Mato Anomalies by developer Arrowiz and writer Prime Matter is a posh sport to critique, primarily due to my blended emotions concerning the ultimate third of its story. What begins as an intensely compelling noir/cyberpunk story set within the futuristic metropolis of Mato finally stumbles on the end line, souring my general expertise. Nevertheless, I loved the primary two parts of Mato Anomalies sufficient to be interested by its further story chapter DLC, Digital Shadows. May it assist salvage my general opinion, or would it not strengthen my discontent concerning the ending? To my nice shock, I discover Digital Shadows a largely self-contained story. Whereas it doesn’t essentially clean over the bottom sport’s ending, it does assist to supply a constructive Mato Anomalies play expertise as soon as extra.

Digital Shadows takes place throughout the principle sport’s Chapter Six. After buying the growth, you may entry it instantly from Mato Anomalies’ fundamental menu do you have to, like me, have already cleared the sport. Going this route bypasses beginning the title from scratch, which is sort of useful. As an alternative, you get a brand new Chapter Six save file with preset ranges, objects, and gear. You do must reset the whole lot of the celebration’s expertise pool and alter problem settings per your preferences, however that isn’t too cumbersome a job when it permits you to soar proper into the DLC. Whether or not you play by means of the sport to the purpose the place Digital Shadows turns into accessible or use the helpful fundamental menu bypass, all it’s important to do to get the celebration began is speak to Mato’s new Happy_Supervisor NPC.

In Digital Shadows, a brand new digital actuality expertise takes Mato by storm. Known as Dragon Palace, residents use particular VR headsets to log in and expertise augmented actuality. However what looks as if an entertaining diversion may not be so, as a number of folks in Dragon Palace fall into comatose states again in Mato, hooked on a card battle sport referred to as Duel of the Courageous. One in every of these victims is the highly effective info dealer Nightshade, an ally of Doe and Gram and an individual close to and pricey to the digital idol Mist’s coronary heart. Guided by Gram’s android companion SkyEye, who’s far more educated concerning the digital realm than anybody else within the celebration, can the crew save Nightshade and the others held captive in Dragon Palace earlier than it’s too late?

Given the narrative circumstances, Digital Shadows’ plot primarily focuses on SkyEye and Mist, although all celebration members have dialogue moments. Gang chief Woman Edelweiss continues to have a few of the greatest traces! The DLC is the primary time that SkyEye is a real playable celebration member, one thing I all the time thought was a missed alternative, given her prevalence within the base sport. Her weapons vary from a weird elephant doll to a pc, giving her a variety of abilities that show fairly efficient towards many enemies lurking within the Lairs of Dragon Palace. She additionally “synergizes” with different lively celebration members in fight, generally offering an additional assault on their turns. Total, she is a welcome addition to the sport’s fight roster!

Much like earlier exploration in Mato as Doe, you navigate the digital actuality outdoors of Lairs as SkyEye, speaking to NPCs, looking for objects or gear, and finishing goals for the principle story quests or unlocked facet quests. Duel of the Courageous is actually a rebranded Thoughts/Hack from the bottom sport, full with the identical idea of a battle of wills represented as a digital card sport folks play in Dragon Palace. It may be difficult to carve away your opponents’ well being and get by means of their defenses, particularly after they have a number of helper demons doling out standing boosts till they get handled. Nevertheless, you may “skip” these card battles when you’ve tried them thrice. The sport registers it as a win regardless.

Lair exploration is way the identical as the bottom sport. You enter the dungeon, exploring and finishing block-moving puzzles to achieve additional entry to the extent. Ultimately, you attain the endpoint and have a boss struggle. In addition to the welcome addition of SkyEye into the ranks, every thing could be very acquainted, so anybody who has performed Mato Anomalies will rapidly get the grasp of what to do within the dungeon areas.

As beforehand talked about, and primarily to its profit, Digital Shadows is a self-contained side-story. You don’t essentially have to play it to get a way of the bottom sport’s general plot, nevertheless it helps to additional flesh out characters like SkyEye, Mist, and Nightshade. Honestly, the principle antagonist, Player001, is much extra compelling than the ultimate foe for the precise base sport. Different NPCs that sometimes function in Mato Anomalies throughout fundamental or facet story quests, akin to Cheyne, Ah Tsai, or the flower woman Alice, additionally seem as logged-in Dragon Palace gamers. That was a neat contact. Digital Shadows helps add depth and world-build the setting of Mato. Since that’s arguably essentially the most substantial side of the bottom sport, I recognize the return to kind this DLC supplies.

Graphically, Digital Shadows tells its story utilizing the identical methods as the bottom sport. The 3D graphics are serviceable with much more of a futuristic tinge, given the “digital” state of Dragon Palace. An previous road on Broadway, a Wild West-themed locale, an empty circus, and even a pirate ship are a few of the DLC’s locales resulting from their on-line nature. As an illustration, a hacking backdoor supplies a spinning and rolling hall, serving to to showcase its twisting, ever-changing nature. There are sometimes conventional cinemas, however most important story scenes use comedian book-styled stills. Inventive VN illustrations additionally depict essential narrative factors. The visuals aren’t groundbreaking, however they nonetheless do the trick properly. Voice performing is sporadic however passionate, and the soundscape matches Mato Anomalies. I solely seen one typographical error within the script when taking part in by means of the DLC, so the English translation is sort of good.

That isn’t to say that Digital Shadows is with out flaws. Whereas the central DLC narrative is comparatively meaty, many side-quests are “discover these factors of curiosity after which declare a reward,” so that they’re not essentially the most fascinating. I discovered the Duel of the Courageous segments considerably more difficult in Digital Shadows than the bottom sport’s Thoughts/Hacking, bordering on frustration. Digital Shadows is on a budget facet for an growth DLC, however you do have to purchase the bottom sport first. Since I nonetheless have blended emotions about how Mato Anomalies finally closes, I can’t say that Digital Shadows repairs the harm from the bottom sport’s inevitable consequence. It’s extra akin to a band-aid masking a lingering scar.

Nonetheless, Digital Shadows is a nice shock. It jogs my memory how a lot I like the primary two-thirds of Mato Anomalies from a plot and character stance, serving to to enhance the bitter style that the final third of the sport left me with. I loved taking part in this DLC growth and returning to Mato’s fascinating underbelly. I sit up for the deliberate further story chapters in the event that they get made, particularly in the event that they’re comparable. Digital Shadows is a worthy further buy for many who have already performed or have determined to strive Mato Anomalies.