Mato Anomalies

I've been thinking this one over for days. The combat is surprisingly fun, and I do like the main cast of characters. However, the game's story is what's stopping me from liking it. There is clearly a rich world here, but I need to constantly be checking log files to understand what's going on. After a while, I found myself just apathetically mashing my way through conversations because I just couldn't care anymore. I really did mean it when I said I enjoyed the combat, but the dungeons just felt too short and everything outside of them felt like a chore. I might give it another shot in a year or so because I really want to like this game.

Where do I even START??!! ❤️ This is probably a game I come back to here and there after completing it multiple times. It itches my brain in a way that makes me go: hmmm, maybe I should play it again! I wish it was more well known because it is one of those games you can barely find talk about or guides for or let alone people breaking down the world and its lore into a long Youtube video (which it REALLY deserves btw). It has its pros and cons like every game does but to me, it does a good job with its atmosphere in general. This visual novel / turn base game's world building is very interesting. I can tell there is a lot of love put behind the world's history, characters, locations as well as how it operates long term. I fell in love with the city, watching NPCs you get to interact with live their lives in this little sci-fi world of humanity and technology going rogue. The game is a lot of reading, like, a lot. I remembered the first time I got tired a few times but however, the story does pick up after the first few chapters when meeting some of the cast you will be learning with and having bonding events with. Since this is an indie company from China, and their first RPG attempt, I say it has done a well performance besides not being completely polished and being a little bit janky with the same voice lines being said over and over again in combat - it is still charming in my books! Dungeons are a bit bland but this is the first time for this little company, so it gets a pass from me! Each dungeon theme is pretty nice to see as well as different enemies you come across having their own meanings and name. The terminology can be a bit much, being very confusing at times since there are so many groups and individuals introduced to the point it can make your brain go "huh?" However, you get to meet multiple different characters of all sorts of backgrounds, stories and troubles they face, really fleshing them out - each chapter introduces another character you will be using in your party for combat in dungeons. I am not a fan of the card game you have to play as Doe to Mindhack into individuals minds, I found it a bit challenging on my end of things but actual combat was enjoyable with a little twist on having my whole party die by sharing one health bar together. It leaves for the player to plan first before attacking, buffing or healing your teammates. I am also not a fan on the limited timer in a few dungeons - it spiked a little bit of anxiety in me but after a few tries on navigating the dungeon you do end up finding your way around - it is just an annoyance rather than a good mechanic like some other dungeons. If you have time to read, challenge yourself with battle and wanting to slowly learn about a world that can just flip you inside out by the end of it, then it is completely worth the time. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to kill time, enjoys the Shin Megami Tensei series (Persona to a degree in some aspects), doesn't know what game to play next or want something to try and chip at slowly - it does deserve a lot more love than it is getting right now since release for such a company that was experimenting with a global release. I played it on my Steamdeck and it runs perfectly on it! Obviously loved hiding under my blanket while messing around in this game and understanding its terminology. As for characters: Tian Lai grew on me after being introduced to him but Gram is the one who pulled me in the most out of all the cast due to, well, you're just gonna have to figure that out yourself! <3

The turn based combat has a genuinely interesting quirk: all party members share a single health pool. This sounds like a gimmick and is instead a constant source of low grade strategic tension. You cannot just sacrifice one character to save the others. Everyone goes down together or nobody does. It changes how you think about every single fight. Mostly positive reviews and a fairly niche audience, which is a genuine shame. This one slipped through the cracks and it absolutely should not have.

So you may be asking what my review is worth if I barely played for 3 hours - well, that is because I only gotten this fairly recently on pc. I got it on switch on release, day one and all, and now I have 200+ hours in it. It is an amazing game. Is it for everyone? I mean, seeing the mixed reviews, def not LMAO. But it is my hyperfixation and I will take it to my grave. The music, the characters, the story, all of it just tickled my brain so well. The rest? You grew to love it like you grow to love your ♥♥♥♥♥♥ job just because it has one or two good days in a week. Scuffed voice acting and lip synching just becomes a funny moment, the wishy-washy 3D animation and comics become so bad it's good. If you want to go on an acid trip without having to find a dealer, this is the game for you. Also, it has Lady Edelweiss and Smoker and I don't see any other games having them!

disappointing i wish they would lean more into the detective aspect and polish it a bit more the voice acting was great where there was some

What a unique game! Behind all its shortcomings, Mato Anomalies is a truly special experience that will surely be loved by a small niche of players! In my opinion, the biggest appeal of this game is its incredible atmosphere. Mato Anomalies tells a neo-noir sci-fi story set in the cyberpunk/retro-futuristic city of Mato, inspired by Shanghai and imbued with a tangible sense of social and psychological unrest. The locations and the inhabitants of Mato are all quite unique and carefully portrayed. Another highlight of this game is definitely its characters. The main protagonist is a well-intentioned private investigator named Doe, who investigates a series of circumstances about a mysterious substance called HANDOUT. His investigation soon leads him beyond the real world, because creatures called the Bane Tide are influencing people's psyches from another world. Throughout the chapters, Doe will be assisted by six other characters - Gram, Butterfly, Smoker, Mist, Lady Edelweiss and Ringless - who, unlike him, are able to enter the Lairs of these creatures to defeat them. The seven protagonists are superbly characterised, each with their unique personality, attitudes, background, goals and desires. Each co-protagonist's introduced separately in a dedicated chapter, so they all receive the spotlight. I was particularly impressed by two of these characters: Mist - a virtual Art-Deco performer, grieving for the loss of her physical form - and Smoker - the only survivor of a troop of experimental soldiers sent to explore the terrible world outside Mato. The plot is rather interesting, but unfortunately it's told through cryptic, fragmented, badly localised scenes. While I got the gist of most situations, many times I couldn't understand the finer details of what was happening. This is also due to the complex lore and the complicated terminology used, which overwhelmed me from the very beginning. I think that the climactic ending of the game would have hit me much harder if I could have grasped more nuances of the events leading up to it. Gameplay-wise, Mato Anomalies tries to combine different game mechanics, with mediocre/okay-ish results. Overall, the game plays like a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG), with the city of Mato as the setting of Doe's investigations and the Lairs as the dungeons to fight enemies and collect items. The Lairs all have a procedurally generated, very basic layout, which becomes repetitive quite soon. The battles are turn-based and well-paced, with each character having abilities that require a certain number of turns to recharge after use. I found the "normal" difficulty to be rather punitive after a while, while the "easy" difficulty was unfortunately way too simple. Another peculiar part of Mato Anomalies's gameplay is the Mind/Hack mini-game: when people are reluctant to be interrogated by Doe, he can hack into their minds through a card game. In this game, you can use a deck (among six preconfigured ones) to battle against the host's mind and some demons defending it. While Mind/Hack adds variety to the gameplay, it feels a bit half-baked and too reliant on trial-and-error. In summary, Mato Anomalies will appeal to those JRPG fans who want to try something different. Mato Anomalies clearly shows the developers' passion and creativity, and, if you give it a chance, it'll charm you with its compelling characters, mysterious atmosphere and original blend of game mechanics.

Mato Anomalies is a JRPG that could be described as a cyberpunk Persona with an adult cast, but without the daily life elements. Nice visuals and audio (English voices are surprisingly good, Japanese even better), good story, very solid turn-based combat, interesting characters, pretty fun additional stuff (mind-hacking in the form of a card game, an optional rogue-like dungeon), well-made PC version - no bugs, unlocked FPS, perfectly playable with both gamepads and keyboard+mouse. There's one "but" though: the English translation. It doesn't really have many grammar mistakes or anything. Rather than that, a lot seems to be lost in translation. At times, I felt as if I skipped a part of a dialogue, because someone's line made no sense to me. Fortunately, this does not prevent the player from understanding the story. At least as long as they take a look at the journal once in a while. It contains explanations of some terms used in dialogues. Plus, there's a general "budget" feel to it. Actually, the translation problem is most likely a part of this as well. They still achieved a lot with what they had though. Those flaws don't change the fact that Mato Anomalies is now my favourite non-Japanese "J"RPG (perhaps even the only one I managed to finish) and at the same time my favourite Persona game. [spoiler]Objectively:[/spoiler] 8/10

剧情烂的没边，玩法缝的稀烂，有创意但不多，玩这游戏简直是对玩家的折磨，不要刷好评了 草泥马天来那玩意是人打的吗？好不容易一路刷迷宫刷到终章就这么恶心我是吧

Really enjoy the game, the difficult spike is like if the game was design to have the 6 party member on at once when the team is max of 4. Game could use more voice acting and animations. But it is a great story and good overall game worth the time. If i had to ask for a update would be to make player party all 6 members.

恶心人成啥样了，一个意义不明的dlc买了之后就是背包里多了一个文本说他们不做游戏了，就这样一个东西当dlc卖啊，还有人类吗？开发组全家还好吗