Recently, Prime Matter and the Arrowiz studio announced the upcoming arrival of Mato Anomalies, a JRPG set in a dystopian universe. On the occasion of the Japan Expo, we were able to try a preview demo for about forty minutes on PC. The opportunity for us to know if it is a title to watch.
A Shin Megami Tensei atmosphere?
Let us first specify that the Arrowiz studio is based in Shanghai. Mato Anomalies is therefore one of those Chinese games inspired by JRPGs. If miHoYo could do wonders with Genshin Impact, why not him? After finishing the demo and gathering information about the game, we understand that we should clearly not expect a big budget production. We would place it more alongside titles like Tokyo Xanadu or The Caligula Effect. Despite everything, it does not lack charm with an atmosphere that we are not really used to seeing.
The game takes place in Mato, a neo-futuristic city inspired by Old Shanghai. We play Doe, a detective who will investigate mysterious entities that threaten the city. This demo gave us the starting point for this objective. Our hero was thus entrusted with a case that led him to a suspicious cargo in a port of the metropolis. Without really knowing how, he finds himself transported to an unknown place with a particular decor that is reminiscent of those of the games Shin Megami Tensei with a tone that is both nightmarish and psychedelic.
Inside, he is attacked by monsters invulnerable to the bullets of his revolver. Fortunately, he is saved in extremis by Gram, an exorcist with the power to fight these creatures. Despite very different characters, our shock duo will work together to learn more about these anomalies.
In short, Doe takes care of all the investigation part by exploring the city and talking to NPCs while Gram takes care of the fights against the monsters. A rather nice appetizer thanks to the first exchanges already establishing a good chemistry between our two heroes, even if we expect to see more when the other protagonists enter the scene.
Game mechanics still unclear
Difficult to make a really convincing first impression with these first steps. You should also know that the game is still in development and therefore some defects reported here may have disappeared during the final release. Mato Anomalies seems to have a solid artistic direction all the same. Between the city which offers very nice plans and the dungeons that we have just mentioned, we can expect a rather intriguing adventure. We also appreciate the chara-design of the characters and the “photo novel” dialogues for the important moments.
On the other hand, the title seems to have gaps graphically. This can be seen especially in town with aliasing and appearances of identical NPCs in particular. We are still waiting to see if the city will offer us more than fairly cramped areas. The tutorial tells us that there will be additional content, so we can hope for it. Doe will have to take the subway quite often (represented by a map of the zones) to get to the four corners of the metropolis and question people who are sometimes quite recalcitrant. To make them spill the beans, he can participate in psychic battles that take the form of a card game where you have to drop the enemy’s bar to zero.
You can either attack him directly or attack the demons in his mind to weaken him. This sequence did not really convince us (and we do not know what the scope of this mini-game will be or even if we will be able to create decks) unlike the fights which look much more promising. We stay on classic turn-based with a fairly neat aesthetic. Again, we’ve only scratched the surface via the tutorial. In short, there are still many unknowns in this Mato Anomalies, but this first contact makes us want to know more. Above all, expect a fairly independent production that does not lack charm and originality.
We therefore advise you to keep an eye on it until the developers release more information through gameplay. Note that it will be available in 2023 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch and PC in dematerialized and physical version. It will have texts in French and will offer the choice between English and Japanese voices.
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