Annihilated is a unique take on the visual novel formula as it weaves in its roguelite mechanics directly into the story, which itself is shrouded in mystery. It’s a thrilling, albeit a bit slow-paced VN due to the gameplay loop, but it’s a nice change of pace from all the fast-paced stuff that’s been dominating the genre lately.
NOTE: I received a review copy of the game, and these are my thoughts on the game without spoiling anything.
A Mysterious Dilemma
Annihilated drops you right into the thick of things by having you play as a fighter who delves into a deadly dungeon in search of an unnamed hero’s party. The story starts with your entire search party getting slaughtered offscreen, and you soon find that the hero’s group has been “annihilated”, but not entirely dead.
It’s a lot to take in all at once, and it gets increasingly complex and intense as you go through even a single path. I started with the Mage, who lost all of her powers. She’s essentially resigned to being a meat shield, but the way the game works actually allows you to take advantage of that.
Deceptively Deep Deckbuilder
The actual gameplay portion is a seemingly simple turn-based deckbuilder, not quite on the scale of something like Slay the Spire, but deep enough that you still need to be tactical with your choices throughout a run, whether it be in a fight or the random events you can trigger.
There are a lot of mechanics to pay attention to as you delve deeper into the dungeon. You’ve got “break” bars to deplete, dodge/block counters to contend with, and even cards straight up breaking after multiple uses. Most cards double their effects when they’re about to break, and you can manually break stuff in a pinch.
It also has two different combat modes, one of which adds an active gameplay component in which you have to click at the right times to land your hits. I opted for that one as the idea of having all my cards hit 100% of the time was appealing, even if there are situations where this won’t be the case. It adds an extra layer of skill expression that I greatly appreciate.
It takes a while before these things start appearing together, but you’ve got a thrilling story to keep you company in between the repetitive fights. On that note…
VN First, Roguelite Second
Look, I gotta keep this review brief since it only took the first hour or two to make me realize that this game is absolutely more of a VN than a roguelite. I was aware that this may be the case before I started, but just be warned that there’ll be a lot of dialogue before the actual dungeoneering begins.
In all fairness, Annihilated‘s story is a gripping and tragic tale revolving around a group of not-quite-fallen heroes that I’m enjoying far more than I thought I would. Just temper your expectations if you came for the gameplay, as it isn’t really that intense compared to more dedicated deckbuilding experiences.
I can’t really spoil too much, especially since there are only so many paths to take and an overarching story that isn’t as ambitious as the wildly branching narrative of something like Scarlet Hollow. Heck, I already feel like I’ve spoiled too much by giving away the whole “fallen hero” concept, even though it’s in the game’s marketing and pretty much hinted at with the title.
Overall, I think it’s a fantastic VN that just barely teeters on the edge of being too long due to the gameplay segments, which to be fair is competent and doesn’t feel tacked on at all with how it ties in to the narrative.
Take the Mage path, for example. Without her immense power, you have to find creative ways to use her in combat. In my run, I occasionally swap positions with her to keep myself from dying to a powerful hit, and I pick utility cards that she can cast to efficiently use her turns.
I’m gonna keep playing it on the side until I finish the entire game since I’m absolutely invested in the story. Though, I do have one comment to leave before I go.
The game’s translation could definitely be ironed out a bit, as there are little moments where it falls apart or breaks some of the text. Even the achievements are in full Japanese as I’m writing this, which… well, I can’t read it (lol).
From little things like the spacing breaking for multi-attack moves to jarring dialogue like “Walking Deads… known as their high durability and ATK DMG”, there’s a lot of obvious things they can refine. It’s not a big deal, but I’d imagine some people would call this out harshly considering that most of the game involves reading.
