Antro is a 2.5D action platformer game from Catalonian studio Gatera Studio. Antro sees the player control Nittch as he transports special cargo across a fictionalised dystopian city state in near-future Spain. As Nittch, you have to traverse city slums and derelict industrialist settings, evading capture from watchful robotic sentinels. Antro should be familiar to anyone who has played Limbo or Inside as the game shares a lot of DNA with those titles, but with a musical twist.
El Régimen
The world of Antro is dark and dirty. The world’s colour palette of mostly brown grimy tones creates an oppressive, joyless tone. All of the characters in the world are faceless drones that live to work. Upon starting the game, the protagonist is greeted to a screen saying “WAKE UP. WORK AWAITS”, implying that there is no purpose in this world except work. As you explore, you learn that all forms of art and individualism itself have been banned by La Cúpula, a regime of sorts. Antro mostly relies on environmental storytelling in the form of in-world screens and announcements to tell the player about the world. In-game radio calls and some cutscenes help to fill out the lore of the world and of Nittch.
Vamos a la Discoteca
While intriguing, I never felt very connected to the world or the plot of Antro. The idea of a world where music is outlawed is great and the game should’ve taken that aspect further. The game does meld this idea into gameplay during the music sections where jumps, attacks, and slides match the beat of the music. Following the music as a means of escaping fascism is a great concept and these sections of the game were easily its strongest points. The Spanish hip-hop that plays is fantastic and following the rhythm is very fun. The parts in between are not as good. I understand that they are there to add context to the world, but I sorely missed the focused music levels.
Performance wise, Antro runs smoothly and I found the art style to be fine, but some textures were too muddy for my liking. I did run into a bug where Nittch was constantly meleeing, requiring a restart, but otherwise the experience was bugless. Some of the platforming could be finicky and difficult to gauge when I was supposed to jump or slide, but this was mostly a small issue.
En Inglés?
Really my biggest gripe with Antro is the English voice acting, which I wasn’t a big fan of. I much preferred the Spanish actors but unfortunately, Antro matches the subtitles with the selected audio language. I really wish this wasn’t the case and feel like it could be an easy fix.
Verdict
At only around 1-2 hours long, Antro is a breezy experience. It’s ideal for a first time gamer, with simple controls and a short runtime. I think it is hard to recommend because it does little to stand out from its peers. Sure the music sections are fun, but they’re not exactly groundbreaking. Antro is good for what it is and fans of 2.5D platformers or Spanish games will have a good time with this title.
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