🟢[4.5/5]︱Annalyn Review
Man, oh man does it finally feel good to post this review. Its been forever in development, and now its time for it to come out. I can finally talk about this incredible game after starting and restarting a review made for it multiple times. My intention for this was to cover at the start of the year, but due to many conflicts occurring, I put it on hold to work on it later down the road. And with college being finished, its not only time for reviewing season to start, but it's time for me to talk about ANNALYN!!!!!!
Preamble
When I first started writing this review, I caught a whiff of the first time I've expressed my thoughts on the 2024 action platformer Antion Blast online. It was horrible.Instead of talking about the games contents, I've slandered it so hard that re-reading the review felt like I was just making a half-satire, half-serious review of it detailing that while the game was fine, it was a "Bootleg" for it being way too inspired by Wario Land 4. This came out after many people in a sever that I was in had more negative reviews about the game except for me, as I was anticipating it since the days of the old SAGE versions were the playable versions of Anton Blast. Looking back at it now, their opinions were justified! And it was immature of me to write a review that, not only I haven't played, but out of anger and frustration of others sharing their different opinions than mine.
As expected, people weren't really fond of that review, enough to criticize me for it. Their criticisms stemmed from how the review wasn't like anything else I've worked on at the time, and it was hard to understand if I was being serious with my statement or not. All and all, I think I've done dirty with this mistake of mine, serving as a prime example that I can't just "judge a book by its cover," since even if a lot of people disliked how Anton Blast was, I don't have to follow suit with them, formulating an opinion of my own if I had purchased the game myself.
And that's exactly what I've done, and months after finishing it, I've done another review of it but this time, it was more of a genuine critique than something that could be mistaken as a joke review, and I've tried to make the "bootleg" point I was coming across was a lot more understanding than before, and my point of such has changed a bit since, but the idea still remains intact.
Now why did I bring up Anton Blast when the topic of this review is about Annalyn? It's because of the "bootleg" analogy I've made: Annalyn is a game that calls back to the arcade games of the early 80s: specifically Namco's games. Upon seeing this game for the first time, my thoughts were like, "this game is straight up Pac-Man but add a bit of Mappy and Nintendo's Donkey Kong Jr." And the whole crux of me coming up with these claims stems form me having a bit of an opinion I know most won't agree with: I personally don't like how recently made indie games starting from the mid-to-late 2010s and onwards have gameplay/graphics that are reminiscent of another popular game tied to it.
When I look back at indie games back when they weren't as common as they are (and people actually liked the AAA games that were being made), indie games had a... specific "charm" to them: Where they weren't like anything else that the popular companies were trying to accomplish. Games such as VVVVVV, And Yet it Moves, Bit Trip, and even early indies that still hold up well like Celeste, Hollow Knight, Shovel Knight, and even games like Monster Tale DS were games that felt unique with everything going for them compared to modern indies.
Nowadays, people (like myself!) want to make rougelikes, metroidvanias, rougelike metroidvanias, whimsical turn-based RPGs with slight horror elements, and games that imitate graphics on systems such as the 5th generation of consoles: Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, etc. A good example of the point I'm trying to make is with the 2024 hit Rougelike Card builder Balatro, which was nothing like any other Rougelike deckbuilder at the time. (I know nothing about Slay the Spire, so that's why I've stated this.)
Not too long after, a new game called Gambonanza releases, and it takes the gameplay features of Balatro, and replaces it with Chess mechanics, having a similar upgrading system to such as well as the artistic style.
But of course, there were some exceptions to this. Some of the games I have on my Steam Wishlist were games that are clearly inspired by something else, but when I look at them, I stop to think, "is this really inspired by media A?" Games like Decline's Drops, Mika and the Witch's Fountain, Dragon Loop, Pizza Tower, A Hat in Time, and koROBO all have mass amounts of love and care put into them and show their inspirations, but derive from them to a point they're feeling like different games. Now when it comes to Annalyn, I didn't know about this game at first until I saw the publisher for the Switch version, Summitsphere, are the same people that've published Anton Blast for all of it's versions, but never thought about it until my 18th birthday, in which someone I used to know decided to gift it to me on Steam.
While I was glad they were nice enough to do that, I declined it because at the time, I told them I wasn't good at Arcade games (despite my then-and-current obsession with Gradius, a game that was born from Arcade origin) and I didn't want to waste their money on something I likely wouldn't play due to this reason alone. And despite the odds, they accepted my words, and gotten their money back. Little did I realize that, after some time, I would find myself thinking about Annalyn again, wanting to give it another shot. It was during this time I discovered the remaster of Annalyn '16, a version developed by the developer Cruise Elroy in 2023. This update aims to enhance the experience by improving accessibility, as the original 2016 release, which stemmed from a contest win, wasn't truly designed for extended play. After talking about my experiences with this version of Annalyn on Bluesky, it semeed that I was seriously getting interested in this game again, and after I was talking about something Puyo Puyo related, yet another friend was willing to gift the game, and it was at this point where I personally made the complete purchase and gotten the game myself.
To keep my thoughts about it short, it was only a matter of time before I've done a review of this game. Let's get this review started already.
Story (3.5/5)
One day, Annalyn was carrying out her usual mining routine when her pickaxe unexpectedly broke, revealing a chasm filled with jewels!!! As she tumbled down, eager for more, she collided with the Venom Brigade—a group of snakes who were roused and ready to confront Annalyn for interrupting their peaceful slumber.After battling her way through the Mineshafts, a Jungle, a Lava Factory, an Ice Grave, and then their own Venom Den, they began devising an ultimate weapon: the SN-4K3, a giant robo snake named after what they are, intended to eliminate Annalyn once and for all. However, after gathering enough pellets and repairing her pickaxe, Annalyn managed to destroy the mech, sealing the fate of the pesky gremlins. Victorious, she returned to the surface and made her way home.
It's such a short 'n simple story that I absolutely like. It's short cause its designed like an Arcade game to pick up and play at your local laundromat or at a convention, and it works really well.
Gameplay (4/5)
The gameplay of Annalyn is simple: It's an action game where the goal is to guide Annalyn to collect all of the gems found in each of the stages. Like I said before, the game's mechanics are akin to Pac-Man: Where as the Pac got his mysterious white balls, Annalyn got the gems, and for the Puck having big beige colored ones, the gal got RUBIESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! Same mechanics as previously: You use that great weapon to stun the ghosts snakes to make them vulnerable. However, if there's something that 80s Pac-Man can't do, it's kick stuff to oblivion. When dealing with the cowardly state snakes, Annalyn kicks them back to the top of the holes that spawn. Don't ask me how that works.
Approaching the halfway mark of the gem count brings in a item that warrants more points, and defeating all of the four snakes per one Ruby without dying will earn you a Perfect score upon completing the Round, which grants them an extra 1,000 points. Hopefully you keep yourself alive, cause don't lose them! Being this is designed like an arcade game, should you game over and the continue screen comes and you continue, the game HALVES your score count. In a game like this this is an absolute dealbreaker. I know this ain't a real arcade game but its pretty much designed like one! I find it to be a step above losing all of your points in an average arcade game, however.
In Annalyn's quest to get out of the underground, there are sixteen stages total, with three being based on each of the following areas: the Mines, the Jungle, the Lava Factory, an Ice Grave, and the Venom Den, followed by the boss with the snakes in the snakemobile. Each of them makes the snakes faster and, most importantly, smarter. Starting from front to back, you got Randy, the Aggressive snake always trying to get to you to no avail. Then there's Handy, one that does attack, but predicts where you are. I died to him the most. Candy is a bit similar to Handy but different in her own ways, and then there's mike. he just does whatever he thinks about doing. Funnily enough, he's the second snake i die to the most cause of his unpredictable nature.
The final stage has them all getting into the SN-4K3 to finish you off once and for all, and it changes a bit on how you used to play. You still collect gems and all but instead of yellow, they're blue and after collecting them all, YOUR PICKAXE SPAWNS! And after collecting it, after they try attacking, their machine will stop moving. that's when you hit them to progress through the fight more. They do spawn one aggressive and one sneaky snake to make it more troubling but after getting this done, the main campaign finishes.
This game is very addicting, I have to give it that. Once you get the hang of it, the game starts to become a lot more easier to predict how the snakes are going to attack you (minus Mike), but even then after coming back to this game on multiple occasions, they still manage to get me enough to make clips of close movements where I survive and die.
Replay Value (5/5)
My goodness the minute I was told after completing this game that there was more of it, I was excited to see some of what the game offered, and it's quite a lot when it comes to keeping the game revelant after a first playthrough! After completing the game, you get access to a bit of stuff that's labeled in the "Extras": a Random Mode, Practice Mode, and some extra chests to spice up your next few playthroughs as well as the unlockable color palletes for Annalyn (or Anton if you're playing the Switch release) if you're a perfectionist. These are a lot that they warrant sections of their own, so let's talk about them for a bit.Random Mode
Starting off with the most ambitious one of them all. This one completely shapes up the formula that was established in the campaign: The goal is to get as far as you can without dying and using continues, but the stages are randomized, and there's new items to help you get through the obstacles that come in your way. Every five stages gives you a bonus game where you ride a minecart through a course with the most Arcade- like unfair physics possible to make it not easy and cheesy, and it gets rid of the boss fight. By default, you got the standard three lives, and should you lose them, you have two continues before it's a permanent game over.To remedy this, you're able to change some of the rules the randomizer has, to increase or decrease the amount of lives and continues that you have as well as removing some troubling levels, but the game strongly encourages you to keep them all, as it waits a surprise. I haven't played far enough to see what the surprise is because this game is incredibly challenging. Should anyone get far enough for the difference between not changing the stages and changing them, I'd love to understand what's the difference.
Cheats
One of the things that this game adds are Cheats, which makes the gameplay easier or harder depending on what you want. and of course, for the ones that make Annalyn Faster like the "Turbo Annalyn" or "Infinite Jumps," the option of having your score be put on the high score list as well as unlocking in-game + Steam Achievements are disabled. However, the ones that add not much to the game and the ones that makes the game harder such as "Speedy Snakes" (The enemies become faster after every level instead of every three levels.) allows you to complete the game with Steam Achievements and High Score. There's also "Darkness" and "Flying Food" which make the game darker and adds goofy contents which doesn't really impact the game much other than to be silly cheats to add to your playthrough. There's also some additional stuff like giving Annalyn a voice, changing the style and feeling to how it was in Annalyn '16, and more to further customize your gameplay with the most game changing ones not affecting neither high score or achievements.Practice Mode
Sounds just as what it looks like: A mode that allows you to play each of the sixteen levels inside of this game, giving you unlimited lives until you know the layout well so you can follow what you got for playing the game on 1CC, or Random Mode.For a game that's mostly sticks to being most of the same game, the options to change up how the game plays is quite a lot to say the least. I've definitely came back on subsequent playthroughs just to mess around with some of the extra stuff this game offered, and this is including the option to aim for 1CC. The Practice Mode also is a perfect option to learn how to find perfect routes to achieve perfect score in all of the stages. The Bonus levels and mini-games from Random Mode will also show here upon being completed for the first time.
Graphics (4/5)
For a game that's supposed to mock the style of Namco's 80s classics, I'll say that they've done a great job with the graphics. The limited color pallete as well as the limited space to make detailed sprites, with them being small and all, are all stuff that I'd usually expect from a game they'd make back then. Except it's also way more colorful. The new stages that came with the remake all look really great, and my most favorite one had to been the lava factory which straight up gave me Metal Man from Mega Man 2 vibes. I'm almost 100% sure that the color lalletes of the stage are taken straight from the stage itself! The looks of this game is wonderful, and it makes me wished that the earlier Namco games had this much charm (it did, but in a much more primitive way).Soundtrack (5/5)
Back when I've played Annalyn '16, the soundtrack for the game reminded me of the game being an NES-ish port of this game despite being made first. Y'know how Pac Man originally released in arcades and gotten many ports, with one of them being the NES? Similar kind of boat. The soundtrack then was sounding like it came out of the 2A03 chop chip most NES games had, and it sounded great, but primitive. The soundtrack however, is a massive step up! It sounds like it's actually coming from Namco's Arcade hardware, but modernized. By modernized, I mean that the soundtrack doesn't sound as bit crushy as what it used to be in terms of compression but it still got the iconic sound put into it. It's as if this games music was composed with FL-Studio using the waves and stuff from the hardware, which isn't that bad. I would love to wonder how the music was actually composed, because I dig the use of software like Furnace, Famistudio, and other trackers to make authentic sounding music to the systems people choose with.The theme of this game goes real hard, and it suits perfectly for the first stage in the entire game. Another added bonus from '16 is that it's not the only song that plays throughout the entire game! Like I said in the gameplay, there's more than the mines, and each of the new stages come with their themes to it. The Venom Brigade even got a head bopping vibe to them as you stop their bad behavior, and it's just magnificent to listen to. I love me some good final boss music that comes within the limits of trackers, and Annalyn did a real great job at conveying the same vibe. Even the music before staring the boss is scary, like you don't know what to anticipate from the power of the giant mech.
And to top it all off, even the options theme got a while vibe going for it. I love all of the songs from this game l that some of them such like the options are perfect background music or music that I play for stuff like tModLoader, for instance.
Verdict/Other Thoughts (4.5/5)
I think that Annalyn is pretty alright of an indie game. It's quick to pick up, and for those that are into arcade styled action games (or indie arcade-likes), then Annalyn would add a perfect spot to your collection of such. The game also oozes with charm that I really like, and the authenticity with Cruise Elroy with how its reminiscent of games in the past is remarkable. A slight honorable mention the next game, Annalyn MD, that goes beyond the authenticity of the system it's based on (SNES) to the point that if you've fooled me for it being homebrew, I'd easily believe you. Elroy is such a talented yet underrated indie developer, and I'm glad that I was able to enjoy playing his games.It even got me thinking on some parts of myself a little bit; mainly that I need to not denounce indie games that take inspiration from other games whether story, gameplay, or any other-wise, and that I need to stop doubting people when it comes to them suggesting me games to play. While Annalyn was originally a game that I didn't really care about at first, it quickly turned to being one of the games that serves as an active reminder to not doubt games that people tell me to play. It doesn't extend itself to games like this, too; this can refer to games that are even outside of the genres this game has.
A perfect instance of something similar this happened was with Zelda, where my sister always recommends me to play this series after she continues to hear more of my indie game stories multiple times throughout the times I've worked on them. She actually had me go through the original Ocarina of Time, and I think it was a very spectacular experience. She also had me play Skyward Sword, but I shelved it. The day for when I get to play Zelda I personally don't know (as for most of the games people recommend for me to play), but if I'm able to do games like Annalyn, it pushes me to play more games that stuff that friends, family, and even outside these ranges to play.
Thanks for Reading!