ANNO: Mutationem from Thinking Stars and Lightning Games is a neon-soaked futuristic cyberpunk 2D and 3D action-adventure game. The game not only looks fantastic but is dripping with substance too. Is this action-adventure title worth diving into then? Let’s find out, shall we?
In ANNO: Mutationem, players will take on the role of Ann. Ann is not your run of the mill heroine though. She’s hardcore and packs a punch. Playing as Ann, players will be able to run, slash, shoot, combine attacks and throw grenades at enemies. You’ll have access to a wide variety of weapons and ANNO: Mutationem’s armoury is great.
The story of ANNO: Mutationem kicks off with players being introduced to Ann Flores and her hacker sidekick Ayane, who definitely has the hots for her. Ann’s brother has gone missing and it’s up to you to find and rescue him from the clutches of evil. Sounds pretty standard but ANNO: Mutationem ups the ante with a lot of over the top story choices. In fact, the intro cinematic itself is rather gripping, featuring something quite explosive. Speaking about this more will delve too deep into spoiler territory so it’s best left up to the players to enjoy the game’s story for themselves.
The onboarding process of ANNO: Mutationem does take some time to get going though and you’ll easily spend upwards of an hour playing the game before you really start to get somewhere with it. The game features a lot of scattered notes written on datapads and other interactable objects in its beautiful pixel graphics world. Reading these notes and interacting with the environment is key to learning more about the world and what’s going on in ANNO: Mutationem. Players who just want to get to the action might find this annoying but for those who want to soak up all the story they can get, this is great.
Unfortunately ANNO: Mutationem does suffer from a few flaws with this. In multiple story segments, there were typos in the text displayed and while not exactly game-breaking, they are quite noticeable. Even more so since not every single interaction in the game is voiced. If you’re going to be reading text entries throughout the game, noticing typos and other errors becomes a lot more annoying than it should be, especially if you’re a pedantic person.
Enemies in ANNO: Mutationem are incredibly varied with lots of weaker foes to cut through in levels. There’s a range of very intense boss fights and this is where the game excels. The game isn’t exactly brutally hard but instead offers just the right amount of challenge throughout and you will definitely die quite a bit. Using Ann’s abilities, players will have to dodge, jump and time attacks just right against foes in the game. If you want to button bash your way through, you will most likely end up dying a lot more since enemy attacks can be hard to dodge and will do quite a bit of damage to you. With all that said, there are moments in the game where enemies will outnumber you and will attack you with projectiles which may come across as unbalanced to some players. Whether or not this was intentional is hard to say but it will certainly infuriate gamers who lack patience.
ANNO: Mutationem’s graphics are one of the game’s key features. Not only does the game world look absolutely beautiful but it’s integrated into its level design. Players will be able to move around in a 2D and 3D world that has gorgeous visuals from start to finish. Everything about ANNO: Mutationem’s pixel graphics and visuals are great and there’s plenty of scenes where you’ll just want to sit and admire the artwork. The first time you realise that you can actually move around in the world in different directions as it transitions between rooms and buildings so smoothly while zooming in and out is honestly amazing. Alas there are some loading screens in the game though and it’s not truly open-world but rather segmented into smaller areas that can be explored.
The soundtrack in ANNO: Mutationem is excellent with so many great background music tracks that play throughout the game. There’s a heavy emphasis on the “Cyberpunk” futuristic aspects so expect a lot of synth and adrenaline pumping music in the game. The voice acting is pretty good too and the sound effects are well done, especially for Ann’s attacks.
Overall, ANNO: Mutationem is a great pixel graphics action-adventure game. The breathtaking pixel visuals and solid action sequences make this a game that’s definitely worth picking up. The only downside lies with the fact that the writing can come across as a bit too cliche at times relying on cyberpunk tropes and concepts to carry it. There’s also the fact that the game has a lot of spelling and grammar errors in the actual in-game text and the voice acting doesn’t always match the subtitle text. If you can look past this, and don’t mind a game that presents a challenge at times, ANNO: Mutationem is a solid recommendation.
Developers: Thinking Stars, Beijing Thinking Stars Technology Development Co., Ltd
Publishers: Lightning Games, Shenzhen Leiting Information Technology Co., Ltd., Lightning.Games
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5
Reviewed on PC
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