a while to get used to. The soundtrack was good and it nicely complimented the game's tone.

The visuals are pretty impressive.

 Anno: Mutationem turned out to be a blast, exceeding my initial expectations. Weak story and tech issues aside, it's a fun experience with its fast-paced action and visuals being the standouts. It's sad that it was over soon as I still wanted to see more of Ann's world but I guess the open-ended ending may tease a sequel. Fans of action games with cyberpunk flair should give Anno: Mutationem a look.