PC Critic Reviews

ANNO: Mutationem is an exciting and welcome addition to the world of cyberpunk gaming. The amount it presents within the short timeframe is astonishing. There's always something to keep you attentive, whether it be the gorgeous pixel art, the enjoyable boss fights, or the deep narrative. Yet, ANNO does well to not overstay its welcome and instead presents a beautiful experience that engulfs you into a different reality.

ANNO: Mutationem features rich gameplay, a twisted story and smooth combat. With its unique pixel style, it offers a cyberpunk world worth exploring.

Excellent, punchy side-scrolling combat against diverse and interesting enemies is almost enough by itself to make Anno: Mutationem an easy recommendation. When you add in the neon urban sprawl of Skopp City, bursting with flavor and character around every corner, it gets even easier. An unwieldy plot and less than amazing script show that if the project was missing one thing, it was probably an editor. But none of that stopped me from thoroughly enjoying all the things it did well.

YEAR: Mutationem is an extremely fascinating project, divided between the freedom of its open map structure and the direct simplicity of its 2D action sections.

A nice action/RPG in a cyberpunk background, with a beautiful and unique personality, but with a plot that falls short.

ANNO: Mutationem is the classic half-baked cake: excellent in its premises, flawless in some aspects, but weak in others.

With its impeccable artistic direction, ANNO: Mutationem houses an animated universe that is very pleasant to browse for its superb pixel-art in 2.5D and its bluffing depth. Too bad the storyline it houses, though prominent in experience, is so disjointed and hard to follow. The experience makes up for it with a good RPG dimension and its correct combat sequences if not fully sensational.

As it stands, this is a tough one to recommend as long as the bugs persist, but it may be worth checking out after a patch or two to resolve the more blatant issues.

ANNO: Mutationem definitely has its charm in its niche aesthetic. The amalgamation of 3D environments with the 2D sprites works quite well with the cyberpunk setting, evoking a pleasant PS One feeling. It’s a shame then that the story is derivative and nonsensical in many ways. It doesn’t help that the action is borderline generic albeit there is a commendable effort for an expansive bestiary of regular mobs and bosses.

ANNO: Mutationem had a lot of promise, but ended up spread far too thin. Both the exploration and combat lack any sort of depth, the story is nonsensical, and the sprite work looks ugly in motion.