Thoughts on ANNO: Mutationem after a 1st playthrough

_{(Keep in mind these thoughts on the game are based on my experience after completing it back in October of 2022.)}

Cliff Notes:

• Combat is easy to grasp n' it's enjoyable to control for the most part.
• Enemy design ranges from serviceable to boring.
• Wish the game would let me use the d-pad for movement.
• Side quest stuff were fun distractions or gave me ok rewards.
• Fantastic visuals n' soundtrack.
• Story n' characters were ok.

Spoilers for gameplay n' story below.

Player Control:
I've played the first initial Steam demo of ANNO n' remember how stiff Ann felt. The dodge didn't have i-frames, you couldn't cancel attack animations outside of other attacks, n' jumping felt awkward. I might be miss rememberin' it, but Ann definitely felt stiffer to control.

Playing Ann now? It's such a drastic improvement. Attack animations can be canceled with dodges, guards, n' jumps. Jumping no longer feels sluggish to control mid-air. Hell, ThinkingStars even implemented command inputs n' for some attacks, like quarter circles! Makes me wish movement could be bound to the d-pad. Though, a lot of that comes from muscle memory from playin' 2D games, but the option would be nice.

Props to ThinkingStars for creatin' Ann's core combat mechanics fun to use.

Enemy Design:
While I like how simple n' enjoyable ANNO's combat is, its enemy design leaves a lot to be desired.

If you have a good grasp on how Ann controls, enemies end up as combo fodder, but then the game introduces heavy enemies (heavies) with a blue bar above their health bar ya need to be mindful of. This blue bar has heavies resisting launcher attacks n' most hit-stun until it's depleted. Even if you deplete the blue bar, heavies go into timed daze state that limits your option to a "Kill Move" that either kills 'em or significantly cuts their health down.

I can appreciate why heavies exist—to give some sort of challenge—but this starts to become a problem since it pigeonholes the interactions with 'em. Which, also brings some bosses having the same problem. Giant enemy crab, wack his blue bar down, n' press button to do big damage. Sure, there are options you have with Ann on how fast the blue bar dwindles, but ya still have to interact with that blue bar.

The blue bar ends up feelin' like stopgap. Why would I bother tryin' to use the cool command inputs, charge attacks, pause combos, or launchers if half the enemy pool won't react to 'em? Well, heavies not reacting to what I listed above is mostly true. Heavies can be put into a knocked down state with charge attacks. I still need to experiment how, n' if, I can make it consistent. Though, I think stopgap is the right word since what charge attacks can do gives me the impression that ThinkingStars were planning something more to the enemies.

What the enemy design is now feels like a messy foundation n' it's gonna need refinement. What that refinement is? I'll leave that for the devs to ponder on.

Story & Characters:
Shallow. That's puttin' it concisely. Either not takin' advantage of its cyberpunk setting or character's arcs reachin' their conclusions in a boring way, there's nothing substantial that stood out to me. Like, there's character moments where I'd go: "Wow, that's nice... wish their was somethin' significant prior that lead up to it."

I was much more interested in the dynamics n' history of Ann's foster family than her being the key to communicating with inter-dimensional worlds. I think that if Ann's foster family played more of a major role than just her brother n' Ayane I'd be more invested honestly. With what I got... it was cute or serviceable, but not fantastic.

Ayane n' Ann though? They kinda build pesbian. Anyway, Ann has her moments, but she definitely feels like I'm watching paint dry. At least it's blue paint. Ayane? Well... she likes Ann a lot (omg they're "roommates") n' she's a hecker. I won't say much about the rest of the cast in Anno, since the game doesn't really say much about 'em. Feels like characters just say their piece n' they're gone.

Sorry if my criticism doesn't make much sense here. I'm really strugglin' to say somethin' constrictive because I lost interest in what character's motivations were a bit before the halfway point of the game. So, take what I say above with a grain of salt.

Presentation:
I love 2D sprites in 3D environments. That shit's my jam! Art direction of the backgrounds n' settings is primo! I love it. More of it please.

Vanguard Sound made some heat. God like OST.Some of my favs: Rum And Coke, Rooftop, Absalom, n' Here They Come.

Conclusion:
ThinkingStars are definitively a studio I'll be keeping my eye on. I may not be 100% positive on all of their gameplay ideas or their characters/story, but I see how earnest they are with this game and that makes me want to support 'em.

Might get a better feel for gameplay n' story with new game plus.