On March 17, Anno: Mutation was officially released.
Since its debut in the second phase of Sony's "China Star Program" in 2019, this game has gained a lot of attention with its outstanding graphics performance and theme style. However, the release of pigeons in the following years has made many players who have already put it on their wish lists forget about its existence.
Today, it seems that this new product, which combines the elements of cyberpunk and the "SCP Foundation", does not seem to have fully captured the hearts of players. At present, the Steam platform has a 64% praise rate, and word of mouth is quite polarized. In terms of plot, action gameplay and other dimensions, it has triggered a more intense discussion among players.
So what exactly was the experience of Anno: Mutation?
The game didn't take long, and I was able to complete the game in a weekend. It has unusually bright places, and there are also doubtful and regrettable parts, and it is worth talking about today.
You'll get most of the trophies when you clear the level, okay
Depth, angle and light
If I had to say a reason why Anno: Mutation is worth experiencing, it would only be "visual effects."
The game's main "2D + 3D" pixel style screen, in my opinion, is not a gimmick or a head, but the soul of this work. It is a creative retro, a kind of innovative nostalgia, the game cleverly borrows 3D techniques to fill the delicate 2D pixel world, and the outstanding visual expression and cyberpunk elements blend together to make this game's charm.
Entering the game, the first thing that broke my heart the most was the wonderful "sense of depth". In the exploration section, Anno: Mutation adds "one axis" more than the usual 2D side-scrolling game. This allows players to "go inside" to explore a more three-dimensional world of pixels.
Seemingly simple padding brings a terrifying workload that can be imagined, as well as a sense of immersion that is difficult to reach in conventional 2D side-scrolling. As you control the protagonist to walk out of the house and through the narrow aisle to the crowded square, you'll see an ever-expanding world of pixels coming towards you.
With the addition of Y-axis movements, Anno: Mutations also allowed more perspectives to be incorporated, thus filling in the gaps between scene transitions and plot performances. These natural perspective shifts run through the game, completely breaking the single perspective of pixel games in the past.
For example, when the protagonist opens a door, the game will naturally turn to the main perspective.
This indoor-to-outdoor switch is too poking me.
In addition to the depth of exploration and angle conversion, the design of "Light and Shadow" is also a very surprising place for "Anno: Mutation".
The sunlight that shines into the room at the beginning, the dim lights in the corridors, the dazzling neon on the streets of Noctis, the sparkling sea under the moonlight, the look and feel of different light sources and the matching shadows are particularly appropriate. The resulting strong chiaroscuro contrast has greatly contributed to the game's needs in narrative and atmosphere creation.
This practice of bringing modern lighting to the pixel world, with limited experience, I have only had a similar feeling in "The Eight Travelers" in recent years. This feeling is actually a little strange, because the beam of light does not belong to that world, but it makes this world come alive.
There must be light!
The graphics of Anno: Mutations rekindled my passion for the game's visual performance. Because it not only has a fine pixel picture and bold art design, but also let me see many new ideas. The wonderful look and feel of 2D+3D has completely pulled me into the world, and I have already immersed myself in the atmosphere of the game before I really appreciate the narrative of the game.
A full world with a fragmented narrative
After blowing up the picture performance of "Anno: Mutation", I would like to talk about a content dimension that surprises and regrets me at the same time: world construction and narrative expression.
I believe that many players who are interested in this game are because of the graphics and themes. And "Anno: Mutation" does a good job of stylizing visual expression, showing the beauty of cyberpunk themes. Unfortunately, the large creative ambition makes my comprehensive experience quite fragmented.
In terms of world construction, the selection of the production team of Anno: Mutation is very clever. After designing a few regional sections with different styles, they began to stack content frantically in a not very large area. If you go to an indoor or outdoor scene, you can see the details stuffed, which is undoubtedly a great way to improve the player's sense of substitution. Although the scale of the scene is limited, the information density is very high, and the feeling of "chaotic and full" is very appetizing to me.
indoors
outside
On top of this, the game is filled with trash picking, hacking games, small note narratives, collecting movie posters and trick cats, and interesting side events that allow players to engage in limited but effective interactions. Although there are not many things you can do in this world, there is a wonderful illusion that "what you see is what you get", and the brain automatically feels the thickness of the world.
You'll remember the robot-run food stalls, the bookstores selling the Tao Te Ching, the manhole covers living in the sewers, the people who shake your hands while bartending, and the drunken fans in nightclubs. This kind of strangeness within reach makes the world completely alive. Many of the world senses that large-scale open worlds fail to create, but Anno: Mutation has done so to a certain extent.
The somatosensory bartending shook my hands cramping
In addition, I also appreciate the sentiment and humor of the production team.
The TV in the antique shop is the FC masterpiece "F1 Racing", the protagonist's bar can play "Pong", please come out of these grandfather-level video game classics, to tell the soul and fun of the game of this carrier, I still eat this set.
Atari's "Pong"
Cyber worship, the righteous corgi dog, the mobile phone in the shelter, and the corn man who spit on the well-known director are also the bridges that make me feel very interesting.
How it feels to be in connotation Nolan
But as the game progressed to the box level and battle portion, the theme of Anno: Mutations took a noticeable shift. If the exploration part is to shop in the cyberpunk world and appreciate the customs and customs of hackers, artificial intelligence, bioengineering and other elements, then the main line that occupies a considerable part of the game is unfolding with a theme story similar to the "SCP Foundation".
From the moment the player enters the sewers, we will be involved in the double suspense of the heroine's search for her brother and self-awakening, and under the guidance of the mysterious organization, we will kill all the way to the bottom of the committee that contains strange creatures to uncover the earth-shattering conspiracy behind the buried world.
Logically, this part should also be attractive. The origin of the heroine's life and the many strange creatures in the committee are very strong plot grippers. Isn't the powerful boss similar to SCP-682's "Immortal Lizard" and the protagonist's body pulling another cool "she" are all good gimmicks?
But in my personal experience, the unfolding of this section is so fragmented and abrupt that it feels as if I have suddenly crossed into another game. The two major plot sections of cyberpunk and the committee only use a simple clue such as "find a brother" to take turns to present, which is not rude. In particular, the cyberpunk part is obviously much more interesting than the content of the committee, which makes the two narrative sections conflict with each other, making it difficult to form a complete and smooth experience.
In addition, a major problem in the main line is the particularly "Japanese" narrative method of "Anno: Mutation".
If you often watch Japanese anime and manga, this game will definitely make you feel a strong sense of déjà vu. The protagonist with the "other personality", the mysterious organization involved in the safety of the world, the supporting role group of riddle people, various proper nouns... Does this remind you of "God Stick Blockbusters" like Evangelion?
Some of the imagery of the game is really a bit of an EVA flavor
I'm not saying that this kind of expression is bad, I personally like this style of nagging and throwing high-concept words. But this kind of narrative will be very demanding for the creator: if you can't naturally lay the groundwork in the process and give a logical and shocking result at the final unveiling moment, then the consequences will be very serious.
Some of the players' reviews
Spoilers are avoided here, not to mention the problem of direction, but "Epoch: Mutation" has now triggered a large number of players to complain about the plot, so that players who stay up late to hit two points can't help but shout "disgusting", which is already very telling. In the final chapter of the mission, the dialogue subtitles of some characters do not match the dubbing, and the subtitle transmission errors allow the player to understand the mistakes of deviation, which exposes the lack of control of the production team in the narrative.
Official optimization statement
Overall, I recognize the potential of Anno: Mutation in terms of narrative and world-building. However, the overly blunt division of plot elements and the unsatisfactory presentation of the final chapter plot are regrettable.
Compared with the "rare beasts" in the laboratory, I still hope to see more interesting events such as apartment murders, virtual idol real bodies, rock musicians selling their memories. Their appearance makes the whole game full of spirit. If the production team is actually not here, and the committee part is the focus, then I can only "buy the pearl and return the pearl".
Solid but mediocre gameplay
Against the backdrop of the graphics and world construction, the parts of the game that need to be "played" make me a little uninterested.
It's not that the level design and horizontal action gameplay of Anno: Mutation are so bad, on the contrary, the gameplay structure of the game can be described as very mature and solid. You'll experience good three-dimensional levels, trap decryption and platform jumping, from the Galaxy Castlevania-like "unlocking ability to go back" to the "shortcut" that makes people suddenly open. The game has a certain level of design skills in level and art design.
Three-dimensional levels
As for the action level, Anno: Mutation is also not ambiguous. In the fast-paced horizontal attack and defense, a set of ideas for breaking the shield and killing is introduced. The mature ACT system of various combos of light and heavy long-range weapons, defensive counterattacks, and transformation and opening up, "Era: Mutation" has been presented in a more adequate manner. Even the game has tried to introduce some hardcore rubbing content, allowing players to move through directions such as "front and front".
You come and go in fast-paced battles
Unfortunately, the lack of action coherence, weapon values, and operating feel (the vibration adaptation of the PS5 controller has added a lot of points) is not enough for players to completely calm down and practice and ponder repeatedly. Many players have opened the path of blind pressing + drugging after getting the double-edged edge.
Double-edged can greatly improve the speed of combat
At the same time, the combat content matched by this action system is also relatively straight forward, and there are not many places that can be played repeatedly. At a glance, the cultivation line that looks at the head, the weapon chip collocation that is better than nothing, are also quite superficial. Whether in depth or breadth, the battles of Anno: Mutation are not very completely combustible.
Concise cultivation system
The full acceptance of the mainstream action mode in the gameplay makes the game look particularly solid and mature, but at the same time it is not too eye-catching. I think Anno: Mutation might be more appropriate for the kind of model that revolves around a featured system, like the sword-drawing slash in Katana Zero that revolves around time stops. The heterogeneous gameplay that highly shows the characteristics of the characters undoubtedly highlights the overall style of the game.
If Anno: Mutations still wants to be a little more fun, in addition to polishing the action details, more modes and deeper combat memory points are necessary.
Aura and ambition
Admittedly, Anno: Mutation isn't perfect enough, but I think it's very spirited and ambitious.
Even if its ending makes many players angry, and its gameplay is not refreshing enough, it is not the kind of banal work that will be completely forgotten.
It's intense, dazzling, passionate, and expressive, and even the name Anno: Mutation drags its feet and fails to amplify its core appeal. During the experience of more than ten hours, I was surprised and anxious, but all kinds of opinions also broke out after the clearance - it at least had the attraction of letting me pass the level in one breath.
Of course, Anno: Mutation should make good on its promise to players who have been waiting for years as soon as possible to get the polishing and modifications in place. But what I wanted myself, under the neon streets last weekend, had already been fully felt.
Here, I also sincerely hope that domestic creators will have the opportunity to show their spirit and ambition, which is the new era I look forward to.