Mato Anomalies Reviews
Mato Anomalies was a kind of game that pushed me away and pulled me in frequently. I found Doe’s investigative side to be boring outside of good story bits and the Mind-Hack card battle segments. Meanwhile, between the Gear system and skill cooldown system, exploring the Rifts and fighting the Bane Tide would be really fun, if not for the lack of enemy variety and non-stop one-liners. The story was good enough to help me look past some of the issues, but ultimately Mato Anomalies has a lot of repetitive annoyances that keep it from being better than many of the RPGs it borrows from.
Mato Anomalies can be tiring with its proposal, but it also glues you to the controller with its story and its characters, its atmosphere and its melodies.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Mato Anomalies is an ambitious and stylish RPG, but one that ultimately has too many issues to really recommend.
Mato Anomalies tries too hard to please everyone through various genres. It tells a good story when it wants to, but presenting it in three different styles doesn't always work for the best. The long-winded conversations will make your mind wonder quite a bit until it gets to the point. Thankfully its character design is good, and the soundtrack keeps you occupied. Though it features a decent combat system, getting going can take some time. The biggest downfall of Mato Anomalies is the card battle mechanic that constantly leaves you in an unfair position dragging your progression to a standstill.
With its engaging story, charming cast of characters, and solid RPG mechanics, Mato Anomalies is a game that all role-playing game fans will enjoy, especially fans of the Persona series, by which the game is greatly influenced. Lack of innovation, dull turn-based combat and a wonky English localization impact the experience, but not enough to make it unworthy of a look from fans of the genre.
Mato Anomalies is a tough sell; it features some fresh ideas and concepts (which should be applauded) but fails to create a compelling core gameplay loop in the process. With so many other other excellent turn-based titles demanding your attention, it fails to provide a compelling reason to undertake this surreal journey.
Mato Anomalies is a video game with an interesting premise, but with an execution that is barely capable of keeping up with other turn-based RPGs. Its noir atmospheres mixed with a cyberpunk setting are extremely seductive, but under the bonnet of an interesting vintage car there is an engine whose roar really fails to impress.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you’re in the mood for biting social commentary and atmospheric dystopian cyberpunk, play Mato Anomalies. Otherwise, you can safely skip this title. It will make a certain kind of gamer very happy. I certainly had fun in the city of Mato.
At the end of the day, Mato Anomalies feels like a budget title with a lot of things going for it. It has some decent mechanics and some interesting story bits if you are willing to read a lot. The RPG side of the game can have some difficulty spikes and level grinding side dungeons will be needed in some instances, but for RPG fans and visual novel fans, if you can get past the different mechanics and are willing to learn some unconventional ones, this could be a decent experience for you even with the lower budget feel.
Mato Anomalies is an ambitious indie attempt to create a Persona-like RPG romp through neo-futuristic Shanghai. There's no shortage of good ideas in the mix here, with flashes of inspiration in the fusing of turn-based dungeon combat, mind-hacking card games and stylish visual novel elements. However, for all the ambition on display, it's let down by uninspired combat, repetitive level design, clunky exploration, frustrating card mechanics and writing that just never manages to engage. This one's not entirely without merit, but overall it's an experience that'll test your patience far more than it manages to entertain.
Mato Anomalies is a solid visual novel with an engrossing story that will keep you hooked as you meet new characters and experience how they interact. While other mechanics in the game fall somewhat short, players are afforded certain options to clear through them faster and get back to the story without much hassle.
A highly powerful piece of visual imagery that manages to overcome its humble origins with a DNA-proof will and sheer hard personal effort.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
There are several aspects of Mato Anomalies that do not work as we would have liked. Although interesting and engaging, the narrative scaffolding is in fact slowed down by the presence of long-winded dialogues (moreover not dubbed) in visual novel style, while the playful system does not offer particularly original solutions.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mato Anomalies is a prime example of the journey being more important than the destination.
The Digital Shadows DLC is a surprisingly welcome return to the futuristic city of Mato.
Mato Anomalies loses itself with too many systems, mechanics, and story-telling styles. While ambitious, it never gets good at any of the things it tries to do, which makes the overall experience lackluster at best.
There's clearly passion and commitment behind Mato Anomalies, which is a strange container of a lot of ideas. The problem is that none of these is properly developed, and, unfortunately, the final result is even less than the sum of its parts.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Apart from its unique supernatural style and art design, there are hardly any highlights to be found in Mato Anomalies. The plot is disjointed and the storytelling is confusing. The combat and exploration elements are not well designed, and there are a number of problems that detract from the overall experience. Playing the game can be quite an ordeal.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Mato: Anomalies is a very flawed RPG that tried. It had big ideas in its story but god bless anyone who is fat-brained enough to understand it. The gameplay has small sparks of creativity, but it is lost under the woefully low-budget presentation.
Mato Anomalies had picked the right kind of experience to ape. The Persona series is consistently the most intelligent and thought-provoking in the JRPG genre. The developers have also done a decent effort to understand the thematic basis of those games, and at least attempt their own spin on it. Unfortunately, whether for a lack of resources or an inability to bring the creative elements together cohesively enough, Mato Anomalies’ greatest achievement is simply demonstrating just how hard it really is to make a game like Persona 3, 4 and 5.