I like Match-3 games and puzzle games that require a good bit of strategy. As such, when I saw Anthem#9, I was immediately curious. Developer Koeda’s deck-building, gem-matching Rogue-lite has a unique concept, though it also has a few issues. Let’s get into it.

Anthem#9 is a solo-developed Roguelite where you play as an agent of the Titular Anthem#9 organization, and work to maintain global stability. By taking on enemies and monsters, progressing through rooms via combat (or other events), you fulfill each mission and progress further into the campaign.

Combat is simple. Each of your attacks has a sort of “match-3 gem recipe” where you must use colored gems in a certain order. You have a certain number of action points in a round and can blend your gem choices together to make combos. By triggering combos and cascading effects, you can deal devastating damage to your enemies.

The downside of this system, despite its complexity in deckbuilding as you progress, is that the only way to negate damage is by utilizing combos to cancel enemy attacks. There are no defensive “cards”/skills, so the gameplay starts to become relatively “same-y” after a while.

Additionally, the art style and music are (sadly) fairly derivative. I played for an hour, and my first thought was “This guy really likes Persona 5.” I don’t like reducing someone’s hard work down to “This really feels like Persona 5-style art slapped onto a unique puzzle concept,” but that’s where we’re at.

The music is fine enough, and the art style (despite flashing light moments that could cause seizures) is serviceable. However, I can’t help but wonder if Atlus’ lawyers are just waiting to strike on this one. It was so derivative that I actually had to check at several points to make sure it wasn’t AI-generated. It also doesn’t help that Anthem#9 doesn’t really have a story, outside of the generalized premise given at the beginning.

As a simple puzzle game, Anthem#9 is decent enough. However, I don’t know that I would recommend it unless you just need something to kill time. If you are going to check it out, pick it up on sale.

A PC Review Copy of Anthem#9 was provided by Shueisha Games for the purposes of this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Anthem#9

$14.99 USD

4

Score

4.0/10

Pros

• Strategic Gameplay
• Varied Difficulty Options

Cons

• Flashing Lights with no Epilepsy Warning
• Derivative Art style
• Gameplay gets Stale quickly
• No real defensive options