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I will admit I've never heard of Anima before. Apparently it's a table-top RPG system based on Japanese RPG culture, taking inspiration from Final Fantasy among others. Keen to expand their reach to the digital platform, Anima: Gate of Memories was successfully funded for a shade over $110,000 in 2012. Four years later, I'm not quite sure how proud the developers should be with their finished product.

Some games truly suit a cell shaded style, while others don't quite get how to make it appealing. Anima: Gates of Memories doesn't make the same mistakes as the infamous Guise of the Wolf did, but they're not exactly pushing many boundaries with angular designs that seem like they came from a decade ago.

Idle animations are huge tells at the corners that were cut, with the Bearer clearly hyperventilating. Cutscenes are largely static too, giving off a rather cheap and cheerful production value. Movements during in-game segments aren't very fluid and the whole game has a last-gen feel to it.

The Bearer for example is a brooding lass who can't remember her name, while her book companion Ergo is an uncharismatic tool who cracks god awful jokes and gives an essence of being that pervert you watch out for in public places. Their chemistry is not all that great as it's mostly the Bearer telling Ergo to shut up every five minutes. NPCs are somehow worse, bosses occasionally spouting the same tired phrases with delivery more ham-fisted than a hog roast.

Areas are on the relatively large side, each wing representing a particular boss whose memories need recovering in order to unlock the gate to their fight. Each one of the wings has their own quirk, for example the second wing revolves around observational puzzles, unlocking doors based on combinations. This particular one was definitely a highlight as it rewarded those looking closely.

Devil May Cry made a name for itself because of the responsive combat that always felt fair, as well as allowing the player to dodge and use projectile attacks. Anima: Gate of Memories tries to ape the core mechanics, but the combat never seems to gel. Enemies are generic enough for one of my friends spectating to describe one of the golems as "a Poundland imitation of another toy". Aside from the bosses, that description fits with all of the generic enemies.

You are able to level up both characters and assign them with magic to certain buttons. Being able to switch between them on the fly also works when linking up combos, but you don't get a proper sense that everything flows naturally. The game's lock-on is a little temperamental, but the main issue is the moves don't allow for big combos and the camera is always at odds with you.

Boss battles bring their own bugbears as they're found in self-contained arenas with almost no imagination to their design. Some have vantage points where enemies can shoot projectiles from a distance, while others are circular arenas. While there is variety, it's usually down to the enemies to take on the slack of the originality.

Compared to Devil May Cry, these fights are dull slogs into despair. The most original boss fight in the game seems to be a boss who is only vulnerable to one player-controlled character's attack at any given time, yet I've seen this gimmick elsewhere in the same level. On top of that, I found myself guzzling life fragments like the average brickie drinks beer on a Friday night. It's not that the fights are challenging, more that it throws everything at you so you're bound to get hit by something!

1. Some decent puzzle and level design.
2. Not the worst looking cel-shaded game I've played.

1. Horrific presentation, especially voice acting.
2. Dull combat.
3. Does a poor job at directing you where to go in places.
4. Incredibly poor camera.

The fact of the matter is: Anima: Gate of Memories just isn't fun. It's not that the puzzles themselves are bad, nor that the lack of handholding is a huge deterrent in itself. Yet, the game gives very little feedback as to where to go, features mediocre combat and poor visual presentation to boot, whilst featuring some of the most hackneyed narrative and voice acting of recent years. Fundamentally, it feels like the Kickstarter budget should have been a little higher to achieve what Anima: Gate of Memories clearly wanted to be.