REVIEW / ANTHEM#9 (PC)

Some games try to ease you in, hold your hand, and politely explain themselves. ANTHEM#9 is not one of those games. It throws style, systems, and attitude directly at your face and dares you to keep up. There’s an almost cocky confidence in how it presents itself, like it already knows it’s doing something different and doesn’t need your approval. That energy can feel overwhelming at first, but it’s also exactly what makes it so immediately intriguing.

At its core, ANTHEM#9 is doing this wild hybrid thing where match-three puzzle mechanics crash headfirst into deck-building strategy and all wrapped up in a roguelite structure. You’re not just matching colors for fun; every gem is tied to skills, combos, and timing decisions that can either make you feel like a genius or a complete clown. The system encourages you to think fast, plan ahead, and then immediately panic when the board doesn’t cooperate. It’s that delicious kind of stress where you know you messed up, but also want to try again immediately. With each run reshuffling your options, the game constantly nudges you into experimenting with new builds.

What really hooked me though, is how satisfying the gameplay loop becomes once it all clicked. Early on, it feels like you’re juggling too many ideas at once, but eventually, everything starts to sync up into this rhythm of chaining combos, triggering abilities, and watching enemies melt. When you land a perfect sequence, it’s borderline euphoric. The game has that “just one more run” energy that sneaks up on you, and suddenly it’s past midnight, and you’re questioning your life choices. It’s addictive in a dangerously casual way.

Let’s talk about presentation, because ANTHEM#9 has style. The anime-inspired visuals are clean, bold, and dripping with personality. The soundtrack absolutely feels like it wandered out of a Persona series and decided to stay. There’s this slick, almost jazzy confidence to the audio-visual combo that makes even basic fights feel dramatic. Menus pop, colors hit, and everything feels like it’s trying to impress you. Honestly, I’ll tell you that it succeeds in doing so. It’s one of those games where you linger on screens longer than necessary just because the vibe is immaculate.

That said, the style sometimes overshadows the substance, especially when it comes to the story. Calling the story of ANTHEM#9 minimal is being generous. It’s more like a narrative suggestion than an actual story. You’re a secret agent doing secret agent things for a shadowy organization, and that’s about as deep as it gets. The characters sure look cool, but they don’t get much room to breathe or evolve. It’s not offensive, just forgettable, which feels like a missed opportunity given how strong the presentation is.

And then there’s the UI…. Look, I get what ANTHEM#9 is going for, but sometimes it feels like the interface is trying to fight you. There are moments where half your screen is covered in text, icons, or timers, and it can get overwhelming fast. When you’re already managing combos and strategy under pressure, the last thing you need is visual clutter screaming for attention. It’s not game-breaking, but it absolutely adds friction where there shouldn’t be any.

Speaking of pressure, ANTHEM#9 does not play around with its difficulty. The standard normal runs can already get tense, but once you start pushing to the hard diificulty, it becomes borderline unhinged. Enemies hit harder, restrictions pile on, and suddenly every decision feels like it could end your run. It’s the kind of difficulty that will either make you feel like a tactical mastermind or have you staring at your screen like, “Oh, so we’re just suffering now.”

Still, I respect it. The difficulty isn’t unfair so much as it is demanding, and it forces you to truly understand the systems instead of coasting through them. When you finally overcome a brutal encounter, it feels earned in a way that a lot of games don’t quite manage. ANTHEM#9 isn’t power fantasy, but rather a skill check wrapped in neon lights. But yeah, if you’re not into high-stress gameplay, this might feel more exhausting than exciting.

That said, I can’t ignore how impressive ANTHEM#9 is. This is a game bursting with ideas, even if not all of them land perfectly. It’s stylish, mechanically interesting, and clearly built with a ton of passion. You can feel the ambition in every system, every animation, every beat of the soundtrack. It may not be flawless, but it’s absolutely memorable. I’ll take that over safe and boring any day.ANTHEM#9 is messy, addictive, stylish chaos in the best and worst ways. It’s a game that swings big, occasionally misses, but still manages to charm you into coming back for another run. If you’re into roguelites that demand your attention and reward your effort, this is worth your time. Just be prepared to get humbled repeatedly.

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This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.