Masters of Anima

Masters of Anima sits at a genuinely interesting crossroads: it wants to be an action RPG and a real-time strategy game at the same time, and it pulls that off just well enough to be worth talking about. You play as Otto, an Anima shaper in training who can summon and command large squads of elemental Guardians rather than swinging a sword himself. Think less Diablo, more a pocket-sized Pikmin with a fantasy coat of paint. At its best, that hook is legitimately satisfying. Watching 80 guardians swarm a boss while you kite, reposition, and issue quick formation commands has a scrappy kinetic energy that most mid-budget RPGs never attempt. The Guardian roster is the mechanical heart of the game. You unlock several unit types across the campaign, each with distinct roles: melee fighters to absorb damage, ranged archers to whittle health bars, support units to buff or heal, and a few specialized summons that open up tactical wrinkles. Swapping between them on the fly, splitting groups to flank, or sacrificing a squad to buy yourself breathing room during a boss phase adds a layer of genuine decision-making that the genre rarely bothers with. The combat at its peak feels like conducting a chaotic orchestra, and there is real pleasure in landing a well-timed ability. Here is where I have to be honest about the ceiling, though. The narrative is thin. Otto and his fiancee Sara are fine as protagonists but they exist inside a story that feels assembled from off-the-shelf fantasy components: corrupted mentor figure, ancient power, escalating threat. The writing never surprises you, the dialogue rarely rewards a second look, and the worldbuilding amounts to a colorful backdrop rather than something you actually want to read lore about. For an RPG specialist, that stings. The genre label on the tin promises something that the script does not deliver. Pacing is also a problem. The mid-game drags noticeably as the campaign pads out its runtime with wave-defense segments and arenas that recycle the same Guardian combinations you already solved an hour ago. The sense of build progression starts to thin precisely when it should be accelerating. Boss fights are mostly the highlights, but the road between them can feel like mandatory busywork rather than genuine escalation. And on the technical side, the camera occasionally fights you during dense battles, which is the last thing you want when you are trying to control 70 units at once. Who is this actually for? If you are coming in expecting a narrative RPG with meaningful choices and character arcs, redirect now. If you want a breezy six-to-eight hour action-strategy game with a competent (if shallow) Guardian system, some solid boss design, and an aesthetic that leans cheerfully into Saturday-morning-cartoon fantasy, Masters of Anima delivers a reasonable time. The mixed Steam score is accurate: it is not a disappointment so much as a game that mostly succeeds at a modest ambition. Genre completionists and Pikmin fans on PC with nothing on the backlog will get the most out of it. Monika, Scout Team