There are games that aim to entertain, and then there are games that challenge the very language of play. ANTHEM#9 is emphatically in the latter camp. From its first moments, Anthem#9 opens with some bold design choices, pulsing combo bars, and a battle system that feels part puzzle, part strategy. This title makes a clear declaration: it wants your mind engaged. It doesn’t just aspire to be “fun.” It wants to be clever, deliberate, and expressive. Oh, and hard, which makes sense for a roguelite. At a time when countless indie roguelikes lean on familiar formulas, ANTHEM#9’s fusion of gem-matching, deck-building, and turn-based battle systems feels like a fresh and audacious proposition.
Where some titles hide their complexity behind flashy action, ANTHEM#9 wears it proudly, like a superhero with a cape, asking you to understand its systems deeply if you hope to master them. This is a game that provokes thought as much as it does reflexes, weaving psychological satisfaction into every successful combo chain and tactical decision. It’s one of those, easy to learn, hard to master games with a very creative twist. Before we plunge into the mechanics that make this game distinctive, it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the creative force that brought it into the world. Just imagine Persona had a baby with Slay the Spire, and you’re all set for the deep dive I’m going on.
From Indie roots to strategic innovation
ANTHEM#9 is the brainchild of koeda, an indie developer whose journey stands in stark contrast to typical studio origin stories. Originally an office worker with no formal game development background, koeda began building the game out of sheer passion, exploring prototypes and character visions in the evenings and on weekend sprints. His dedication caught the attention of Shueisha Games, who helped elevate the project to full localization and broader support after its recognition in the Shueisha Game Creators Camp contest
With thanks to Gamepress for providing some insight
This game was created by a small team with uncompromising creative vision, one that wears influences proudly but reshapes them into something distinctly its own. While the game’s aesthetics and user interface occasionally draw comparisons to stylised titles in the JRPG space (like Persona), ANTHEM#9 refuses to be pigeonholed. It borrows from, learns from, and then reinterprets its genre conventions to build a complex but rewarding structural identity. That independence is both a strength and a challenge: the game’s ambition sometimes outpaces clarity, but what it achieves remains uniquely compelling. And it took me by surprise, so let’s turn it up a notch.
The Roguelite puzzle heartbeat
At its core, ANTHEM#9 blends match-three gem mechanics with roguelite deck-building, creating a combat experience that rewards strategy, sequence planning, and clever resource management. Battles aren’t driven by pixel-perfect timing; instead, they hinge on how you interpret the puzzle before you (with a time limit for making your move).
Every turn, a grid of randomly distributed gems in different colours appears. For example, matching three (or more) of the same (or different) colour triggers skills tied to your current deck, and chaining successive matches unleashes high-damage combos. What makes this more than a Match-3 clone is intentional sequencing: the order in which you trigger abilities and how you configure your deck before, and during, a dungeon run significantly affects your success.
Unlike traditional roguelikes, where death is reset and repetition, here progression happens through randomly generated dungeons (in the form of a map, similar to Slay the Spire), where you collect new skills and Blessings to refine your deck. The ability to customise gem requirements for skills ensures each run feels distinct, letting you experiment with wildly different strategic builds.
This design paradigm makes comparisons to both Persona and Slay the Spire easy to make, although in different aspects:
- The artistic presentation, which is bold, with expressive colour palettes and UI flourishes, shares a visual kinship with stylish JRPGs like Persona, but without the lengthy narrative exposition.
- The strategic deck construction and emergent progression echo Slay the Spire’s philosophy of synergy discovery and adaptive planning. Each run forces decisions that shape how future runs unfold, but rather than cards, here it’s gem recipes and skill nodes.
These comparisons aren’t accidental; they’re structural. ANTHEM#9 marries visual flair and smart engagement in a way that few genres attempt and fewer still manage well.
The Agents of ANTHEM#9: Distinct paths and strategic depth
Rather than generic avatars, ANTHEM#9 offers three unique playable agents, each with their own combat identity and tactical emphasis.
Rubit: The Adaptive Protagonist
The core agent and narrative focal point, Rubit, wields a dagger and uses poison-infused skills. What sets her apart is flexibility: she can change gem colours during combat by spending Action Points (AP), allowing her to adapt to suboptimal boards and maintain combo flow. Her playstyle rewards situational awareness and creativity, making her an ideal choice for players who embrace strategic improvisation. Oh, and did I mention damage over time, with poison? Floral poison.
Phannie: The Risk-Taker Gambler
Phannie’s style is flamboyant and unpredictable. Armed with a firearm and a penchant for high-risk plays, he can spend AP to split double gems, increasing total gems on the field. This mechanic enhances certain builds that thrive on repetition, enabling Phannie to trigger multiple skill activations in explosive sequences. It’s a high-risk, high-reward style that can dominate runs when properly leveraged, or falter spectacularly when misjudged (like I did in the second main mission). He reminded me a lot of Mister Mister of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, which is still one of my favourite characters from the Jojo Universe.
Beni: The Martial Powerhouse
In contrast to Rubit and Phannie’s nimble styles, Beni is all about raw might. As a martial artist fighting for her people’s honour, she trades gems for defensive buffs, healing, attack boosts, and strong single hits. Her ability to stack buffs and fortify her defences makes her a juggernaut in prolonged battles, rewarding players who plan long-term and build for sustained encounters. Especially, boss battles can be a bit “longer” than regular battles.
These three approaches, adaptability, volatility, and brute force, ensure that every playthrough feels strategically unique. The interplay between gem grid outcomes and agent mechanics creates a feedback loop of thinking, reacting, and optimising that keeps runs engaging long after the novelty fades.
How ANTHEM#9 fits (and pushes) its genre
Labelling ANTHEM#9 as simply a roguelike doesn’t fully capture its complexity. It’s more precise to call it a gem-match roguelite deck-builder, where traditional permanency, in terms of skills and progression, evolves over multiple runs. Each failure is informative, each choice shapes your next approach, and every victory feels hard-won. What sets it apart from boundary peers is intentional cognitive tension. It doesn’t just ask “How fast can you react?” but rather “Where and why do you place this skill? How do you configure your deck to force future success?” This makes it as much a methodical strategy experience as it is a battle-driven roguelite. Candy Crush, move over, this is the new sugar rush you want to dive into.
The risk, however, comes with accessibility. The learning curve can be steep, and the layering of mechanics sometimes feels less like a ladder to mastery and more like a maze. Yet for players who relish iterative discovery, which is a system that evolves with you rather than merely around you, ANTHEM#9 offers rewards that few indie roguelites dare to promise.
Conclusion:
ANTHEM#9 doesn’t chase mainstream appeal. It complicates the familiar, bends genre expectations, and asks players to think more deeply rather than just play harder. It’s smart, it’s stylish, and it’s proudly distinctive, which are qualities that will delight some and frustrate others.
There are rough edges: the UI occasionally buries information you want to see, and the early learning curve can feel opaque. But these are the trade-offs for a game that dares to be smarter than its peers. In a climate that often favours easy accessibility, ANTHEM#9’s refusal to dumb down its systems is both its greatest asset and its biggest barrier. For strategy lovers, deck-build aficionados, and anyone who enjoys the sweet tension where puzzle and combat collide, ANTHEM#9 is a gem worth digging into.
