Fans of action/platforming/exploration (APE) games like Metroid and Castlevania, can now claim a Steam key for couch co-op game Anima Flux as part of their IGN Plus subscription.

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IGN Plus Monthly Game: Anima Flux

Anima Flux is a sidescrolling game set in the far future. Humanity has left Earth as a last-ditch attempt to survive swarms of mutant monsters. Unfortunately, some snuck aboard the generation ship and now the last remnant of humanity’s last city are fighting back, with genetically engineered super soldiers. One uses a sword and the other uses a bow, and players can team up with friends to play in couch co-op, or opt to play solo and switch between characters.

With dark sci-fantasy aesthetics and moody music, Anima Flux will take on nearly limitless numbers of mutants, gathering bio-mass and using it to fuel upgrades to make them more resilient, make their powerful special moves usable more often, or even add new map functionality. Fluid and stylish hand-drawn animated cutscenes are also on offer, and I’m certainly a big fan of that.

Combo is pretty simplistic, with more of an emphasis on staying moving and getting upgrades early, partially because it’s designed for co-op and they weren’t kidding about mutants swarming everything.

Anima Flux Developer Interview

Mixing sci-fi and fantasy [aesthetics] isn’t incredibly common in the games space. What are some of the team’s inspirations, whether games (Hollow Knight, etc.), or art in other mediums?

Our game is not of the fantasy genre. It is absolute science fiction. The action takes place on a spaceship. There are monsters there and in Anima Flux lore they appeared because of the virus. And the virus got into the spaceship with the last passengers from the Earth. To save people you should take control of two elite soldiers and combine their unique abilities and skills.

We are all inspired by retro and old school games like The Lost Vikings, Trine, Another World. Old school platformers: Flashback, Battletoads, Contra.

There is kind of an 80s and cyberpunk vibe I get while listening to the music, were there any particular influences or goals for the game’s soundtrack?

Anima Flux is a kind of dark retro sci-fi. And there are cyberpunk elements there. Also, we were inspired by “Alien” and “Aliens” by Ridley Scott and James Cameron, “Blade Runner”, “Ghost in the Shell”, “Akira”. You can find references with many “dystopian sci-fi world” movies. One of the reviewers mentioned that the artistic concept of the regular soldiers and the mutants reminds [them of] “Starship Troopers”. We didn’t even consider this movie like a source of inspiration, but users drew parallels with it.

I heard Anima Flux started out as a visual novel before moving into its current genre. Can you confirm that? Anima Flux as a visual novel would have been an interesting choice. What was the reason for the change?

The answer is ambition. 2d platformers were very popular when we came to this idea, and they still are. And we just wanted to create one thing starting with comics and interactive visual novels. But after all the experiments in 2017 we saw the potential in platformers and metroidvania, in particular. So, this is how we decided to embody Anima Flux in the game.

What are some of the team’s favorite things from the game?

First of all, it is a narrative. Dialogues with NPC, their stories and lore of the game. And do not forget about the main characters’ stories, personal lives and emotions. Also, we love the atmosphere, visual effects, acid colors, and dark locations. If we talk about gameplay co-op mode is at the top.

Any notable, interesting, or fun stories from development that you can share?

Once, the lights were turned off in our office. A large amount of data was not preserved, and we had to redo a lot of work. We added this story to one of the dialogues in the demo. Speaking of NPC, some of them have the appearance of our team members. You can see us in the image some of the scientists who help main characters. And there was also a story about our team building in the mountains. One of our game designers talked about work all the time, so the team finally asked him to calm down. He is just a workaholic and loves the project.

What would you tell players who are thinking about jumping into Anima Flux?

They should turn off the lights in the room and play co-op with friends. They will feel the atmosphere of the years, when we were kids, who loved to visit each other to play games together and spent quality time offline. And don’t forget to turn off your phone so no one will disturb you. Do not skip dialogues during the game to fully immerse yourself into its atmosphere. And try not to launch the game right away. Let the music envelope [sic] you before you start the action. Believe us, we paid attention to every small detail.

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Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN & GameSpot. You can get your fix of his antics on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Bluesky, & Backloggd, & check out his fantastic video game talk show, The Platformers, on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.