ANTHEM#9 Review

What exactly is ANTHEM#9, you may be wondering? A song, like a national anthem or something? No, it’s actually a secret organisation created to protect the balance and harmony of the world. To do this, you are a secret agent taking part in strategic gem-matching battles to create as many combos as possible to eliminate the dangerous groups and individuals that you face in this roguelike title. The game is developed by koeda and published by SHUEISHA GAMES, and looks to be a high-energy strategy title that is very different from other puzzle games I have played in the past.

The first thing that you will notice is the great comic-book aesthetic of ANTHEM#9. The colours are vibrant, and everything takes place in panels that look like they are straight out of a manga issue. The anime look of the characters you play as and battle against feels right at home with the game’s overall theme. The music accompanying it is high-tempo, has vocals, and complements the fast action of this puzzle battle title. It’s just unfortunate that there doesn’t seem to be a huge selection of different songs, as you hear them multiple times.

On to playing the game. ANTHEM#9 has a tutorial to play through first, so you learn how to combine gems and cards to battle against the opponents you encounter as you progress through the different floors. You will fight and power up your deck so you can defeat the powerful enemy waiting for you at the end of the dungeon. There is a lot more strategy here to get to the boss than you may expect.

In the main campaign, there are four missions to complete, each with a target you need to take out; the first is Priest of Taboos Franz. Before jumping into the assignment, you can view all the skills that are available to you in the stage, along with a list of the enemies you will encounter, and the blessings (perks that give you things like shields or extra gems) you can receive.

There are three difficulties, called Rules, in ANTHEM#9. Easy has a single deck and more relaxed enemies. Normal has more strategic gameplay, with multiple decks and challenging bosses. Hard is much more demanding, and even one small mistake can cost your life. It has tense battles and is for experienced roguelike players who want to be tested.

When you start a battle, you receive three gems, each a random colour — red, green, or blue — for each turn. You have three skill cards that you can use to attack your enemy; each has a unique recipe (a combination of gems needed) to activate it. To use an attack, line up the gems in the order listed on the card. Fortunately, if two recipes share some of the same gem colours, you can use one gem for both. This allows you to save some pieces to use later to activate other skills. 

If you do not have the colours that you need, you have attack points (AP) that you can spend to change the colour of your gems into what you require to complete a recipe. Red changes to green, green into blue, and blue into red. Being able to swap colours allows you to complete extra skills, increasing your combo and damage to the enemy. There is a time limit for each battle, some being as short as 80 seconds, so you will need to select and create your attacks fast. Once you can’t play any more recipes, you move to the skill execution phase.

Here, all the attacks that you have activated in that turn will be used to create combos to use against your opponent. As they hit the enemy, their Stamina (ST) is reduced, and if it reaches zero, their attack is cancelled. There are many times when your opponent is not able to play any of their moves, so you won’t take any damage. When you are victorious in battle, you are rewarded with gold, a new card for your deck, and the chance to level up a card you currently have, such as Hard Edge, which will increase the number of times it can be used. Though there is a limit to how many times you can level up a card, and I wish the game would tell you before you select that skill and waste your choice.

Between battles, at the bottom of the screen, you see a route map showing how close you are to the boss. Each space you can visit is colour-coded based on what it is; for instance, orange is treasure, green is a rest spot, and pink is an event. When you visit a shop during your run, you can spend coins to increase the number of gems you can use each turn. You can only purchase this once per visit, so it is definitely worth spending the money on.

Once you defeat the boss and complete the first mission, with a character named Rubit AudetteBorne, you are presented with a stats page that tells you the character you played as, the difficulty, clear time, and your max combo count, max combo damage, the total damage you took, and total turns. You can also see the skills you have and all the blessings. After reviewing this, you can proceed to the next mission with the option to play as two new characters, Phannie Tyzer or Beni. All the characters have different targets to take out, so all the missions are unique.

I absolutely adore this game. It is incredibly addictive and fast-paced, so you can’t just sit there strategising and trying to figure out what you need to do next. The time limit for each turn forces you to take chances and make quick decisions, rewarding players who can swiftly play gems to complete the recipes for each attack. This is a must-play title for gamers who love roguelike deck-building games mixed with strategy and puzzle elements. It is very addictive and keeps pulling you in to do battle against the enemies who threaten to disturb the balance of the world. Plus, it looks super cool too!