There’s something to be said about the importance of the average. Works that are just fine. As a consumer, experiencing stories that excite us less renews our appreciation for good ones. As a creative, understanding just why something doesn’t work can help deepen your craft. With that kind of eye, you can even find something to love in the middling story itself.
With that kind of eye, you might just enjoy Mato Anomalies.
From developer Arrowiz, Mato Anomalies is a turn-based RPG heavily inspired by the likes of Persona. There’s even some Slay the Spire in there, but we’ll get to that. As private detective Doe, players must investigate the spread of a substance known as HANDOUT, and the emergence of an evil force known as the Bane Tide. After an introductory cutscene told in voiced comic panels, Doe is thrust into the city of Mato, ready to take on the case.
This stylish intro holds true to the rest of Mato Anomalies. Throughout the many districts of Mato, the aesthetic is palpable, and creates a great atmosphere. There are elements of steampunk, cyberpunk, neo-noir, and just about every other edgy-cool look that one might claim to try and be different. The score pairs well with the art style, creating a sense of place that truly evokes detective movies of old. Mato is a city on the brink, and the excellent crafting of its environments makes that precipice feel all too near.
Visual novel-style dialogue also enhances the experience. The character art is simply gorgeous. Drawn with clear care and attention to detail, each character sprite is well crafted, and fits the look of Mato Anomalies incredibly well. While not the most expressive, the sprites and more stylised splash pieces make engaging in conversations a fun time. The same can’t quite be said of the writing, however. There’s a lot of exposition, with many details getting lost in the density of some exchanges. New threads are constantly thrown at you, minor characters are major for a second then forgotten, and everything only ever feels loosely tied to the main conspiracy at hand. Even the most personable characters suffer here. Party members Gram and Butterfly have a great dynamic, but I remember just that: their dynamic. There’s only so much I can recall that is unique to them as individuals, instead of an aspect of their respective tropes. They and many others have their moments, but fall just short of being truly memorable.
This issue grows worse with the larger story at hand. While the elements for an interesting caper are there, they’re simply not used well. Take Rich, the first major villain of the story. Rich is a greedy capitalist who has bought up almost every company in his industry, and actively harms normal people’s lives with his greed. Throughout the first chapter, he’s mentioned a couple of times. His influence on the populace is shown through throwaway side characters. He even shows up at one point, for a Persona 5-style warning scene that triggers his dungeon. But that’s about it. Despite such alleged importance to Mato’s hierarchy of power, Rich amounts to little more than a tutorial boss. He’s a cartoonishly greedy goon, forgotten almost immediately after the first chapter. What little connection he has to the greater plot feels weak. This issue is prevalent throughout Mato Anomalies, dragging down the main story’s pace.
In much the same fashion, combat and exploration in Mato Anomalies are a mixed bag. Overworld exploration is great, with striking environments, great sound design, and cats to pet. Then comes the dungeons. Mechanically, there’s enough diversity to keep things interesting for a spell. Regular combat takes place in Lairs, otherworldly dungeons that all party members except Doe can enter. Dungeon crawling is slow, and a run button would’ve been greatly appreciated. The dungeons themselves look alright, themed after the current villain and their major sin. Their puzzles, layouts, and enemy design, however, are all simple. A bit too simple, given how many Lairs you’ll have to go through in a single chapter. You’ll face the same enemy types about five or six times in as many similarly laid out Lairs, side missions notwithstanding. It can get repetitive fast. This isn’t helped by the combat itself clumsily treading the line between refreshingly simple and downright bothersome.
Lair combat is a traditional turn-based affair, and it can be quite fun once the rhythm sets in. Party members always go first, and have a selection of attacks and buffs to use. There’s no mana or SP, with a basic attack always available and more powerful moves on various cooldowns after use. Interestingly, HP is shared between team members. There’s only one bar to be aware of, which adds to the tension when enemies strike weaknesses. Yet, for all its clever mechanics, combat in Mato Anomalies lacks any impact. The strategic element is there, but the attack affinity system is rudimentary. Plus, half the joy of turn-based combat comes from attacks feeling good to land. Bombastic animations, crisp sound design, reactive characters; all of these things add excitement to the formula. Lacking any of them, Mato misses out on the things that could elevate its combat. Instead, it focuses on a lot of… other things.
There are gears: augments which provide percentage-based stat boosts. There is loot: weapons which provide percentage-based stat boosts. There are skill trees: upgrades which provide percentage-based stat boosts. Are you starting to see a dull, repetitive pattern here? At key points in the story, you’ll have to force characters to share information that can progress the investigation. Rather than resort to interrogation or cheap tricks, Doe ignores coercion and consent and just hacks people’s minds. Mind hacking is a card battler, in which you play cards to use moves against the host you’re trying to hack and the demons protecting them. It plays just like Slay the Spire, except without any of the fun animations, intuitive combat design, or thought put into the cards. You can collect different decks, though, and these do… absolutely nothing to alleviate the slog of the mind hacks.
And therein lies the biggest issue with Mato Anomalies. The game simply tries to do too much. Loot, gears, cards, regular battles, exploration, sub-exploration with side quests, a grandiose main story; the poor thing suffers under the weight of its own ambition. The worst part is the clear potential. The aesthetic remains consistently brilliant outside of combat. Side quests do a great job at worldbuilding, and made me more invested. The main characters are cute, and at times so fun to be around. Their story just isn’t fun to play.
Ultimately, a mystery must make good use of intrigue, character, and a spot of spectacle. In all three aspects, Mato Anomalies makes respectable attempts. Yet, the pieces never quite mesh together as they should. By the end of the first chapter, I did a full about-turn from unimpressed to actually quite curious to progress. Halfway through chapter 5, I fell back somewhere between those two states. By chapter 7, I realised my mood hadn’t moved, and outside of its narrative, neither had the game. The art is great, the story is not, and the combat remains middling at best. All the while, the potential for a great time lingers. Vibes can sometimes be enough to carry a game, but for something as ambitious as the city of Mato, that reliance feels like quite the anomaly indeed.
Sarim played Mato Anomalies on PS5 with a code provided by the publisher. Mato Anomalies is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
