Mato Fragments Impressions: Investigate Neo City in Mato Anomalies’ Prequel VN

In 2023, I tried my hand at Mato Anomalies, a cyberpunk dystopian noir RPG. While I didn’t feel it ended as strongly as it could have, I enjoyed the game well enough. I became invested in its story and characters, to the point where I opted to play the DLC side story, Digital Shadows, afterwards, and delighted in the opportunity to return to the setting. Imagine my surprise when I learned of a prequel visual novel in development, titled Mato Fragments, that offers a chance to return to this sci-fi investigative world. Admittedly intrigued, I volunteered to try a demo preview of the upcoming first chapter. While the demo covered what appears to be a small portion of the overall game, it was enough to whet the appetite and leave me eager to experience the completed version.

Set in the futuristic Neo City, home to what is perhaps the world’s last vestige of civilization, Mato Fragments‘ first chapter puts players in the role of a mysterious and sharp-tongued information broker named My Lady. Together with her assistant, the polite Uncle Fu, My Lady runs a photography shop called Night Smoke, which is a front for her actual work of collecting and trading valuable information. With enigmatic forces at work in Neo City’s government alongside the various volatile factions that call the dystopia home, intel gathering is both incredibly lucrative and dangerous: facts that rear their heads for My Lady and Uncle Fu after some particularly harrowing visits. As the mystery of Neo City deepens, what’s honestly waiting in the future for My Lady and its other denizens?

I won’t delve more into Mato Fragments‘ story, mainly because there are still numerous mysteries lingering at the end of what the demo covers. I don’t want to reveal too much accidentally. While certain narrative elements differ due to the VN’s prequel nature, the same underlying themes still permeate the story and atmosphere like in Mato Anomalies. Having played the prior title, I couldn’t help but exclaim a bit every time the game referenced a familiar name or certain characters appeared, speculating on the potential plot implications and how they might function thematically later on. However, the strong world-building in Mato Fragments and its prequel status ensures that even those unfamiliar with Mato Anomalies should be able to pick it up without getting lost.

Gameplay progression through the demo is your typical VN experience. You click and scroll through exposition, and unique gameplay components include dialogue choices and presenting gathered information. At one point, My Lady even observes a character closely by zeroing in on specific points of their body to pick up further details. My Lady keeps a log of all potential vital information and evidence for her business, and you can easily peruse it at any time.

Advancing the chapter to the “end” sometimes results in a time loop if you haven’t yet uncovered the correct information to move the plot forward. Fortunately, the standard dialogue skip option exists along with the truly helpful “Pass” ability that lets you fast forward to the next gameplay point or any unread text you uncover next. You can then approach things from a different angle to see if you get a different result. Once you’ve gathered enough information and opened up the required dialogues and choices to advance, the demo comes to a cryptic and curiosity-piquing end.

Visually, the CG illustrations and expressive character artwork that occasionally weave their way into Mato Anomalies are on full display in this VN, and the jazz-tinged noir of Neo City fits the game’s aesthetics and presentation fantastically. The music might be a tad familiar to those who played Mato Anomalies, but it still fits the setting perfectly alongside the sound effects. The dialogue is unvoiced, but that’s not uncommon for this genre. The biggest weakness at the moment might be that the English localization of the script isn’t perfect. Still, I was able to mentally correct the sometimes awkward wording or grammatical errors with minimal effort. I also noticed that a particular game menu, called “Connections,” intended to provide information about uncovered characters and even allow you to replay specific story scenes for reminder purposes, often contained untranslated text even with the English language option selected. Hopefully, that won’t be an issue in the game’s full version.

As a mystery VN, Mato Fragments is already showing considerable promise. It boasts a strong gameplay foundation with just enough interactive elements to keep players on their toes while also breaking up the dialogue. The world-building and lore in the demo are highly detailed and quite interesting, suggesting an impressive amount of narrative attention. I liked the little bit we saw of some of the characters so far, and was especially impressed with My Lady’s personality and reactions.

I enjoyed Mato Anomalies enough from a world and plot stance that getting the chance to jump into its story-verse again is a prospect I’m looking forward to. Even at this early stage in Mato Fragments‘ development, this prequel is already a solid VN in its own right from the gameplay and plot perspectives. Now that I’ve played the first chapter of this compelling VN mystery, I’ve high hopes for the completed project when it releases on PC via Steam later this year!