Antro (2022): The Review

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from Keymailer

Overview

Antro is a solid attempt at the (very overplayed) "dystopian-revolution" genre that shines in the music department but fails to give any attention to any of the other segments of this game. Gameplay in the "music-less" sections is pretty non-existent, which brings the whole experience down. Some bugs and visual glitches help make this a very mediocre experience in a game that shows potential but lacks the polish and ideas the concept deserved.

Score: 6.5 out of 10

The Positives ✅

Antro isn't a bad game. Let's get that out of the way. The game is "split" into two types of gameplay segments: the normal segments, which consist of mostly just walking, finding collectibles and the occasional short "rhythm" section; and the musical segments, which are side-scrolling levels where all you gotta do is jump, duck and occasionally hit some wall/enemy. These musical levels are the "crowning achievement" of Antro. The music is stellar, probably the best we've heard on a indie title in years (maybe even ever, we won't lie). A HUGE applause to Status Crudo, JM Benet, Aleis, Swit M & Santa Salut for their amazing contributions to the spectacular music in this game but most of the credit HAS to go to the Audio Director Martí Valverde because what he did in this game should put many triple A studios to shame.

The Negatives ⚠️

Story wise, Antro does try some interesting ideas and concepts in this world but most of it, personally, missed the mark and didn't hit as well as it could (and should've). It's all too "generic" and "vague", something that not even the extra "lore" inserted into the collectibles helped to clarify.

Gameplay wise, everything besides the musical levels really don't live up to the tremendous highs those special music moments bring. There's honestly no challenge or any sort of engaging gameplay. You'll just walk, hit stuff and maybe do some platforming or do a "very short" rhythm mini-game (these had the potential to create some more engaging moments and diversify the gameplay but they're SERIOUSLY underused and short). It really makes us believe most of the development went towards those musical levels and that the rest ended up falling short of expectations.

We did have a few visual glitches and encountered a couple of bugs throughout our experience with the game. Were they anything serious? Not really but it did "damage" our game experience.

The Experience 🎮

Overall, we can't say we didn't enjoy our time with Antro. It took us about 5-ish hours to obtain this game's platinum and besides one section (that had us reach out to the developers of how unfair and broken it seemed) it was a mostly satisfying experience. It does give me hope that the next game made by Gatera Studio lives up to the potential Antro showed. And we are very excited to see where the music goes...