I’m always on the fence when indie developers decide to take the helm on huge ambitious, nearly AAA titles. On one hand, it can bring studios that were originally conceived as talent-less to new heights, showing their ever growing ambition and status. But one wrong move, and things can become more than rocky, just look at the lost remains of companies such as Spark Unlimited, Airtight Games and more.
That’s where Anima: Gate of Memories comes in. Based in the lore of a somewhat obscure yet story plentiful Spanish series, the game was crowdfunded and was the first effort for the studio that created it. And after beating the game, I was happy to see such valiant efforts still being made in the industry. The sad part is, there’s still some room to grow.
Gameplay:
Anima: Gate of Memories is a combat heavy action adventure title with some role playing elements. For gamers familiar with those genre’s, the fusions sound like a familiar match made in heaven. And when focusing on some aspects of the game’s combat, it seems Anima Project (the developers) listened on creating something new, instead of relying on the fighting tactics of more popular titles such as the Batman Arkham series or Middle Earth Shadow Of Mordor. The wide amount of moves are responsive, and needed to make the whole effort feel less repetitive. Unfortunately, there are some other bumps in the road.
Story & Design:
For fans familiar with the source material and or heavily interested in fantasy, Anima: Gate of Memories will likely be a perfect fit. But for those looking for something slightly different, they’ll find this isn’t really the case. In this regard, that demographic might view the story as nonsensical and iffy, lessening the appeal of something with otherwise admirable features.
But alas, back to the combat. There is certainly diversity in your moveset, and the game tries to prevent players from spamming without strategy, but it just isn’t enough. I found that a simple dodge and aim could almost always do the trick, which was a little disheartening considering all the work that was put in, and how this nitpick could be avoided with more oversight.
Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:
For some games, dialogue can be complete filler, and this is the case for 90% of Anima Gate of Memories. There’s no attempts at self aware comedy or a distinctive tone, which is a shame that’s further brought down by awkward voice acting and some unnecessary tension. However, being a first effort by the studio, it’s something I learned to tune out, and I hope many other gamers are aware of this so this negative becomes more bearable.
Conclusion:
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.
Anima: Gate of Memories gets a 7/10 (Average)
We’d like to thank Badland Games for giving us a code!
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