Mato Anomalies

Futuristic neo-noir games like Mato Anomalies are quite common to see, ranging from Deus-Ex, to Katana Zero, to Blade Runner, but a mix between a visual novel, a turn-based RPG, and a deck-building card battler is more unique.

- Alana Dunitz

Upon starting Mato Anomalies you see a menu that has a rotating carousel of images that look like they are hand-painted. These images include a body buried in trash at the garbage dump and multiple samurai-like characters suspended by strings looking like they are marionette puppets; they are quite creepy setting the tone of the game.

"Here, there is no past or future"; this place called Mato, is like a broken mirror that has shattered into different dimensions. The protagonist of this story is Doe, a would-be detective who is described as opening the door to fate. Doe comes home to find three men dressed in black from their hats to their shoes, wearing sunglasses inside. They are working for the game's femme fatale - Lady Nightshade. She has requested that the detective be brought to her at the Telosma Hotel. Donna Nightshade is one of those people who has a lot of "friends" - some are more respectable like doctors, accountants, and politicians but she also knows at least 12 other more sketchy people with skills like money laundering or making imitations of legal documents. She has come into possession of some documents with your signature on them. Clearly they are forged, but to get them back you will have to do her a favour. HANDOUT is a new commodity on the black market and there is a shipment of this drug that is going to be unloaded at a place called the Immoral Harbour. She wants you to retrieve a sample of this new drug and bring it back to her. Just in case, she gives you a handgun.