About Anomic:
Anomic is a special game to me. Even before the Kickstarter launched, I had been looking forward to playing it. I was even lucky enough to be able to beta test this, and I am very glad I did. I enjoyed playing Anomie a lot. The small piece of the near-future world I spent about eight hours being a part of was well-developed and intriguing, its main characters fleshed-out and relatable. None of them are stereotypes or rely on typical anime tropes. They are flawed yet charming; they feel human. No time is wasted on scenes that add nothing of value to the overall narrative, which makes for some snappy pacing, yet never rushed. Though I would have loved to see more simple scenes of their daily life, that almost certainly would have hurt the pacing. The writing is well done, even more so when considering this is actually the writer’s first visual novel. The prose feels natural and has a nice flow to it. It makes it easy to lose yourself in the story for a while. The story itself is intriguing from the outset. Elements of it are slowly revealed in an unforced, natural manner and it feels somewhat like a pleasant train ride, slowly building up speed. Right up until the last part where you realize you were on a rollercoaster all along. Suffice to say the story ended up going in a completely separate direction than I expected it to; in a good way! Its themes became relevant in a wholly different way than what my expectations had accounted for. Though some may feel the ride ramps up too suddenly, I enjoyed the journey even more than I hoped I would. The art is beautifully polished and detailed. The character art fits the style of the story and its cast of realistic characters well. Though there aren’t many CGs, their placement within the game is well-thought-out so as not to feel sparse. The general presentation is nicely and thoughtfully done. The high resolution allows for maximum immersion and the UI is minimal and non-intrusive. It’s easy to notice extra care was put in the scene transitions. Small things like that matter. The music is nothing short of amazing. There’s some incredible tracks in there. A good portion of the OST was clearly inspired by Manyo as it is very reminiscent of his work on the Kara no Shoujo series. There’s no way to get tired of any given track as the OST size is just one track shy of being on par with The Fruit of Grisaia, a visual novel nearly ten times Anomie’s length.
