A couple months ago, I saw the physical Switch copy of Mato Anomalies was on sale for such a good price that I decided to take a chance on it despite its mixed reviews.

Mato Anomalies is a turn-based RPG about a private detective named Doe who is called upon to investigate a mysterious substance being sold on the black market.

His investigation, however, leads him into an alternate dimension, where he comes under attack by monsters. A mysterious man named Gram saves him and says it’s his mission to destroy those monsters. Since Doe’s case appears to be linked to them, the two form a reluctant partnership.

That sets up the core gameplay of Mato Anomalies. You’ll explore the futuristic, cyberpunk city as Doe, with some areas being full 3D environments to explore (including cats and dogs you can pet) while others are 2D backgrounds used just for storytelling purposes. Once the main quest or a side quest reveals the presence of supernatural involvement, you head into the dungeon and play as Gram and other party members who join you along the way.

Dungeons are fairly straightforward, with occasional simple puzzles and side paths to follow to find items. Combat can be tough and required me to think about strategy instead of just attacking. Health is a shared pool, while other stats are individual, which took a little getting used to. Each party member has two different weapon types, as well as a skill tree, so there’s decent room for customization.

And if you really like the combat, there are also random dungeons to explore for extra rewards, as well as a challenge area for tougher battles.

While this gives Gram the bulk of the gameplay, Doe actually has a unique gameplay mechanic as well. Certain quests will require you to get information from a character’s mind, at which point Doe can perform a Mind/Hack.

Mind/Hack is a card game in which you must pick a deck, each of which has unique properties, and use it to defeat your opponent. I found it difficult at first, but it was a lot of fun once I got used to it. However, it feels somewhat underutilized. There’s no actual deckbuilding, and side quests lead to dungeons far more often than Mind/Hack sequences, so it feels almost like an afterthought.

At a glance, Mato Anomalies looks impressive for a game from a small team. However, the Switch version at least suffers from major performance issues. I came to expect a slight delay any time I opened a menu or talked to an NPC, and the game crashed frequently enough that I learned to save as often as possible.

I also have to admit I had trouble following the story. This is partly because the game throws a ton of terminology at you, and it’s not always clear if it’s something new to the characters or if they already know what it means. The plot is also somewhat… esoteric. It has a high concept story it wants to tell, and so while the moment-to-moment beats might be clear enough, it’s difficult to keep a good grasp on the overarching mystery.

(Speaking of which, I felt like the “detective” aspect of the story was increasingly diminished as the stakes got higher, but I was committed to playing it for mystery month by that point.)

Despite my confusion about what exactly was going on, it has some genuinely great moments and cool ideas, especially near the end. The party members are likeable, and each has some good personal scenes that you can see if you talk to them in the city, as well.

Update: Sadly, the final boss has such a difficulty spike that I put completing the game on hold, at least for the time being.

Mato Anomalies is not a game for everyone. It’s not especially polished, it has some frustrating parts, and it’s easy to get lost in the story. At the same time, it’s much better than I expected for the bargain bin price I found it for. This is one of those games where it left me interested to see what the developer might do with a similar game in the future.