Anima : The Reign of Darkness Review Summary

Faithful Diablo clone with excellent value and loot replay, but abandoned PC version, poor translations, and repetitive controls.

Faithful Diablo clone: The game is consistently described as a great Diablo clone with similar gameplay, skill trees, rune systems, and classes, offering a nostalgic Diablo 1 and 2 experience.

Excellent value for price: Multiple reviewers highlight the game's excellent value, specifically noting it is worth every penny and fairly priced at around 9-10 euros.

High overall quality: Reviewers call it an excellent game overall, fun, engaging, and a worthy successor to Diablo 2 with many quality-of-life improvements.

No pay-to-win mechanics: The game is praised for having no microtransactions, no battle pass, and no pay-to-win elements, making it better than Diablo Immortal.

Strong replay value: Many modes and features contribute to high replayability, offering numerous hours of fun and repeated playthroughs.

PC version abandoned, not updated: The PC version has received no updates for months or even over a year while the mobile version gets regular seasonal content and fixes. The PC version is far behind and feels abandoned by developers.

Poor translation and localization: The game suffers from machine translation that is poor across multiple languages, including Japanese and Russian. Interface terms like 'Start' and 'Exit' are inconsistently translated, causing confusion.

Missing mobile content and features: The PC version lacks skins, wings, pets, and cosmetic effects that exist on mobile. Many features are inferior or completely missing, making the PC version feel like an outdated beta.

Poor controls and clunky mechanics: PC controls are described as terrible, cheesy, and clunky, with bad hitboxes that cause ranged attacks to miss. The control scheme is poorly optimized for keyboard and mouse.

Boring and repetitive gameplay: The early game is too boring to endure, and the mid-to-late game is monotonous with repetitive skills and lack of variety. It feels like a cheap Diablo clone.

Diablo-style ARPG: The game is frequently described as a Diablo clone or action RPG inspired by Diablo 1, 2, and 3, with similar combat, graphics, and mechanics. It is also called a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler.

Five classes with skill trees: Players mention five primary classes (Warrior, Sorcerer, Archer, Necromancer, Cleric) and a skill tree system similar to Path of Exile. There is also a mastery mixing system allowing dual class or same class twice.

Reincarnation system: The game features a reincarnation system with up to 10 levels (or 60 difficulty levels), requiring multiple playthroughs to reach maximum tier. Players must complete the story up to 10 times to access endgame.

Loot and equipment system: The game includes legendary items, sets, uniques, and a tier system for item quality (white to red). There are also gem fusion, equipment upgrade, and socket systems.

Grinding required: The game is described as a grinding game with heavy farming required before bosses and for equipment. Multiple clusters mention grinding for loot, reagents, and to progress through tiers.

Poor optimization and performance: The game is described as poorly optimized, with high CPU usage, system performance degradation, and slower performance in latest zones even on good PCs. This affects overall playability.

Frequent crashes and freezes: Players report constant crashes, freezes during specific boss fights like Mage Tower, and system freezes during events like Trial of the Gods. These issues severely impact gameplay stability.

High CPU usage issues: Players report 100% CPU usage on systems like i7 with GTX 1050, indicating inefficient resource management. Using highest vsync option may help reduce CPU load.

Mixed performance across systems: While some players report smooth performance on low-end PCs, others experience crashes and poor optimization. This inconsistency suggests variable hardware compatibility.

Unity engine port praised: One player notes the Unity engine works well with no bugs, responsive controls, and a successful port. This positive feedback contrasts with other performance complaints.

Diablo-like experience recommended: Many players compare this game favorably to the Diablo series, especially for those wanting a similar experience without microtransactions or while waiting for new Diablo titles.

Mobile version is superior: Several reviews recommend playing the mobile version instead of the PC port, noting better adaptation and performance on phones or tablets.

High recommendation overall: A strong group of players gives the game a full recommendation, praising its gameplay and value, sometimes advising to ignore negative reviews.

Not recommended in current state: Many players caution against buying the game now due to bugs, poor controls, or unfinished features, advising to wait for updates.

Not adapted for PC: Reviewers frequently note that the game feels like a mobile port with poor PC controls and interface, making it a subpar desktop experience.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 100.0h.

Story completion: 13.0h.

Session length: 1.5h.

The game starts with a rough first hour but becomes more enjoyable after that, though it remains repetitive and lacks many features like multiplayer and pets, leading to mixed long-term engagement.

Friction: rough first hour; repetitive gameplay; missing features like pets, wings, multiplayer, seasons; poor loot tables and weird drop rates; dull progression system and poorly balanced skills; feeling of abandonment by developer.

Unlock drivers: persisting through the initial hour; unlocking skills or reaching higher levels.

Old-School ARPG Enthusiast: Single-player dungeon crawler who repeatedly farms maps and bosses, utilizes altar buffs, crafts gear, and levels multiple characters through twinking mechanics. Motivation: Nostalgic ARPG loot-and-grind loop with rewarding crafting and achievement-based loot boxes. Stance: buy.

Modern Feature Seeker: Potential player who would engage with cooperative and seasonal content but currently avoids the game due to missing features. Motivation: Desire for a full-featured modern ARPG experience with multiplayer and ongoing content updates. Stance: no buy.

Steam Deck: The game is a mobile port with generally positive reception, but the controls (especially clicking for single target skills and loot pickup) require improvement, which may cause friction on Steam Deck.

Monetization: The game is consistently described as having no microtransactions, no cash shop, no battle pass, and no pay-to-win mechanics. Loot boxes are obtainable only through achievements, not real-money purchases. One vague reference to a "cash grab" lacks specific evidence of monetization and is outweighed by overwhelming positive feedback on the absence of predatory systems. The game is fair and purely a one-time purchase.