Welcome to Anomaly Collapse. A new turn-based roguelite with adorably but dangerous critters and a very interesting combat system that will keep you on your toes. I had the opportunity to give the game a try. Let’s jump in and see if these critters have what it takes to be something great or if they are just too adorable for their own good.
In this review I am going to be covering the following:
Story
Something has gone terribly wrong in the city. All sorts of otherworldly beings are roaming the streets. It is up to you to form an unstoppable team to get to the center of the city and figure out what is happening. You will find all sorts of help and mayhem along the way. Will you be able to save the city?
Gameplay
There are several elements in Anomaly Collapse, but most of your time will be spent in the map view or in combat. We will start off by discussing the different parts of the Map view. After that, we will see what the combat looks like, as well as talk about the different characters and their gear.
Map
On the left side of the map view are the characters and their health. Clicking them will reveal their stats and equipment. More on that later. You will also be able to see the different nodes that are currently available to explore. Across the top of the screen is the Investigation Meter. An event usually happens when it is half way full. You will be able to fight the boss for that area once the meter has been maxed out. The meter fills as combat nodes are completed.
Nodes
There are several different nodes in Anomaly Collapse. Most of them have a turn counter on them showing when they expire. This means you won’t be able to explore every node that pops up. Sometimes picking the right one can be a tough decision. These nodes include:
- A shop where you can buy and sell anomalies.
- Events where you can find abnormalities, currency, or unlock content for future runs.
- Recruitment nodes that allow you to add a character to your party.
- Combat nodes where you face common or elite enemies.
- A Boss at the end of each area.
When selecting a combat node, you will be provided with a preview of the factors that will affect that specific battle. You will also be able to see the loot available after completing the fight. There is always a random factor that affects all combat nodes in a given area. Some nodes might have additional factors that can make the combat even more challenging. We will talk more about these factors here shortly.
Combat
Once the combat begins, you will find that Anomaly Collapse uses a grid system. However, this grid is just a single line that is several squares wide. Managing this line can mean life or death and positioning is everything.
Timeline
At the beginning of the battle you will find the turn order. This is based on the initiative of each character and does not change during combat. There will be a set number of rounds to try to finish the battle in. If you go past those rounds, then the frenzy phase will start. This means the enemies get tougher and more will start to show up on the battlefield.
Grid
Characters and enemies will be moving back and forth on the grid to get the best positioning for their attacks. There can be up to 3 standard units on a given square. Once a square is at its limit, then a unit cannot move into or past that square. Certain abilities or combat factors can break this rule though. This results in the square becoming crowded. When a square is past its capacity limit, then all units on that space take debuffs and damage until they move.
Positioning
Finding the perfect spot on the grid is the key to winning a fight. Enemy units will telegraph their attacks each round by highlighting the squares they are going to attack in red. This helps you know what squares are safe to move to.
It is also important to take into account maneuvers like flanking, backstabbing, and even cornering the opponent to deal additional damage. The direction that a unit is facing is an important factor when it comes to things like flanking. You must have a character on either side of the opponent and they must both be facing that enemy. If you are in the same square as an ally when you attack, then you can also take advantage of co-op attacks for even more damage output.
Action Points
Action points in Anomaly Collapse are in a shared pool between all of your characters. This means that using all your actions for each character might not always be the more strategic option. If a character does not move or attack on their turn, they will generate an additional action point for the next character. This leads to some interesting decisions on who to attack with and when.
Each ability typically requires one action point to use. This cost goes up each time it has been used that round. Since only one action point is generated on a character’s turn, this means that someone else on the team will have to give up their turn for a character to be able to do multiple actions at once. This can make combat quite challenging but very rewarding.
Factors
Anomaly Collapse has a very wide set of random factors that can affect each combat. Before entering the combat, you can preview what the factors will be. Each one adds an interesting twist that can drastically change your strategy for that battle.
Some of the more basic factors that I ran into were wind and meteors. The west wind would push the leftmost unit(s) one space to the right at the end of the round. This can cause collisions and crowding if you are not careful. The meteors factor would drop a meteor on a randomly indicated square at the end of each round and deal damage to anyone in that space.
Some of the more challenging factors that I came across were sandstorm and teeter totter. Sandstorm does damage to anyone facing into the storm at the end of their turn. Teeter totter shifts the ground up and down like a literal teeter totter. The units on the higher end get a boost to their attack. Both of these really force the player to be conscious of their facing and positioning on the grid every single turn.
There are quite a few challenging combat factors to face in Anomaly Collapse. How you manage them will be a big component to not just winning a fight, but to also having a successful run.
Characters
Anomaly Collapse has 8 different characters to choose from. The game starts with 3 characters unlocked. The rest are unlocked as you progress through the game. Each character has their different playstyle and synergies with the other units. You will be able to have up to 3 in your party at a time.
Experience points will be awarded to characters after each combat. As they level up, their stats will increase which means more damage. Each character also has their own unique set of traits that can be unlocked. These include things like leader traits, character specific abnormalities, and stat modifiers.
Abnormalities
Abnormalities are what the gear in the game is called. Each unit has a character specific abnormality that they start with. An additional abnormality will be picked up after each combat. You will be able to select from 1 of 3 options.
In Anomaly Collapse there are two different types of abnormalities. The first are active abnormalities and the second are passive abnormalities. Each character has a limited amount of slots for each type of gear. The active ones give the character additional skills that they can use in combat. The passive ones usually provide some sort of stat boost or reactive ability, such as gaining movement points each time that unit is attacked.
When selecting an abnormality after combat, the game will show you under each option if you have any synergies with current characters or gear that you already have. This is a very nice quality of life feature and can often help in building power combos with your team.
Conclusion
So, with all that said, is Anomaly Collapse a turn-based roguelite worth checking out? Well, don’t let the adorable critters fool you. This is one tough game. If you like turn-based roguelites games that don’t hold back any punches, then you are going to love this one.
Anomaly Collapse has so many good elements. Its combat has a lot of strategic depth with all the different elements such as combat factors, positioning, and facing all being taken into account. There is a huge variety of enemies to come across in each run. Even a wide variety of unique bosses to battle. So, you are never going to feel like you are just fighting the same thing over and over.
One of the biggest things that stood out to me while playing was all the quality of life elements. I already mentioned that the game shows you synergies of existing equipment while selecting abnormalities. Another big one was the ability to hit a button and freeze the text so that you can view any hyperlink test there might be. You can even hit the button again if there is another layer of hyperlink text. This is something that I think every game should have.
All that to say, yes. Go pick up Anomaly Collapse if you are a turn-based fan, a roguelite fan and certainly if you are a fan of challenging games. Even if you don’t like the adorable characters, this one is worth playing for all the deep strategy that it has under the covers.
