Forgotton Anne

Ever wondered where that sock you lost went to? Or that glasses that mysteriously disappeared? In Forgotton Anne, the first project from Danish indie studio ThroughLine Games and published through Square Enix Collective, you play as the enforcer Anne, a young girl in charge of maintaining the order throughout the Forgotten Lands, a magical world where all the lost and forgotten objects go. Remember to be careful: an uprising is about to happen in this place! If that happens, Anne, her master Bonku or any of the forgottlings, the inhabitants of this land, may never be able to return to the human world. Prepare to stop this rebellion at all costs while you follow us in this review.

THE GOOD

• Forgotton Anne is a 2.5 D adventure with elements of platformers. Playing as Anne, you will explore the world, talk to the forgottlings, look for clues, collect items and solve puzzles. To do so, you’ll use a tool that allows you to control de Anima, the energy that gives life to all the beings in Forgotten Lands. You can extract this energy from tanks scattered around the scenario and use it to power devices, activate mechanisms you’ll encounter during your journey or to use Anne’s wings, allowing her to jump higher and further. But as this energy flows within the forgottlings, you can also extract it from them (when available), terminating their existence.
• The story offers you choices in dialogues as it unfolds. Will you take a friendlier approach and talk a way out of this crisis or use the power of Anima as the enforcer to uphold the law? The way this tale will be told is up to you!
• The game visuals are astonishing! It looks like a good and old cartoon, with quality that resembles classics from Walt Disney studios. forgotten Anne has beautiful hand drawn scenarios and characters with impressive animations for each one of them. You can see how much care the developer had with the game by paying attention to the movement of the forgottlings or when you notice you can count how many steps Anne will take while climbing or descending a staircase. Tiny details that show lots of love and dedication.
• The audio of the game isn’t far behind. Forgotton Ann presents quite beautiful melodies performed by the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. Simply wonderful! The dubbing of characters also deserves a lot of praise: voices that perfectly fit the characters and a great performance of each actor. Emotional, well performed and believable.
• The game presents some light puzzles that you won’t have problems to solve. Some of them though took me a few tries until I could find the right answer or position or whatever it was needed to solve them, but nothing that will get you stuck on it for too long.

MIXED FEELINGS

• The movement of Anne is slow and it sometimes becomes frustrating. Especially when there are stairs. Every time you run into a staircase, Anne stops before the first step and slowly walk her way up or down on it. It’s beautiful to see her animation ascending or descending a stairway, but when you’re running from one place to another, it quickly starts to bother. And in some other moments that you need to change directions (especially after climbing platforms or ladders), she takes too long to turn, causing some irritation.
• The pace of the game, with all the exploration and conversation, is slow, what may upset some players that expect a more fluid adventure. For those players all I say is take your time, my friend. This is a story-driven experience that must be appreciated and admired. You don’t need to rush (ok, sometimes you’ll need… but let’s just ignore them for now) the story. Live it as it’s meant to be lived: one step at a time.

THE BAD

• My only complain about the game is about the Gamerscore from achievements. It doesn’t affect the overall score of the game though. The game uses uneven numbers (not ending in zero or five) for achievements. Why you may ask? Maybe to stimulate you to finish the whole game and get the 1000G. Clever trick, devs.

Forgotton Anne [Score: 82%] As its initial title, ThroughLine Games gave us a really good game. Forgotton Anne is a beautiful experience visually and the sound is impressive too. It has a story that will keep you guessing from the moment you start it and gives you options and dialogues to choose from that will change the way the story unfolds. It’s a great experience that I can easily recommend for all the players that enjoy a good adventure. And it will make you think about all the things you left behind in your own life, hoping they find their way back to the human world.