Anomalith review: I ain’t afraid of no anomalized mutants

FuRyu’s latest is an experiment in third-person action/horror that aims to cash in on recent horror trends with a few twists of its own.

From 4chan posts to indie games, and now major (ish) motion pictures and however many “As” the Control series counts as, the idea of “liminal spaces” in horror fiction has exploded in recent times. Anomalith is a new take on the space from FuRyu, a developer that is never afraid to punch above its weight class and try interesting things (even if they don’t work out). But rather than the usual moody spookiness, Anomalith takes a page from the likes of Resident Evil and Binary Domain to deliver a stylish, over-the-top third-person shooter that is more interested in liminal horror as a cool setting than a singular, antagonistic force. And while it’s plenty rough around the edges as expected, I’ve had a good time blasting and smashing monsters, managing random loot, and playing a little bit of dress-up.

Like Backrooms, but not even a little subtle

In an alternate Japan, the world has to contend with Anomaly Zones, phenomena in which spaces are consumed with supernatural enmity, populated with horrors, and taken from the outside world. Anyone caught inside when anomalization happens is not only under threat from “monsters” in the being murdered sense, but exposure to the forces within these zones could also change their bodies and minds to fit in with their new surroundings, more or less. You play as Reona Minazuki, a young woman with a strong force of will who is rescued from an Anomaly Zone and somehow loses ten years of time in the process. Conscripted into the Japanese Anomaly Zone Countermeasures Office, she joins a crew of Divers who head into Zones kitted out with protective armor and military ordnance in order to explore, collect materials for research, rescue civilians, and shoot anything that moves. 

Things break bad in an anomalized office building, and Reona’s entire squad is killed. Her armor is damaged, but instead of becoming a monster Reona mutates into something new, and that something happens to have bad ass combat powers. Back in the office and loaded up on mutation-suppressing sedatives, Reona becomes a key figure (and only remaining Diver) in fighting back against whatever the heck is causing this problem in the first place. It’s a mystery, but every successful Dive Reona comes back from makes the anomalous doomsday clock at HQ wind back a little. Seems like a good reason to keep doing it.

Nothing fancy, but it's solid

Anomalith isn’t the most sophisticated or saucy action shooter out there, but it’s plenty competent, snappy, and full of things to tinker with. The enemies, the most basic of which look like human-shaped newspaper collages, are fun to discover and scrap with, and an extremely basic loot and Resident Evil 4-coded inventory management system work together to manipulate your dopamine receptors. It’s a great deal of fun to run through anomalized buildings, deal with whatever tries to kill you, scramble to deposit loot and free up space, and eventually take on genuinely impressive boss fights. Most of these boss encounters have interesting and creative gimmicks you have to deal with, bringing you outside of the normal third-person shooting loop and making you use your brain a bit more. For example, the first boss is a sort of massive, skeletal X-Ray outline come to life, with an array of operating room lights protruding from its back. It takes minimal damage from your attacks, but if you shoot the lights out you get a stun and free cinematic attack that hits super hard, rewarding you for your attention to detail and careful play. Figuring those out is rewarding, and gives a strong sense of identity to each level.

The levels themselves are uncomplicated but use the liminal space idea well, at least insofar as having a cool-looking setting to explore while you blast your way down hallways. Sometimes the narrative stakes are raised in interesting ways (Anomaly Zones are normally contained and sealed within closed buildings, but what happens when a train station is hit? That’s actually a cool question to ask in this kind of setting), and a new enemy type can shake up the normal gameplay loop in an intriguing, and sometimes challenging or frustrating way. For as much as the regular run and gun mechanics can feel rote, Anomalith goes out of its way to find room for surprises. 

Repeating bad, tinkering good

Repetition can rear its ugly head, especially if you want to engage with all the side content Anomalith has to offer. You’ll be revisiting locations you’ve explored already, just to fight the same enemies and manage the same loot, but to interact with a new doodad or two while you enjoy a little side story. Sometimes the writing can be sharp, other times it can be kind of generic and stale. There’s a lot of stuff to craft with your spoils though, and a smart cosmetic system lets you wear what you want while keeping whatever has the best stats “equipped.” Reona has lots of cool things to unlock as well, making actually bothering with this stuff rewarding. It’s also tied to inventory capacity, which is diabolical but effective.

Sometimes a decent, breezy game hits just right. Anomalith didn’t blow me away or make my jaw drop, but it was fun and engaging enough to justify my time with it, stand out in my mind, and file it as a win in FuRyu’s unstable library. It’s no The Alliance Alive of course, but very little out there is. If you saw Backrooms this year and have been jonesing for more media in that space, Anomalith is a fun twist that takes things in a different direction from just being unsettled by spooky hallways with oddly-placed furniture. Although there’s plenty of that here too, you just have the powers of bullets and anime on your side as well. It’s a good time, is what I’m saying. 

Anomalith is available on October 29, 2026 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. A PC code was provided by the publisher for this review.

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Review for
Anomalith
7
Pros

• Fun action-oriented twist on liminal horror
• Lots of crafting cosmetics that are mostly actually cool
• Creative and engaging boss fights

Cons

• Unremarkable core gameplay
• Repetition in side quests
• Ups and downs in storytelling