Shattered Heaven
Shattered Heaven
Game
Game2023
Mato Anomalies
Developer Arrowiz
Mato Anomalies takes players on a journey through a neo-futuristic version of a bygone oriental city. Investigate strange happenings across the city and uncover secrets behind the walls. Join a cast of enigmatic unlikely heroes in this anime-inspired RPG experience. From the Steam store page
115 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Oct 30, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
64
Fresh
54 positive · 30 negative
95% range 54–74%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 54 | 30 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 7 | 3 | 17 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
57 of 89 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
64% recommend · 55 yes, 31 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 86 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (147 of 207 positive).
Some reviewers find the story confusing or poorly told, detracting from the experience. [1][2][3] The combat and card minigame receive mixed reactions, with some enjoying them and others finding them repetitive. [4][5][6]
Liked
Representative posts
- [1]
I've been thinking this one over for days. The combat is surprisingly fun, and I do like the main cast of characters. However, the game's story is what's stopping me from liking it. There is clearly a rich world here, but I need to constantly be checking log files to understand what's going on. After a while, I found myself just apathetically mashing my way through conversations because I just couldn't care anymore. …
- [6]
I wanted to like Mato Anomalies, but it just wasn't all that fun to play. It's a long game filled with cheaply generated dungeons, boring battles and a card minigame that is forced on you, but is very unbalanced and not all that fun. The game has a cool style and I loved Arrowiz' previous game I played, Heritage, which I found was a very cool visual novel. I couldn't get into this game, though. You play as a …
- [7]
Yes, the 40 € price required a leap of faith, but it's everything I had hoped for: The insane text density and chill noir jazz music of Arrowiz' previous game, Hermitage: Strange Case Files, but with less static gameplay. I was a bit sceptical if the step up from a visual novel (the aforementioned Hermitage) to "all game modes under the sun" (Adventure game! Dungeon crawling! Card battling!) could really work... and …
- [8]
This one is an absolute gem and I wish it would have more recognition. Sure there are some raw edges here and there - but this be a smaller team they make up perfectly with writing, story, characters, atmosphere and mood setting. The love poured into their world building and to share it with the player is felt all the way down. Merits - Great characters, they all are unique and different from each other from …
- [9]
What a unique game! Behind all its shortcomings, Mato Anomalies is a truly special experience that will surely be loved by a small niche of players! In my opinion, the biggest appeal of this game is its incredible atmosphere. Mato Anomalies tells a neo-noir sci-fi story set in the cyberpunk/retro-futuristic city of Mato, inspired by Shanghai and imbued with a tangible sense of social and psychological unrest. The …
Summarised from 34 of the 118 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
64% of the 86 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Mato Anomalies. The complaint that keeps coming up: story is confusing or poorly told. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 115 · most liked firstThis track is called "Stroll"! Mato Anomalies was an interesting game! The game was a cyberpunk RPG based in a fictional city in China, it was a unique and intriguing setting! The combat was similar to Shin Megami Tensei, and was about as difficult as SMT as well 😅 it was a cool experience to have!
positive · AI labelView post →Yes, the 40 € price required a leap of faith, but it's everything I had hoped for: The insane text density and chill noir jazz music of Arrowiz' previous game, Hermitage: Strange Case Files, but with less static gameplay. I was a bit sceptical if the step up from a visual novel (the aforementioned Hermitage) to "all game modes under the sun" (Adventure game! Dungeon crawling! Card battling!) could really work... and I think it does! Of course the battles are no Atlus spectacle, but they are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please consider following my [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41005226/]Curation page. I cover a wide range of genres both paid and unpaid, providing unbiased opinions as well as regular giveaway events. The price is literal robbery For now, this game doesn't really have anything going for it. The story, the gameplay, and the main character are all monotonous. Due to the game's increasing linearity and weariness after two hours, I started to nod off. Gameplay Up until this…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i came into this game on a recommendation at first the "budget" realy shows, gotta be real: my initial impressions weren't great. the lore and athmosphere just "felt" copied, the combat (design) kinda ripped from Soulhackers/Persona (minus the Pokemon elements). but boy was i wrong. yes: it's kinda sci-fic-cyberpunk mixed with "magic" and fantasy. after playing a lot the game reminds me most of Shadowrun (in all the best ways) when it comes to the lore and world. there's old wars, there's…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This one is an absolute gem and I wish it would have more recognition. Sure there are some raw edges here and there - but this be a smaller team they make up perfectly with writing, story, characters, atmosphere and mood setting. The love poured into their world building and to share it with the player is felt all the way down. Merits - Great characters, they all are unique and different from each other from different areas with different background yet they manage to work together…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been thinking this one over for days. The combat is surprisingly fun, and I do like the main cast of characters. However, the game's story is what's stopping me from liking it. There is clearly a rich world here, but I need to constantly be checking log files to understand what's going on. After a while, I found myself just apathetically mashing my way through conversations because I just couldn't care anymore. I really did mean it when I said I enjoyed the combat, but the dungeons just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like Mato Anomalies, but it just wasn't all that fun to play. It's a long game filled with cheaply generated dungeons, boring battles and a card minigame that is forced on you, but is very unbalanced and not all that fun. The game has a cool style and I loved Arrowiz' previous game I played, Heritage, which I found was a very cool visual novel. I couldn't get into this game, though. You play as a Detective who forms an unlikely alliance with a Bane Tide Hunter. You go through…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Visual novel: Storytelling is abysmal. Investigation: Just not there. RPG: As generic as it gets. Also apparently skippable. Deckbuilder: Slay the spire. Plays like a mediocre PS2 game. Price is a total ripoff. Avoid.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played this game for about 68 hours on xbox and am currently in a new playthrough on pc. This game is rather odd, in a good way. I'd say this would probably be like a 5.5/10 on an objective scale, but there are some things that made me like this game so much I bought it twice. The world itself is just very interesting. A city in noir-cyberpunk-anime style with some weirdly interesting things in it. Really hard to describe. The feeling it gives is similar to the Playstation exclusive Gravity…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strong as an RPG while being weak everywhere else Mato Anomalies is really three types of games fused together; Visual novel, Turn based JRPG and a card battler. In short, it has it's pros and cons but the developers were trying to squeeze in a bit too much. I lean more towards a maybe than a yes or no. First the main part of the game is a visual novel, and it is a very very long and detailed story that's not bad but I found it to be longer than normal. There's an option to speed up text and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love RPG? [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39973073/]Make sure to Follow my Curator Page for plenty more! Quite an original JRPG in which a lot of genres are mixed. The story itself is quite interesting, but the style and art is not for everybody. Combat is mediocre too. Great and very dark neo-futuristic city atmosphere. Fans of visual novels will love it. GOOD: -Story - Atmosphere - Dual Protagonists - Mind Hack - Multiple Endings BAD: - Art - Combat - Monsters…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The videos and screenshots make this game look like a mix of Code Vein, Persona and Scarlet Nexus with addition of your regular JRPG aroma. Lol, it's nowhere near. What this game really is - is a Visual Novell that, for some unknown reason, also got some real time movement and interaction + JRPG style combat (sometimes) + deck-builder combat (also sometimes). First of all - everything in this game is linear as railroad track. I won't go much into details of the plot or combat systems, yet…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Where do I even START??!! ❤️ This is probably a game I come back to here and there after completing it multiple times. It itches my brain in a way that makes me go: hmmm, maybe I should play it again! I wish it was more well known because it is one of those games you can barely find talk about or guides for or let alone people breaking down the world and its lore into a long Youtube video (which it REALLY deserves btw). It has its pros and cons like every game does but to me, it does a good…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The turn based combat has a genuinely interesting quirk: all party members share a single health pool. This sounds like a gimmick and is instead a constant source of low grade strategic tension. You cannot just sacrifice one character to save the others. Everyone goes down together or nobody does. It changes how you think about every single fight. Mostly positive reviews and a fairly niche audience, which is a genuine shame. This one slipped through the cracks and it absolutely should not have.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Beautiful OST time! This track plays during the emotional scenes in Mato Anomalies! It's a simple track, but man does it set the mood perfectly 🥹 the delicate and lingering piano hits all the right notes, and the synth adds the futuristic flair that is present through the game! Such a good track 😭
positive · AI labelView post →Good combat and card mini game Story is just an incomprehensible mess
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fantastic writing. Great surprise RPG with deep mechanics from out of left field. Very recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Spoilers for MATO Anomalies Epilogue!! Decided to give Ringless a redesign as it was mentioned in the game itself... And a new game... I love he, hehe... My favourite Sickly Victorian Child <333 #FanArt #MATOAnomalies #Ringless
neutral · AI labelView post →So you may be asking what my review is worth if I barely played for 3 hours - well, that is because I only gotten this fairly recently on pc. I got it on switch on release, day one and all, and now I have 200+ hours in it. It is an amazing game. Is it for everyone? I mean, seeing the mixed reviews, def not LMAO. But it is my hyperfixation and I will take it to my grave. The music, the characters, the story, all of it just tickled my brain so well. The rest? You grew to love it like you grow…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Genuinely engaging, detailed world drenched in socioeconomic conflict. Good stuff. Voice acting's pretty bad though.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →disappointing i wish they would lean more into the detective aspect and polish it a bit more the voice acting was great where there was some
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →How do I explain this game? I finished it out of sheer stubbornness and malice and I got all the achievements. I hate this game. I didn't even pay money for this game and I still hate it. I have no respect for it and you should not play it. With that said, I'mma discuss stuff nonchalantly without caring about spoilers. Don't worry, the only impact the story has is the palm of your hand hitting your forehead, but just once. If you're gonna ignore me and get the game, then get it on sale and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have always liked games with anime aesthetics, as I consider myself a bit of a fan of the genre, and there was a time when I was very hooked on visual novels. However, despite this, I haven't had many opportunities to try some "detective" story novels, and this was one of the reasons why this title caught my attention, in addition to its graphic section that is. Mato Anomalies is a JRPG that is described as an enigmatic adventure in a neo-futuristic city, where strange events will drag…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game. Play if you like JRPGs with weird settings and characters. Great writing. Turn based battles. Free roam exploration with visual novel style storytelling. Cool setting and mood.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a unique game! Behind all its shortcomings, Mato Anomalies is a truly special experience that will surely be loved by a small niche of players! In my opinion, the biggest appeal of this game is its incredible atmosphere. Mato Anomalies tells a neo-noir sci-fi story set in the cyberpunk/retro-futuristic city of Mato, inspired by Shanghai and imbued with a tangible sense of social and psychological unrest. The locations and the inhabitants of Mato are all quite unique and carefully…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mato Anomalies is a JRPG that could be described as a cyberpunk Persona with an adult cast, but without the daily life elements. Nice visuals and audio (English voices are surprisingly good, Japanese even better), good story, very solid turn-based combat, interesting characters, pretty fun additional stuff (mind-hacking in the form of a card game, an optional rogue-like dungeon), well-made PC version - no bugs, unlocked FPS, perfectly playable with both gamepads and keyboard+mouse. There's one…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cannot recommend. It is a budget game, sure, but some things are just bad: the transition between scenes, voice-over syncing, quest logs are a mess. The thing is, the art team is extremely talented and there are some really cool-looking areas, which makes this even more disappointing
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i really wanted to like this game, it had some unique ideas not all making sense or thought out but at least somewhat interesting like instead of mana skills are on cooldown which makes battles a bit more fun compared to traditional systems. however your teams health is a pool, so if one character gets hit with a lot of damage you just die and need to repeat the battle/dungeon but there are still attacks that attack your whole team and abilities that do not specify if they get more powerful…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh man, 40$ for a new take on a JRPG game? A steal at this price, and while this game doesn't have the polish you would see from Atlus or Squeenix. The love is there, the combat is repetitive, but fun! The story is so bonkers... Just pick it up, its a game that a review just won't do justice for
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd give this game a 4/10, so its not the worst thing I've ever played, I wouldn't even say the game was all that bad. It just failed to hook me. I tried my best to slog through it for a bit, but honestly it was very boring. I didn't find the characters all that interesting and the writing was just very lacking. I wish I had more to say but I didn't get very far, maybe you'd like it better. I think what did it for me was i slogged through some dialogue for a bit, fought a few battles with the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really enjoy the game, the difficult spike is like if the game was design to have the 6 party member on at once when the team is max of 4. Game could use more voice acting and animations. But it is a great story and good overall game worth the time. If i had to ask for a update would be to make player party all 6 members.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you want a fun JRPG experience with awesome music then this is a fun game to play, but it needs more polish, the combat is too easy, general movement is janky and the story is weirdly told so its confusing, i would give this a 3/5, definitely one of the better 3/5's for sure.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The strongest point of this game is definitely its visuals. Pretty much every area in the game is eye-candy. Aside from that, though, the writing is very hard to follow, the characters are not at all likable, and the level design feels randomly generated even though it isn’t. Overall, hard to recommend unless the setting and graphics are enough to outweigh the bad for you.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly, if only the game isn't priced at $40, I'd definitely recommend this game to anyone. Not to say the game is bad, it's that the price is a bit too high for what you're getting. $30 is what I'd be willing to pay for this game, or in my case, I bought the game while it had a 50% sale. My 40 hour playtime might suggest that I really enjoy the game, but in reality, I kind of want to get over the game quickly, because the repetitiveness of the game already starts to show up at around the 20…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →you can pet cats and dogs
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mato Anomalies has some really cool things going for it but also has some things it needs work on. Pros: The really great world setting What it does it does well Character and monster design is good Cons: The pacing at first is kinda slow In some aspects, it is VERY hard not to compare to persona The real world and other world mechanics didn't mesh as well as I'd have liked. It's a solid game and at a solid price. If you are a fan of Persona and want to try something different I HEAVILY…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's been more than two years since I abandoned this game, but I still think that it actually had some real potential. Art style, the visuals of the world and in parts even the atmosphere are quite nice, but it fell apart quick. The issue for me was the story and even more the way it was told. I don't have the slightest clue what they were going for, but it felt like some alien entity tried to convey a story and miserably failed. It's difficult to convey the weirdness of it, I guess you have…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →interesting story so far, very vanilla JRPG battle system, but i like vanilla, i got it ceap. TLDR;if it's on sale, I'd recommend it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is an absolute gem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Former games media guy here who moved on to content production (Kickstarter-back publications), narrative design (Mato Anomalies), and voiceover. Been at it for over a decade now! My favorite game is Chrono Trigger, and I love me some DDR. Pleasure to connect with you and others here. 👾
neutral · AI labelView post →I didn't care much for the story, ever since the beginning. I cared more for the characters. But now, 11 hours later, after many repetitive and at times downright annoying battles, I am very much done. When a game reaches that point, it's not worth it anymore.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I mean it's alright, gets repetitive after awhile. Cannot really avoid encounters even though it is not random encounter. The difficulty is actually pretty nice, it's not too easy. Production value is not AAA but it's not too bad, it is pretty ambitious. Story is kinda nonsense and not something I am into. I give this a thumbs up because the art is good. Did NOT like the localization part, at least they keep the original chinese VA but the names in CN ver is different so the names the VA…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of the worst games I've ever played... It has a lot of bugs and the gameplay sucks... I thought it was an anime game with husbandos and waifus... and then I got a crappy game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Finally cleared and platinum it. I gave 6.7/10 Story is short and compact It did feel confused most of the time. For the ending part I really don't mind at all and It's actually give me a good chuckle. Characters design look good. My favorite character is Butterfly, she's a feisty one. There are some BGM that sound like a whale in pain. But the gameplay.. Both the battle and the mini game weren't fun at all. The battle and equipment system remind me of those atrocious gacha games where I have…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I said I won’t start a new one, but here I am indulging in a new game 🙂 Mato Anomalies….I forgot what it’s about but i guess it’s a detective game? I’ll find out soon enough 😂
neutral · AI labelView post →I wouldve never imagined this would be a 60+ hour game. Thank you devs !! I had a great time, you clearly put a lot of love in this game. 谢谢
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game 79: Mato Anomalies I liked this game. The final fight though.... I wasn't ready lol and even then its difficult lol Its a turn based rpg with some interesting mechanics aside the mind hacking (which can be skipped) Final Score: 10/10 Do recommend and will trophy hunt
positive · AI labelView post →Mato Anomalies has big potential in its world building but overshadowed to its shallow character writing. I personally has a big hope when i see the screenshots and hoping the story in this world building will be great. The problem with Mato Anomalies is the pacing that can't be helped. Even i only play for an hour into the story i suddenly realise how bad the pacing was and how it impacting the story and the character. Doe is just as shallow as he is, and what a great deal happened so face…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is a reason some games are low priced on sale, that is for the world at large to get the opportunity to play them. What Mato Anomalies has to offer is tremendous ambition upon a cascade of arbitrary game functions, and may very well hold the sacred cow of intellectual properties.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simply put 3/5, was an okay game just could not get into it. I tried multiple times, just eventually uninstalled it from my steam deck. Typical turn-based JRPG fare of battles and dungeon exploring, however it felt like the growth aspect of your characters were limited. That I could grind easily to max strength and have max strength just not be too strong. Further, characters I just couldn't really enjoy. Definitely a game you either hate or love. Visuals are decent, but not enough to carry…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cheaply made garbage, looks like an extremely cheaply made rip off persona series, very unpolished environments, story, dialogue, combat, and card mini game, the ui is bad, the environments are cheap, the story is boring and the voice acting is atrocious in english and japanese from what ive tried, do not reccomend.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A bit of a hidden gem, in that if it were given more polish it could truly have sparkled. I enjoyed my time in the game, which is why I'm happy enough to recommend it, but I'd be hard pressed to name one single element that could be said to make it stand out. Probably what I liked the most was the cyberpunk setting and story, and yet even with that there is an obtuse nature to the storytelling which I suspect is compounded by the translation process that I felt kept me at bay from really…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →THANKS god i didnt not pay full price for this horrendous crap, ive played MULTIPLE jrpg that are bad, but mato anomalies takes the crown as the most tedious one. First of all story is so boring to play, i was expenting a investigation game where you had to investigate stuff but nope the story just play itself by going to one place and another, there is no deductions to make, no decisions or dialogue boxes to select, its just sit down and watch this random person puke random text in to your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The reason why Steam needs a 'Mixed' recommendation option. This needs a sequel with a bigger budget that fixes the problems this game has, namely, not enough money to flesh stuff out, the caveat being everything under 'pro' feels like a great start that just needs a little more polish. Pro's: - Gameplay. The dungeons are fun, the combat is solid and enjoyable. I prefer the team health pool over individual ones tbh. The gears system is complicated but adds a nice touch. - Design. The world and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Humble Bundle] Fight T1D With JRPGs! | $15.13-22.75 AUD. Join the fight against type 1 diabetes Help battle against type 1 diabetes (T1D) with this bundle of games for JRPG lovers! Bring peace to the land of Tahnra in Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga. Uncover the secrets of the Land of Bugaria in Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling. Journey through the neo-futuristic metropolis of Mato Anomalies. Get these and more games influenced by your favorite timeless JRPG sagas—and help JDRF on…
neutral · AI labelView post →TL; DR Mato Anomalies is in part a dungeon crawling JRPG, a detective visual novel, and a card game, in other words it is overambitious. I enjoy this game; however, it has issues feeling both unfocused, and unpolished. I did not like the ending. Note the game has its moments and can be really fun, but it is about an average experience overall. With that said I will probably keep an eye on their future projects. Story The detective Doe has a few debts, and he is coerced into investigating a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →for $7, you can definitely afford to take a chance! I bought Mato Anomalies for all of two whole dollars, and it turned out to be a game I played for 40+ hours and had a lot of fun with, despite its occasional clunk
positive · AI labelView post →Weird Turn-based RPG, and also confusing Mind-hacking Card Game, that is lacking a lot of meat around the bone.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun Little CyberPunk Gumshoe Indy production Level Persona-Lite Aside from JRPG aspects there is also some mini card game like segments when you "Mind-Hack" for example. Story is good Tactical combat is fun and the game is certainly well worth the price of admission. Recommended!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just started and so far I love it. The Characters and RPG Elements seem interesting. The graphics are great and it is fun just to run around. I like the story so far. Overall a great experience that resembles The ShadowRun Games, as it is as RPG Based As A Pen And Paper Game. I even like the Turn Based Combat, maybe a little slow for some, but I find it well done with a slice of a Cinematic way.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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