Mato Anomalies Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · March 10, 2023

This Mato Anomalies Review takes players on a journey through a neo-futuristic version of a bygone oriental city. Investigate strange happenings across the city and uncover secrets behind the walls. Join a cast of enigmatic unlikely heroes in this anime-inspired RPG experience.

Mato Anomalies Review Pros:

Beautiful graphics.
4.4GB download size.
Three voice languages – English, Japanese, and Chinese.
Three difficulties – Easy, normal, and hard.
Battle speed can be normal or fast.
Controller settings – Invert axis and sensitivity sliders.
Game text can be auto-played, skipped, or fast-forwarded. Has a handy text log so you can reread parts.
Multiple choice encounters.
In-game cutscenes are presented in a comic book-style way as frames pop up as you play them.
Your journal houses – character profiles, terminology, historical events, lair archives, a Mato guidebook, tutorials, and factions.
Main and side story missions.
Save and load when you want.
Your game has a playtime timer.
Gameplay is a mix of 3D adventures and a visual novel.
A handy navigation/compass bar shows the current main quest, tracked side quest, untracked side quest, and new side quest.
Your map is like a neon London underground map that animates when you select a place.
Full 3D camera control.
Turn-based combat.
Find cool neon block chests for loot.
The atmosphere is really gripping and intriguing.
Mind hack combat is where you literally go inside your host’s brains and have to break down their defenses whilst protecting yours. It’s a card-based battler with action points, and two types of cards – attack and defense.
Mind combat is turn-based, every turn you keep unused cards and get 3 action points and up to 4 cards.
Demons can appear in mind-hack combat and have their own attacks and intentions. The thing is demons never die they respawn after a set amount of turns adding strategy to taking them out.
Very in-depth and easy-to-follow tutorial for mind combat and the game type itself is pretty self-explanatory with clear card text.
Quirky side quests.
You can pet the street animals.
Handy icons on the map for the many mission types.
Full team management once you acquire party members like equipping gear, leveling up, and setting abilities.
Unlock new cards, decks, and card backs for the mind hack combat.
Cool menus from the party screens to the inventory where you can view 3D models of items and gear.
Mato is the name of the world you are in and it’s a fantastical mix of neon, cash, technology, and destitution.
Shops can be unlocked following the completion of their unlock requirements and here you can buy and sell items.
Has a Persona feel to it all from the structure of the dungeon to the way the story is told.
The cinema is where you go to rewatch cutscenes and re-read/watch the comics.
You play as different characters for example Gram does the lairs whilst Doe does all the legwork.
Earn EXP and level up to get talent points to put into the three talent trees, you also get stats to boost.
Reset talent points at any time, the price goes up each time.
Shortcuts on the D-pad to quickly equip new gear and attach/upgrade gears (modifiers).
Gram (party member) has a house and here you take on lairs (dungeons) and you can do the story, side mission, and random lairs for loot and resources.
Ultimate moves can be earned and equipped, they charge up over fights.
Auto battle unlocks later and lets you just watch the combat.
Mutated mutants are harder fights with greater rewards.

Mato Anomalies Review Cons:

No touchscreen support.
The performance especially in the game world is choppy at times.
Cannot rebind controls.
Invisible walls.
So much information to take in.
The mind-hack combat is daunting for the first few games.
Loading times are long in places.
The beginning hour or so is a lot of back and forth.
The camera will occasionally go nuts, especially in tight areas.
It’s very easy to lose track of where you are and what you are doing.
The compass at the top can be really confusing.
The game pace is stop-start at the beginning and later on, it’s a bit all over the place.
Too many locations use the same color icon making the compass a mess.
Icons and distances on the compass go over each other so you can’t read the numbers.

Mato Anomalies:

Official website.

Developer: Arrowiz

Publisher: PLAION

Store Links –

Nintendo

8/10
Graphics - 8/10
7/10
Sound - 7/10
7/10
Accessibility - 7/10
9/10
Length - 9/10
9/10
Fun Factor - 9/10

8/10

Summary

Intriguing, that’s the word I use when describing Mato Anomalies as every time I play the game I see more new things, more places I want to explore and I am just intrigued by it all. Mato Anomalies is an adventure game first and foremost with you playing as Doe, a rough private eye kind of guy who befriends a whacky set of friends from clairvoyants to this who speak to the dead. This all culminates into an adventure that is gripping from the start and never lets up as you change characters and play set dungeons, explore the huge world and so much more. OK so as said it’s an adventure game at first but it then has turn-based combat ala Final Fantasy but it also has a very in-depth strategy heavy card battler system. See how this game is whacky and very Persona in its looks and in the way the story takes on all comers. The card battling is actually part of a fight called mind hacking where you have to go into your opponent’s head and hack their brain but at the same time defend yourself and take out any demons that may invade the space. It’s surprisingly easy to get into and they have unlockable decks of cards and so many ways to play it does get quite addictive. I just love the world as it is full of mystery, it shows itself as a high-tech neon metropolis but in truth, it’s a run-down dilapidated hell hole of criminals and low life but man is it fun to explore, it helps that the map is a cool wire frame meets London underground type affair with cool transitions. For me, it’s a good fit for the Nintendo Switch as the game is like a visual novel with its endless text conversations and story dumps and I dunno it just felt like a fit with a handheld. The game does have a few niggles with performance hitches and so much to take on initially but it does level out and it is easily a game that’s worth investing in, you will love the menus, yes the menus as they all have unique features like the lair selection menu is records on a record player. It really is an RPG worth investing in and is a game that you think about when you are not playing it. Overall Mato Anomalies is a class act.