Game provided by: Plan of Attack
Upon starting the game on Steam, I received a notification that this game needs a controller for the best experience. That is something I would not expect for this game’s genre. Nevertheless, I plugged in my PC controller and lo and behold – it really worked like a charm! Before heading on to the campaign portion of ANTHEM#9, I began the tutorial section to learn the rules of the game, which I recommend to everyone before starting the game. You will be progressing through floors, defeating enemies and powering up your deck, which you will later use to defeat the powerful enemy at the end of the dungeon. In battles, you receive three random colour gems each turn, and it is up to you to line up these gems according to the recipes to activate the skills. You can also share necessary gems to activate two different skills. You are able to spend action points to change the colour of your gems as well, which is called Gem Trade. Each time you activate a skill, you reduce the enemy’s stamina, and when it hits zero, you can cancel an enemy’s attack. Every turn, you can also choose one of your drawn blessings for a beneficial effect. When you learn the ropes, you will be able to face the boss battle of the tutorial in this, which seems to be a very interesting game! Now, we can finally head to the campaign with all our knowledge. Le’s go!
Let’s talk a bit more about what ANTHEM#9 actually is. It is a secret society working to protect the world’s balance and harmony, as one would expect! By secretly working to eliminate dangerous individuals with advanced technology or extreme ideologies, they have a long history of contributing to world peace. Because their missions are top secret, battles with dangerous individuals take place in their spiritual worlds. So it will be up to you to guide top agents and take out the targets who seek to bring chaos to the world! And as far as the game ANTHEM#9 goes, it is a strategic roguelite where you will fight puzzle-like combo battles. It was developed by koeda and published by SHUEISHA GAMES on the 5th of February 2026.
You are able to play ANTHEM#9 on three difficulties – easy, normal, and hard – each with its own set of rules. Easy is the recommended difficulty for roguelike beginners, normal represents the standard difficulty level, and hard is meant for experienced roguelike gamers who wish to test their skills. After choosing the difficulty to your liking, you will head to your first floor. Floors include battles, stores, events, et cetera. You have multiple options for what you wish to encounter on any given floor, so choose wisely! All in all, in ANTHEM#9, you will be matching gems to activate skills and destroy your opponents with a variety of combos. Through progression, you will need to create a deck that will deliver maximum damage and trigger high-speed combos within a limited time window. The game delivers both strategic depth and a rush while playing, so your body will definitely be left satisfied after playing a session or two. The dungeons are also randomly generated, so the game offers a high level of replayability after you will once finish the campaign.
ANTHEM#9 is a very good, almost great debut offering from the game creator koeda, who began working in 2021 and has no prior experience in the industry and is not a game programmer. Kudos to them for developing an interesting roguelike deckbuilder that I recommend to every person who finds themselves enjoying the given genre. It is definitely a solid title, and I cannot wait for what koeda brings in the future!
