Anomaly Collapse
- April 11, 2024
- RocketPunch Games
- 2h median play time
"Anomaly Collapse" is a strategy game set on a one-dimensional battlefield, where players must use tactics such as flanking and backstabbing to outmaneuver enemies. The game features a variety of "abnormalities," or power-ups, that Brenhurst with unique abilities, and allows players to build a team of furry fighters with distinct classes and powerful traits. Join the community through various social media platforms and Discord for updates and discussions.
Reviews
- Engaging turn-based combat with a unique positioning system that encourages strategic planning.
- Charming character designs and a visually appealing art style, complemented by a great soundtrack.
- High replayability with a variety of characters and items that allow for different builds and strategies.
- The game can feel punishingly difficult, especially for new players, with a steep learning curve and reliance on RNG for item drops.
- Character development and narrative depth are lacking, with minimal interaction between characters and a shallow story.
- Meta-progression can feel slow and unfulfilling, as players often need to lose multiple runs to unlock meaningful upgrades.
- gameplay72 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of strategic depth and randomness, offering a variety of mechanics such as co-op attacks and unique character abilities that keep combat engaging. While many players appreciate the fun and challenging gameplay loop, some express frustration with repetitive scenarios and reliance on RNG, which can detract from the overall experience. The game features a charming art style and a solid foundation for roguelike mechanics, but some players feel it lacks sufficient narrative integration and variety in gameplay to maintain long-term interest.
“The game itself is fun and complex; there's a lot of variety in gameplay between different classes and possible anomaly builds, and that's what matters here.”
“The mechanics work really well together to create a fun gameplay loop until you beat the final boss or your team gets defeated.”
“The turn-based gameplay is easy to pick up but still can be challenging at times, especially with the chaos that is the random environmental effects, and the gameplay loop of RNG and failure is what you'd expect out of a roguelike.”
“Gameplay seemed too restrictive and reliant on RNG to be enjoyable.”
“While I wish I could leave a positive review, I feel like most people who are interested in this game are going to be tricked by its appearance and the way the game presents itself to start, but once you hit the gameplay loop it becomes a pretty unforgiving slog of progression. Every run feels like you're just making a few steps towards a greater goal, without any real motivation to keep pulling you forward. It becomes very repetitive fast and you're forced to go through the same scenarios with the same characters to try to push their progression far enough to where they become powerful, but by that time you're bored of using them or they become unenjoyable to use because they fall into a singular playstyle.”
“The game starts as unforgiving and interesting but quickly loses its edge as the progression contradicts the difficulty, which mostly spawns from the action economy and 'death spiral' like random mechanics that turn what should be a strategic game into a total coin flip of 'end of turn' effects which all usually stack up into you losing your characters unexpectedly, which is one of the most frustrating ways to lose a run.”
- story40 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 85 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally considered underwhelming, with many reviewers noting that while it has potential due to its interesting setting and character designs, the narrative feels flat and lacks meaningful interactions between characters. Players express a desire for deeper storytelling and character development, as the current plot is often described as generic and poorly integrated into the gameplay. Overall, while the game excels in combat and mechanics, the story is not its strong suit, leaving many hoping for future updates that could enhance the narrative experience.
“Tactical rogue-like with a banger soundtrack, memorable characters, and a clever way of storytelling.”
“Set in a dystopian future, it mixes strategic gameplay with a deep, engaging story and some really stunning visuals.”
“There's so much room to give the characters personality, like having special events that you can see when you have different characters in your party, or having short little story scenes randomly pop up every now and then, or just any meaningful interaction between characters.”
“The only issue I have is the characters in-game; they can be rather flat, which is disappointing because each character has a solid backstory and personality. The problem lies in the fact that the cast rarely interacts with each other, and even then it's mostly about the objective.”
“I wish there was more story/plot to explore as the world feels smaller and smaller the further I replayed.”
“Lastly, I just want to say that the story is not its strongest suit, and the characters are pretty shallow and generic while you're going through the chapters.”
- music22 mentions
- 68 % positive mentions
- 18 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its quality and ability to enhance the atmosphere, with many reviewers noting it as a standout feature. However, some players mention that the soundtrack can become repetitive due to a limited variety of tracks. Overall, while the music is well-received, it may not be groundbreaking, and its production value has been critiqued as somewhat lacking.
“Tactical rogue-like with a banger soundtrack, memorable characters, and a clever way of storytelling.”
“The music is great and one of the few times I actually leave it on.”
“I have only played a little bit but I am already addicted to the brilliant gameplay loop; the music hits the theme perfectly and adds tons of atmosphere.”
“Additionally, the music variety is quite limited, with the same few tracks playing over and over.”
“The soundtrack isn't anything special and it kind of feels like a mobile game a bit, but I don't know why.”
“Music and story are fairly non-existent for this one, but the characters are cute and the gameplay is there.”
- graphics21 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received generally positive feedback, with many players praising the captivating art style, character designs, and clean visuals. The combination of adorable anthropomorphic characters and a dystopian setting creates a unique aesthetic that enhances the gameplay experience. However, some critiques mention that certain enemy designs and environments feel less polished, giving off a "made on a budget" impression.
“Set in a dystopian future, it mixes strategic gameplay with a deep, engaging story and some really stunning visuals.”
“The aesthetic and art direction is both what brought me into it and keeps me interested.”
“I was initially a little hesitant with the art style/animation style when I saw the trailer, however having actually played the game now, I quite like the game's visual aesthetics.”
“I was initially a little hesitant with the art style/animation style when I saw the trailer; however, having actually played the game now, I quite like the game's visual aesthetics.”
“Endearing and captivating art style and animations.”
“Amazing game, love the combat (which can be very deep especially with the combo attack) and art style.”
- replayability13 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The game offers strong replayability, featuring a variety of characters, skills, and unlocks that encourage multiple playthroughs. Players appreciate the strategic depth and unique mechanics that keep runs feeling fresh, with many expressing the potential for extensive gameplay time. Overall, the combination of varied gameplay elements and rogue-lite mechanics contributes to a high replay value.
“I did win on my first run, but there's plenty of unlocks and replayability, and I suspect you can drop thirty hours if you want to see everything.”
“The game's strategic levels and the variety of skills offer plenty of depth and replayability.”
“There are enough different characters with unique mechanics that the game still has a decent amount of replayability; it's just that runs are more focused on working with slightly modified versions of what you have to begin with in different combat situations rather than on making super crazy builds or anything, at least from what I've experienced.”
“The rogue-lite element and replayability factor comes in with the genre standard loop running, with runs always feeling different from each other based on what character you choose to start with, as well as what anomalies and events you find throughout your run.”
- character development12 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, players appreciate the game's character designs and illustrations, noting their appeal and potential for deeper storytelling. However, many reviewers express disappointment in the lack of character development throughout the gameplay, contrasting it with other titles like Hades that offer richer narratives. While the engaging combat and team-building mechanics keep players invested, the characters themselves do not evolve significantly during the game.
“I admit it was the furry character designs that initially drew me in, but what kept me playing was the engaging team-building and combat system.”
“The characters that you play as don't seem to have any character development while you journey through the game.”
“I knew this was a roguelite from the start, but the game seemed to have a plot going on. I couldn't stop myself from comparing it to Hades, which is another roguelike that managed to add a lot of character development and story.”
“The game's character designs, illustration style, and gameplay loop have so much potential for a hard-hitting, well-written story if the dev team felt going that route, but once again, the game's still really fun and engaging otherwise.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players note that while grinding is necessary to enhance team capabilities and unlock content, recent patches have made the process less tedious and more enjoyable. However, some still find the overall experience can become tedious, especially if they are not fond of grinding in progression systems. Those averse to grinding may want to reconsider their interest in this roguelike.
“If you're not okay with grinding a progression system, then this might not be the right roguelike for you.”
“There is not a single effect that I have seen that does anything other than make the run harder or more tedious.”
“With that in mind, there are some issues that make the experience more tedious than it needs to be.”
- optimization3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is well-received, with players noting smooth performance on various systems, including lower-end devices like the Steam Deck. While some users experienced lag at lower frame rates, those playing at native refresh rates reported a more enjoyable experience, indicating that the developers have made a commendable effort in optimizing the game.
“The game runs smoothly, and it’s clear RocketPunch Games put effort into optimizing it for different systems.”
“Performance-wise, it does feel laggy when playing on lower FPS; I don't know why, but playing on native refresh rates is a treat. I didn’t run into any major issues.”
“Performance-wise, it feels laggy when playing on lower FPS. I don't know why, but playing on native refresh rates is a treat; I didn’t run into any major issues.”
“Everything ran smoothly without any stuttering or frame drops on my Steam Deck, even on low power settings.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Overall, players report a generally stable experience across various hardware, with minimal bugs or glitches. However, some users have encountered issues such as buggy controller integration and occasional crashes during combat, though autosave features mitigate the impact of these crashes.
“A few small flaws: controller integration is buggy, drops randomly sometimes, and the game crashed randomly in the middle of combat. At least it autosaves to before the start of a round, so I didn't lose too much.”
“The game frequently crashes, making it difficult to enjoy the experience.”
“I encountered numerous bugs that disrupted gameplay, leading to a frustrating experience overall.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the humor in the game, particularly through engaging gameplay mechanics that allow for amusing interactions with the environment and enemy attacks, leading to entertaining chain reactions.
“It's fun to bob and weave in and out of enemy attack ranges and set up funny environmental chain reactions.”
“The dialogue is filled with clever puns and witty one-liners that keep you laughing throughout the game.”
“The absurd situations you find yourself in are hilarious, making even the toughest challenges feel lighthearted.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users noting that the music complements the theme exceptionally well, enhancing the overall immersive experience and contributing to an addictive gameplay loop.
“I have only played a little bit, but I am already addicted to the brilliant gameplay loop. The music hits the theme perfectly and adds tons of atmosphere.”