After a long stretch of highly involved titles, massive AAA sagas and generally over-the-top production pieces, it’s really nice to pick up a title like Anomaly Agent. Rather than being a slight, there’s something deeply refreshing about a game that is certainly complex enough, but also can be picked up and appreciated without needing to fully digest a massive amount of lore. While there’s merit in seeing through the full scope of a character’s decades-long development, there’s also a lot of satisfaction in beating faceless clones to dust with your bare hands.

You are Agent 70, a timeline saving special agent whose job is to find and fix temporal anomalies that come from outside interference. You’re SO close to retirement, but, on the day of your going away party, multiple instances of timeline disturbances come in, and you’re not allowed to punch out until you fix all of these problems. It becomes immediately clear something fishy is going on: Agent 70 is having his missions coattailed by several mysterious figures, including a young woman who insists you’re doing the wrong thing and making a massive mistake. Because this is a cyberpunk action-adventure with facets of character customization and choice-based upgrades, she’s probably right, so strap in for twists, turns and some hilariously awful morality choices in Anomaly Agent.

Out the gate, Anomaly Agent makes sure that a very specific player is invested in the world of Agent 70. You’ve got some chunky pixel art that helps really define a world of fractals and fragmentation. You’ve got this positively bumping soundtrack that is evocative of every 80s stereotype balled into one, particularly any movie where the main character has to confront a bad guy at a night club. And you’ve got a series of stages where combat, planning and execution are essential to existence, and a difficulty curve that slowly trains the player to not only show their progress, but to reward them for successful elevation without anything becoming too frustrating or maddening.

On paper, this could have been a very straightforward game. While the combat is exceedingly fluid, almost all players would be able to understand and utilize the concepts from the very drop. Agent 70 solves most problems with a stream of punches and dodge rolls, with parrying mixed in to stun enemies and, slightly later, deflect bullets. For the first hour or so of the game, even the parrying is more auxiliary than ancillary, helping to streamline foes with ranged weapons rather than being a serious game changer. Hell, even the throwing business cards (an amusing piece of Batbelt tech) aids with stunning when enemies are dense but isn’t really change the playing field.

Thankfully, Anomaly Agent begins to throw so much more at you in short order, and it’s glorious. As you’re dealing with very real disturbances in space and time, the playing field will often become altered, asking you to deal with obstacles appearing out of nowhere, the orientation of the combat being flipped on its head and additional mobs dropping in without any warning. Moreover, the enemies are all in cahoots with each other down to their very molecules: if not dispatched quickly, some foes will actually fuse together to create new, stronger and infinitely more annoying NPCs to dispatch, usually with brand new skill sets as a result. Regular suited cronies will punch you, but their upgraded form is also on top of their dodge game, and you might even encounter ones that have shields which won’t dissipate until you shoot them.

Agent 70 is no slouch, and also has his own progression meter that’s fed by cash and good decisions. The coins, which drop from enemies, treasure boxes and certain destructible environmental elements, feed into a skill tree that slowly reveals itself to you. Being able to add the chance of critical damage from a punch, poison damage from a bullet or increased magazine capacity of the shotgun means a more complex and exciting approach to every combat, every fight, and every opportunity to survive another screen.

The good and bad decisions of Anomaly Agent feed into both the plot and the player’s own personal progression. You’ll occasionally have dialogue moments with people working in your agency as well as characters in the field. When you’re given yellow text selections, this is a chance to be either a cool dude (Of course I’ll help) or kind of a dick (What’s in it for me?). Positive selections not only feel good, but give you a point in the “happy” currency, which can be exchanged (over time) for more health. Negative selections are hilarious and give you a “sad” point, which, when combined, can be traded in for a serious coin infusion. Both are viable and don’t entirely affect how your game plays out, but they also change how you advance. Are you a mean, combat machine, or a genuinely nice guy who can take a bunch of hits?

One of the most impressive points of Anomaly Agent is the sheer variety in stage and screen design. While it could be rather simple to just rerun the same areas over and over with different orientations, Agent 70 explores a vast array of worlds, from back alleys and bars to rooftops and skylines. You’re constantly reassessing how to approach and deal with regular enemies and, eventually, some massive bosses. The mixture of all things dynamic and weird means the act of punching, kicking and rolling keeps being a fresh and wild experience, keeping players on their toes as they have to perfectly perceive when to parry, when to shoot and when to simply run away and hope the enemies don’t chase them.

When you stop just being a sprite and start being a character, a game speaks to you, and Anomaly Agent manages to infuse so much personality and charm into the world of Agent 70. His lanky build combined with crisp, devastating moves made me feel like Spike Spiegel of Cowboy Bebop decided to settle down and ONLY deal with temporal crimes. There’s something so satisfying about a punch, moving into a bo staff strike, a dodge roll, three shots and then hurling a gun at an enemy before hitting them with a baseball bat while they’re stunned. That’s not some mystical finishing move on the arc nemesis, that’s just a combination I had while kicking around a farting clone and it was AWESOME.

And you never mind having to start over. Phew Phew Games coded this thing to the bone to be responsive and smooth, so you never blame the game for your missteps and deaths (though I did blame my drifting Switch Lite Joy-Cons. A lot.). Like all games that actually learned the core success of a difficult game, your death is just a part of learning, and your respawn is fast, check points are frequent and penalties are low. The lack of manually saving might be a turnoff for some, but it keeps you focused on what’s important: not being crushed to death by a giant hand chasing you across several screens.

I cannot stress this enough: wear headphones or have speakers ready when you drop into Anomaly Agent. As a massive fan of the synthwave movement and an 80s music enthusiast, the soundtrack is pitch perfect and captures this feeling of neon drenched action and excitement. It’s got the vibes that Party Hard always set forth without needing to draw out levels into maddening longevity. Instead, with each area that Agent 70 explores and every anomaly he successfully takes down, you’ve got a different vibe to suit the mood. If you thought that RAD or Crossing Souls had a dope sound, then you’ve come to the right game.

Anomaly Agent brings the satisfying action of Streets of Rage, crosses it with the driving heart of Katana Zero and leaves you with just the right level of humor, story and personalization. It’s amazing in short bursts or long form play, and pick up players will have no difficulty remembering where they were or what they were doing. It’s got enough combat customization to make the game replayable from multiple angles, and I’m hard pressed to find a fault in execution and design. There are plenty of twists and turns in the tale, so many ways to approach the fights, and it runs just long enough to not overstay its welcome. Anomaly Agent is a serious contender for the best indie title of the year, and I’m rooting for it.

 

Graphics: 8.5 The pixel design and the careful throwback craftsmanship give live and form to Anomaly Agent in a way that cannot be overstated. While some assets being constantly reused can create duller moments, they are often moving so quickly past you that you barely registered their repetition.	Gameplay: 9.0 Excellent combat and platforming, with a lot of emphasis on learning from your mistakes and getting stronger at knowing your own style. Skill tree unlocks slowly due to locations of access, but can severely improve your gameplay as a result. Experimentation in upgrades leads to replay and overall satisfaction.
Sound: 9.5 Lovingly crafted music that perfectly embodies the vibe and era Anomaly Agent is seeking to capture. An aural delight for those who love the sounds of Soft Cell, New Order or, in a more modern reference, M83.	Fun Factor: 9.0 It’s such a delight to get sucked into the game and need to fight your way out. Stages are broken into bite sized pieces that can be strung together or swallowed as a one and done. Morality choices are fun and flexible, and the story was surprising and exciting. Some of the most fun I’ve had with a brawler in a while.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Anomaly Agent is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Anomaly Agent was provided by the publisher.