Anima: Gate of Memories Reviews
Anima: Gate of Memories is a solid action/RPG that would have easily slipped under my radar. It is longer than I expected, and continuously spices things up with new enemy types and puzzles throughout. I had a blast with this game, and it surprised me at almost every turn.
Anima: Gate of Memories is a crushing disappointment. There are plenty of places where the love Anima Project’s team has for its world is evident, but they’re buried under an avalanche of stunningly poor design choices. Being forced to listen to the terrible voice acting and relentlessly unfunny humor of protagonist Ergo made me wish for his quick and agonizing death — but even he’s not as painful as the game’s punishingly poor level design. Maybe there’s a way to make the world of this tabletop RPG fun and interesting when translated to the video game medium, but the developers sure didn’t find it this time around.
Anima: Gate of Memories is a somewhat memorable, competent action platformer. It’s best strengths are pulled down by some noticeable flaws, but it’s nothing to criminal to bring the whole game toppling down. So as it stands, when you got some money in your digital wallet and have bustled through every AAA role player with general fatigue, you can do a lot worse than Anima to alleviate these feelings.
The highs are damn high, but the lows might be too low for some. It’s going to be a very hit or miss game depending on how you interpret the issues, but for me, this is one that stands out regardless.
Much of the time in this review was spent bagging on Anima: Gate of Memories’ many, many (many) flaws.
The fact of the matter is: Anima: Gate of Memories just isn’t fun. It’s not that the puzzles themselves are bad, nor that the lack of handholding is a huge deterrent in itself. Yet, the game gives very little feedback as to where to go, features mediocre combat and poor visual presentation to boot, whilst featuring some of the most hackneyed narrative and voice acting of recent years.
If you're a fan of Nier and looking to get your fix until the proper sequel is out, it is easy to recommend Anima. RPGs rarely hold my attention but I happily sank my time into this one no problem. There's enough quality content here that it feels like the developer or publisher is selling itself short by setting the price so low, as I would have easily been satisfied with this at double the price. It's even more impressive knowing the game was developed by three people. Just know going in that toward the end, you're going to be frustrated with some boss fights, pending the developers don't tweak them in a future update.
Anima: Gate of Memories is a classic example of a developer trying to create something bigger than they're capable of. The game attempts to be a grand RPG with platforming and puzzles, and yet it fails to pull off any of those mechanics off.
So, again, there’s nothing overtly wrong with Anima. It works, and it is, mechanically, a competent action RPG. What lets it down is that it is so painfully artificial. I tend to think it’s a consequence of relatively inexperienced developers having major ambition, and I don’t begrudge them for that, but at every turn Anima really does try to force itself into an experience well beyond what the team was capable of pulling off.
Anima: Gate of Memories is a great Action Adventure RPG especially for those that loved that older style that hasn’t been seen much in the recent years. With environments to puzzle through, loads of combat to keep one occupied and grind experience on, there’s no shortage of things to do on The Bearer and Ergo’s exploration of the Tower in order to challenge The Messengers that have come to bring about the end.
It may sound like i'm being too hard on Anima: Gates of Memories but the truth is I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. After getting used to the camera and the awkward lock-on system I found a lot to enjoy, and the Arcane Tower hides many secrets and additional side quests to expand your playtime. Gates of Memories’ fantastic world building made me want to invest in the actual pen and paper game; in fact, I’ve already gone ahead and ordered one of the books. The great boss fights and incredible music brings its mystical locations to life even though some of them can be bland.
Anima: Gate of Memories is a game filled with potential that it generally fails to execute.
Anima: Gate Of Memories is probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had on PS4 so far. Boring combat mixed with unlikable and frankly sexist characters, give me no real reason to recommend this game to anyone. Avoid.
Reminding me of cult hit Nier, Anima: Gate of Memories has its issues, but a lot of them can be forgiven thanks to how charming the game is and how interesting the world surrounding it is.
Anima: Gate of Memories is going to appeal to those who enjoy dark action-RPGs, as it has many of the necessities, along with some improvements that make it comparable within the genre. It's tainted because there are many inconsistencies between quality throughout it, which are notable and many times hard to forgive, and which drag the game down.
I want to like Anima: Gate of Memories – and, to some extent, I do – but the character flaws and clichés, the shaky combat system, and the absolutely droll and horrific dialogue (YouTube the Reading Ergo) pull down a title that, with a little more polish or a more experienced development team, could have succeeded on multiple levels.
I liked my time with the game for my Anima: Gate of Memories review. It’s a fun action-RPG with solid gameplay mechanics and an interesting story that you should definitely try on PlayStation 4. I look forward to seeing what the studio does next. Who knows, we might get a sequel to this one!
Overall I didn’t really have a good time with Anima: Gate of Memories – The Nameless Chronicles. It was way too boring and easy for a game that tries to mix RPG elements with Bayonetta & Devil May Cry – The gameplay was a slog and the story was mediocre; the only things I found interesting at most were the art style for the most part and the music.
Now available on Nintendo Switch as Anima: Gate of Memories: Arcane Edition, this innovative Action JRPG game is full of good intention, great storyline, and solid gameplay even if it's not technically on par with bigger budget games.
Even with the game’s other failings, compelling and tight combat could have been a real saving grace...