Forgotton Anne

Genre: Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Forgotton Anne is a puzzle-platformer with the look and feel of a Hayao Miyazaki film, with absolutely gorgeous animation, an imaginative and magical world, and memorable, expressive characters.

The game is set in a world of anthropomorphized lost objects – the sort of place your missing sock would find itself and have a weekly beer with that book you lent out and never got back. Anne, one of two humans living here, is working with the wise Master Bonku to create a bridge back to the human world so everyone can return home, but their efforts have been delayed by a growing resistance movement sabotaging their efforts and wreaking chaos.

The game’s story is fascinating, not only because of the wonderful world of its setting, but also because it quickly becomes apparent that there’s more than meets the eye going on here. Anne is known to all as “The Enforcer”, with an “anima” device capable of instantly sapping the life from one of these living objects, and she and Bonku treat the living objects in this world as subordinate subjects. Is Anne a hard-nosed law enforcement officer doing her duty, or one of the leaders of a dystopian dictatorship? Are the rebels dangerous extremists, or freedom fighters? Is Bonku being honest with everyone about the bridge to the human world he’s working on?

The game’s fascinating story is paired with absolutely wonderful visuals. Even the slightest movement of the characters in this game, and Anne in particular, is hand-draw and exquisitely animated, giving off much the feeling of a Studio Ghibli film, with little details like her occasionally taking a moment to smooth out her dress, or the subtle changes in animations when she’s running up stairs instead of walking up them. This great animation is paired with solid voice acting and extremely clever writing.

As for the gameplay, many of the puzzles focus on Anne’s “anima”, the device she wears on her hand that can extract and move a certain kind of magical power source. By putting this energy in the right place, she can activate switches, power machines, and so on. When she’s holding on to this power, she can also make use of a pair of mechanical wings that allow her to jump higher and farther. In general, puzzles were very rarely challenging, and on those occasions when they were it was often because it wasn’t clear what you were expected to do, but I still give the game credit for its unique approach to the genre.

All in all, Forgotton Anne is a wonderful game with a fantastic presentation and an engrossing story. It might not deliver too much of a challenge on the gameplay front, but enjoying and experiencing the game’s story makes it all worth the effort.

tl;dr – Forgotton Anne is a puzzle-platformer with a wonderful, unique story and a fantastic presentation that seems like it’s right out of a Studio Ghibli film. The puzzle design isn’t especially challenging, but you’ll want to play through the game to experience more of its story.

Grade: A-

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