Mato Anomalies Test

This month of March is off to a strong start! Indeed, barely recovered from Like a Dragon Ishin that Mato Anomalies presents himself. A few months ago, the editorial staff offered you an appetizer, this time it’s all the cake that awaits you! Arrowiz, a development studio still in development, immerses us in a serious futuristic and dystopian story that depicts our society today and tomorrow… We will discuss the story, the graphic side and the atmosphere of the game! The Doom Tide awaits you, do you dare to dive into it?

The story of Mato Anomalies

This is a well done story! You embody doedetective in collaboration with Belladonna. This young woman, owner of a club, will ask him to investigate the NEUROMATER. Strange concoction that makes people disappear, yet sells on the black market. Your first mission will take you right into the action as you’ll be sucked into a breach. Here you are in the hell of the Nefarious Tide ! Unconditional and spatio-temporal place in which swarms all kinds of creatures straight out of people’s emotions!

Fortunately, you will be saved by Gram, your first real hook in Mato Anomalies. A human has no hope of survival in the Doom Tide, that’s when you emerge and learn to pull the strings of a serious and dark story. But who is behind all this machination, these illegal sales and these deaths?

An atmosphere worthy of a film noir!

It’s hard to separate the story from the mood. Let me explain. The dark and sad story that awaits you reflects well the story of a detective. Almost cliché to discover a Doe with his long odd, his hat and all the variations that we have of a detective. Of course music a little jazzy and harmonica well used really portray a gloomy atmosphere in which your first hero will manage long walks and a few well-sent, but unappreciated drinks!

On the way, from neighborhood to neighborhood, to discover this dissident adventure and all the conspiracies linked to a totalitarian government. Mato Anomalies wants to be quite rich musically, since each district has its own music and atmospheres.

Concerning the Doomtide, another place of play, the dungeons are generated randomly in the manner of a “dungeon crawler“. The vibe here is creepy, uncomfortable, we do not want to stay there! These explorable places remain little varied and the monsters are quite unique, but are twisted, much like…emotions. Because here, everything materializes thanks to – or because of – people’s emotions, and often these unfortunate people drown in it!

Mato Anomalies sets up a scenario worthy of our real future and depicts an unlivable atmosphere. Men are tools, the government directs these tools, investors control the government, money leads everyone! The writing of the screenplay is excellent and the French translation is up to such a narrative!

To summarize, Mato Anomalies and Arrowiz did great atmosphere work to plunge us into these virtual hells! It is a success on this point. Why put faces on people who no longer matter to a government run by greedy shareholders, and who are ultimately just tools? Yes, the faces of the characters in Mato Anomalies don’t have eyes and that’s worrying. No eyes, no communication, no feelings, only torments!

A too average graphic touch

Mato Anomalies is therefore developed by Arrowiz. This studio hides other games with the same visuals, which is their strength, but also, remains quite limited. THE Cel Shading is overpowered, but it lacks some graphical ingredients to make top class games on it.

It should be noted here that there is some cutscenesbut also cartoon-style sketchesall intertwined with visual novel ! It works well with me!

Whether it’s dungeons, streets, monsters, everything looks pretty basic visually speaking. The characters are worked in Cel-shading and it’s well done. Fan of this concept, Thanks Borderlandswe still manage to immerse ourselves in the hell of the future.

It’s really in the Doom Tide that everything is even more simplified. Corridors, unchanged scenery and four to five monsters per dungeon! Let’s be clear, you will meet more, but count a fairly small bestiary. From chapter to chapter, the decorations will evolve Of course. However, we still find the same mechanics of visual creation.

As an example, the first chapter could be compared to avarice. We therefore find sets with wads of banknotes and the hands of poor people in the background. In the third chapter dedicated to art, we will advance through scenes and curtains, with, in the background, blood-colored armchairs. The starization is at this price, ladies and gentlemen!

We feel that Arrowiz put his balls into the scenario and the atmosphere, and a little less into the graphics for Mato Anomalies. There is a discrepancy between the illustrations and the graphics in the dens, and it’s a shame! We would have liked consistency between cities and dungeons, graphically.

Between deck-building and turn-based lies the visual novel Mato Anomalies!

Yes, Mato Anomalies offers all that! You will have sequences of deck buildingof the turn-based combat, but also fairly quick periods of visual novel reading. Of course, it wouldn’t be a role-playing game if there weren’t exploration (brief, huh!), equipment to manage and fan service ! Oh no, there aren’t any here… In fact, it’s a mix of a lot of genres and they fit together pretty well.

Mato Anomalies comes in several gameplays, but not with the same protagonist. Indeed, you will embody Doe in the cities to carry out your investigations, when you will use Gram, your fighter, in the Doom Tide.

• city ​​exploration : With Doe, you will explore the neighborhoods in search of clues and clues to further your investigations. It consists only of walking and reading the scrolling texts. However, you will have secondary stories to listen to and read with your heroes who go to the Doomtide. It would have been nice, like a Lost Judgment, to make mini-games of clues to find in certain places.
• The caves : thanks to your savior Gram, you will be able to detect breaches and explore them. Three in number, you have access to the main lair, which can be explored only once. The annex lair which corresponds to the secondary quests and the random lairs. Random Dens are the heart of the game since this is where you will collect most of your equipment. More or less long, there will be a mental gauge to respect. If you exceed it, you will have to deal with penalties in combat that will lead you straight to the madness of Mato Anomalies! The camera sometimes struggles to follow the protagonist as they turn, so you’ll have to do it manually.
• Exploration and battles with Gram : In the Doomtide, you will descend there with Gram at the beginning, then later accompanied by other characters. Here the exploration is basic, you follow the path, collect the chests and face the enemies. The further you go, the more puzzles there are to piece together. Combat is turn-based against fairly twisted, but basically modeled monsters. It is important to notify you that there are weapon affinities and sensitivities! An ultimate yellow fills up with each hit and landed, and once full, trigger your ultimate skill!
• Equipment : Each character can use two different weapons with dedicated skill trees! You can therefore specialize or, on the contrary, be average everywhere. Enemies are therefore sensitive to certain types of damage and you will have to define which ones. The bestiary, important fact, does not indicate what their affinities are, you will have to remember them! Weapons evolve with the main scenario. Chapter 1 grants level 1 weapons and so on. There are other gears that affect the whole team. They are placed according to an evolving grid linked to your level. However, the developers have seen fit not to explain how this system works! However, it is strategic to know that these objects fit together and offer very important group advantages!
• The mind hack : When our friend Doe is blocked, he will have access to technology allowing him to enter the minds of people by force. This is where deck-building comes in. You have access to a predefined and non-modifiable deck of cards and you will have to make your victim speak. A mano à mano follows in which your interlocutor will defend himself thanks to demons. You will often have to eliminate these before you can get inside your enemy’s head. The system is basic, but well oiled. Other decks are unlocked by following the secondary quests, but you can never modify them. So study the decks well before embarking on the meanders and torments of your enemies.

This paragraph therefore describes what Mato Anomalies offers in terms of gameplay. I compared it a lot to personas. You have access to different lairs in which you will gain experience, items and equipment. It’s classic, it works well. Visual novel scenes cut into classic comics and dialogue. Everything is quite well balanced, because there is as much reading as time spent in the caves!

Conclusion of an aberration?

Yes, Mato Anomalies attacks, without hiding too much from it, our governmental institutions. Yes, it is worrying! Human beings will always be smarter than those who govern them, because they will always form small groups and networks to fight evil. And the ills of our society are many. Mato Anomalies imposes on the scenario side and we would have appreciated that they also amaze us.

These famous eyes that disappear on the faces of all the onlookers encountered. Finally, who do we want to be? An actor or an acceptor? Mato Anomalies questions, grinds, questions, and it’s all in our heads! Action trumps everything else. Mato Anomalies does not encourage extremism or war actions, just good, good for all !

It’s a beautiful story, which lacks graphics and endearing characters. Dens and various game systems could have been pushed, but Arrowiz is not Atlus ! And maybe these developers aren’t bound by investors who always want more. It’s a good job, but it lacks the ingredients to make it an incredible adventure.

Mato Anomalies will come out on March 10, 2023 on PS4 and PS5, Xbox One & Series, Switch and PC.

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Hello, hello 🙂 Laurent 40 years old, passionate about video games but about life in general. Lover of match 3 games and turn-based RPGs. Unconditional fan of Tales of Vesperia and Final Fantasy VIII. Creator of contrepèteries, lover of puns. Welcome !