ANNO: Mutationem Review

Synopsis: ANNO: Mutationem is an action-adventure game with RPG elements set in a cyberpunk world, featuring a unique mix of pixelated 2D & 3D graphic style with a rich, dark and bizarre plot.

Publisher: Lightning Games
Reviewed on: PS5
Also available for: PS4, PC

Developer: ThinkingStars

I’m very glad we don’t do video reviews because I have no idea how to pronounce ANNO: Mutationem, which fits the theme as I have no idea how to explain the plot of this game either. However, I can tell you that I enjoyed playing ANNO: Mutationem, which is the most important thing.

There is all manner of confusing elements to ANNO: Mutationem. At times it’s a 2D action game with various skills and combos to learn. At other times it’s a 3D semi-open, narrative-driven social-like where you can spend time talking to characters, learning the history of the world and even bartending. At times, the world is a neon-soaked cyberpunk city. At others, secretive supernatural grunge reminded me of Control. A lot is going on here, and many ideas are combined into one.

Working at the bar and meeting interesting people – image captured by the author

You play Ann Flores, who spends her days bartending at the family business and working to find a cure for her mysterious condition. This condition is explained as something that causes Ann to simply blackout, but it quickly becomes apparent that she’s hiding a much darker power within herself. Looking to save his sister, Ann’s brother Ryan goes off to seek a cure and disappears. Ann finds where his trail was last left and starts following in her brothers’ footsteps to find him, and hopefully a treatment for herself.

During Ann’s adventures, you’ll come across secret underground cities, labs hidden in plain sight, fight clubs on floating islands, and a secret paranormal agency with mysterious plans for Ann. It all becomes very convoluted after you reach the halfway point. I have a basic understanding of what happened at the end of the game, who some of the characters are, and what they wanted with Ann. For others, I have no idea what their motivations were, if they’re dead, or even where they first showed up in the game and if I missed their introduction. Things start to move at a lightning pace narrative-wise in the final couple of hours, and new characters appear out of hats. It’s as if developer ThinkingStars began to run out of paper and said, “oh crap! I better fit all of this in on the next two pages.” I don’t want to say I didn’t enjoy the story in ANNO: Mutationem, but I most certainly didn’t fully understand all of it.

Interesting characters in this club that’s for sure – image captured by the author

Ann has free reign when moving about the world to explore a 3D world, which can be challenging at times as you walk here into objects, and it can be easy to get lost. Even when exploring in a 3D space, Ann and others still pertain to their 2-2.5D design. Although it makes for a relaxed look for the game, it can lead to some confounding movement. The art design is the highlight of ANNO: Mutationem and makes looking in every nook and cranny for secrets well worth the effort. Exploring the environment and world is genuinely thrilling to uncover and look at.

Clashing blades with the enemy – image captured by the author

Combat is sort of your basic 2D action game with heavy, light attacks and a pistol with limited ammo. Ann can choose from a couple of different weapon types like dual swords that deal less damage but attack faster or a standard blade that’ll deal more damage. You can unlock new weapons by buying them or crafting them using materials found in the world or dropped by enemies. Ann can also infuse weapons with chips that’ll increase things like the overall damage, critical strike chance, or even inflicting elemental damage.

In my first 3-5 hours, I found the combat very easy, and even the handful of boss fights were a breeze. That all took a sharp uphill hike; however, I was dying to bosses and having to block, dodge, and parry enemy attacks. I wouldn’t say it gets as hard as similar games in the genre, but it’s worth mentioning the game could fool you into thinking it’ll be a breeze at first.

Play

One annoying issue with ANNO: Mutationem from start to finish is that the subtitles do not match the game audio. Often, characters are voiced in the game, but what they’re saying will be slightly different to the subtitles or, other times, completely different. I assume there were many last-minute changes to the voice lines, or ThinkingStars re-recorded them. Still, the inconsistencies are so glaring it was taking me out of the game. There are also grammatical errors, character names, locations or items spelt differently throughout the game.

I may have been completely lost by the end of ANNO: Mutationem, but I had a great time getting to that point. The intrigue I had for the world, Ann, her friends and her family was enough to make me want to try and understand what was happening and not completely zone out. Getting to see what new creatures, characters, or locations were around the next corner is worth the journey alone, as the art design is one of my favourites this year. I’d love a sequel to this from ThinkingStars that irons out some of the issues and continues to expand the world they’ve set up here. ANNO: Mutationem is a unique game that I appreciate for all its ideas and attempts to do something so large in scope.