YEAR: Mutationem, the preview of an action-packed cyberpunk adventure
YEAR
A girl sitting on the hood of a futuristic car, illuminated by the billboards of a street that looks like a temple, if only the only prayers are to sell something rather than to save the soul. We are in pure cyberpunk, that is, in the territory of looting an imaginary that video games have tried to do in every way, often with ill-concealed religious self-denial. The low poly models and the generally "poor" aspect of the image, despite its stylistic effectiveness, make us understand immediately that we are not dealing with a sumptuous production like that of Cyberpunk 2077, celebration and tomb of the genre itself, but to something more intimate, almost melancholy in its continence. We are in the title screen of ANNO: Mutationem, an action game with adventure elements by ThinkingStars, in development for PC, PS4 and PS5, which mixes sections in 2D and 3D and which does not hide a certain fascination for The Last Night, but which aims to be something completely different, as you will discover by reading the rest of the preview.Gameplay
YEAR: Mutationem, the title screen The protagonist of the game is Ann, a lonely and decidedly dangerous that, aided by Ayane, a hacker friend, will have to try to discover the secrets of the metropolis network in which the game is set, which obviously are in the hands of the usual evil mega corporations. The gameplay itself will be divided into two distinct sections: the 3D one, in which Ann will be able to go around the streets in search of information and supplies; and the 2D one, where she will fight and face some platforming phases. In the 3D phase, Ann will be able to interact with some objects, talk to non-player characters and explore the environment a bit, trying to figure out where to go to continue her mission.As we said the graphic style is essential, although there are some interesting details such as the 2D characters that create a pleasant contrast with the 3D backdrops. Some environments, in particular the city ones, appear crowded and detailed, even if on closer inspection they do not seem to be completely explorable (Ann can only access some areas) and, above all, they are not observable at 360 °. The gamepaly will begin with an introductory phase that will serve to get to know some of the main characters and to become familiar with the control system. During what we can consider a tutorial, Ann will also learn how to fight, showing the more action side of the whole experience.
Combat system
ANNO: Mutationem's combat system is based on well known general principles. Ann can bring weak or strong attacks with her electronic sword, and she can chain them together to make powerful combos. If necessary, she can dodge attacks by rolling and double-jumps to pass over enemies' heads and hit them from behind. The latter range from classic multinational camel troops, to members of various factions fighting for control of the streets, to strange creatures that seem to come out of a fantasy world full of glitches (not Skyrim before the patches, anyway).In the first game demo, unfortunately only available for a short time on the occasion of specific events, we saw for example a large skeletal-headed lizard, very challenging to kill (considering that it appears in the tutorial ...) but it seems that there will be many others and that the setting will show unexpected elements, which will divert it from the starting genre. The developers hope they like the bizarre and creepy solutions they have thought of. They also hope that what they promise to be a very intricate and surreal story will please and leave those who want to follow it speechless.
Exploration
In the final version, Ann's arsenal will be varied and it will also include grenades and firearms. Once the initial section is finished, the metropolis will open up to Ann, who can start exploring it aboard her flying car. The developers talked about more cities that can be visited and various actions that the girl can perform between the different missions: rest in her apartment to regain strength, check her inbox for important messages, shop for consumables and various items in local shops, create new equipment or modify the one already owned and so on. In short, these are classic intermission phases that aim to continue the story and allow the player to refuel in anticipation of future difficulties.Pure Cyberpunk Unfortunately we haven't seen much of ANNO: Mutationem beyond the initial stages, because the guys at ThinkingStars want to keep the most surprising elements confidential for as long as possible. The first demo stops after a short action sequence on the rooftops of one of the cities. In one of the last videos, instead, sections in underground areas were seen, where Ann unsheathed advanced combat techniques, probably unlockable. We were also given a taste of some more purely narrative scenes, with a very particular dreamlike atmosphere. The general impression is that ANNO: Mutationem has several surprises to offer, surprises that make it particularly intriguing.
ANNO: Mutationem is a really interesting title, which seems to have all the credentials to shine. In this case, the narrative depth and the combat system will decide everything. Unfortunately we saw little of both, but we liked the little bit a lot. We hope that good impressions turn into good feelings when it comes to playing the final version.
