Animus - Stand Alone 12+

Brutal but rewarding.

Why is this game so slept on? It needs a bigger community! I was never really a dark souls fan but I've always loved the genre, monster hunter is my favorite franchise of all time so I still see the appeal of this game. I have around 10 hours or so into this already, the grind is relentless but rewarding once you finally get that rare drop you've been aiming for. I'm just now getting to the point where I can get rarity B items so id imagine there's still quite a lot of content left. I usually mained longsword in monster hunter so the latest update is amazing with the addition of the new weapon type. I go back and forth between the longsword and Lance. The touch controls work just fine, I've had no input issue.

However, since the latest update I am having a lot more crashing. Playing on iPhone 6s with lowest graphic settings. Most crashing will happen when there is a cinematic before a boss fight. Aside from that, and a few complaints about the camera system, I love this game and recommend it to any die hard fans of the genre. Aside from MHFU, this is as close as we're going to get to a QUALITY hunting action game on ios. At least in the United States. I hope to see new weapon types in future updates! A REAL ranged weapon similar to the bow in monster hunter or toukiden would be fantastic.

Not too bad

The good: Pretty graphics. Many of the bosses do feel rewarding after finally winning after the 100th try. Nice music. Nice variety of enemies and weapons. Nice upgrade system, simple and well implemented.

The bad: I have the newest iPhone and experience slowdown if there are too many enemies onscreen. This becomes frustrating when many of your button presses aren’t registered. The difficulty on some bosses feels like it’s hard because the game is unfair, rather than hard because the player isn’t skilled enough. The player’s button presses feel delayed, it doesn’t feel like the player has the mobility needed to really feel in control. The game also feels like it’s difficulty isn’t really linear. You’ll have a boss that’s nearly impossible because they unavoidably jump on top of you or run at you while two fast minions carve you up. Then the next level will be a piece of cake.

Overall, I would have liked a game with no slowdown (of course it doesn’t slow down with minimal graphic settings), a game where I feel that my losses are my fault rather than enemies using cheap attacks and maybe a better progression of boss difficulty. For example, why the heck are you putting that sword knight at the very beginning of the game? Also, multiple enemies should be able to hit each other , allowing the player to strategically place them to only battle one at a time. Anyway, these flaws make what could be an amazing game , an average game.

Developer Response ,

If you do not mind, we would like to use your comment to provide further, and vital information, about Animus to players. The reason why we state it here is because, for some hardcore players directly stating how to play this game can be in itself a spoiler. Also, this is TMI to put into the game description. Please allow us to begin. [[Part 1 (To All Players)]] Animus provides a supplemental storyline and game to Ire - Blood Memory. Animus’ origins come from many games, but especially MonsterHunter, Soulsborne series, Diablo (this is very apparent to players of Ire, and the aforementioned). Progression/leveling, farming all types of equipment and materials, attack and defensive mechanics are indicative of the MonsterHunter series. This means that type/attributes of weapons, armor, and accessories are important. Another thing to point out is the skill or Proficiency tree within the character status area that players will want to utilize in order to advance further into the game. Such things include amount of HP, amount of HP recovery, dodge time and distance, stamina control, etc. Combat mechanics are reminiscent of Dark Souls series and Bloodborne. Additionally, many characteristics were inspired by MonsterHunter, such as carving, skills, and proficiency. It should be noted that not all equipment carry the same skills. Animus pays overall homage towards MonsterHunter than it does the Soulsborne series. However, the deftness and agility of combat is very much inspired by Dark Souls and Bloodborne. However, unlike the Soulsborne series, Animus is not only about 1 v 1 combat, and one must balance equipment before leaping into battle to defend against a wave of enemies. Players are rewarded for how they balance their equipment before a battle. The type and grade of drops get better upon progression. Progression in this game is linear. Players should farm material and equipment. Much needed equipment drops (weapons, armor, accessories) occur in the sub-quests, which are indicated by blue flags. This is similar with the Rift (yellow flag) areas as well. However, Rift areas awards players with Rift weapons, which are in most cases stronger weapons with dual attributes when compared to identical grade counterparts. Lastly, Animus was intended for Apple’s most recent and high-end devices. The game relies heavily on device performance, as Animus is a high performance game. Depending on one’s model and condition (due to shelf-life or use) and what other applications may be running in the background, frame drops may occur. If frame drops do occur, the best thing to do is go into settings to lower graphics level or texture. This will allow smoother and more responsive operation of controls within the game. [[Part 2 (To That1p0tat0 in another review. We will post here as an example of gameplay)]] As mentioned in Part 1, equipment is important here. A reinforced Einher's Sword will do wonders. You have seen by now what type of attributes the Sentries and Klaus have. At this stage, release all targets, and get a feel for the size of the battle arena. Sentries are much faster than Klaus. If you have any Wind RES, it will assist you in destroying the Sentries. If you have the Einher's Sword properly upgraded, you will want to be able to find yourself able to do a Lethal Attack against the Sentries as they run up to you. It will be even better if Klaus gets hit by your Lethal Attack, too. Then, having released all targets, manage your stamina (blue bar), go to the opposite side of the map, and due strafing runs or a whirlwind attack (Hello, Diablo). This will clear the arena of any Sentries in the way. Then all you have to do is deal with Klaus. Once you are familiar with the arena, you can try out different weapons you earn in side-quests. Each weapon type has its own unique strength and weakness. Thank you.

Not bad

The game is pretty good. I like the souls like genre so when this game showed up I was just pretty excited to play it. The gameplay is good, some mechanics are almost useless such as dodging and blocking g, at least compared to console games and the Soulsborne series. You get use to them though. But the bosses are pretty good, and fun to fight, though everything leading up to the boss is simply a chore.
My problems with the game are that levels are copy and pasted quite a bit, and even some of the bosses are reused several times. And the grinding is ridiculous sometimes. A lot of the time you have to fight one boss farming for equipment again and again until you are completely bored of the game to the point where you either don’t play again for days or you delete it for several months at a time. And I know the devs want it to be a grindy game, but there is far too much grinding to the point where players get bored.
But honestly it’s a great GREAT game and you should buy it. It’s one of the best games on the App Store and it’s an awesome mobile souls like game. If you like the souls games and wanna play something like them on the go, then this game is perfect.

Thanks to the devs for this awesome game. I really hope to see another game like this come out sometime. I’ll buy it if you make it!