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Game
Game2013
Anachronox
Developer Ion Storm
Anachronox is a 2001 role-playing video game produced by Tom Hall and the Dallas Ion Storm games studio. The game is centered on Sylvester "Sly Boots" Bucelli, a down-and-out private investigator who looks for work in the slums of Anachronox, a once-abandoned planet near the galaxy's jumpgate hub. He travels to other planets, amasses an unlikely group of friends, and unravels a mystery that threatens the fate of the… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
282 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Sep 16, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
74
Fresh
134 positive · 47 negative
95% range 67–80%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 134 | 47 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
101 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
478 of 641 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 282 · most liked firstThere's a very special game celebrating its 25th birthday today: Ion's Storm's cult classic ANACHRONOX. This is one wild, ambitious game with oodles of heart. One of those games where a western dev wanted to make something like a JRPG. It's pretty much the Fifth Element as an RPG.
unlabelledView post →Yeah, Nightdive? This one here.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Anachronox is my favorite game of all time and if you're not willing to pick it up for less than a buck then I dunno what to tell you. Expand your horizons. Play the game I definitely shouldn't have been playing when I was 8 but did anyway.
unlabelledView post →Classic steam selling broken versions of games. Another GoG exclusive.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →sequel desperately needed. will pay or give head
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After playing just over ten hours, I found that the game started to lose its charm and quickly became stale. At first, the humour is genuinely entertaining and the setting feels immersive, creating an atmosphere that’s fun to explore. Unfortunately, the deeper I went, the more the flaws stood out and undermined the experience. Combat, for example, becomes tedious very quickly. There’s no real sense of progression since the game automatically allocates skill points for you, removing the role…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quick heads-up. If you're playing this throw the below parameters into the game's launch options under the game's properties, solves many issues I had such as sliding movement, slow animations, and broken cutscenes\cutscenes repeating randomly. +set gl_driver opengl32 +set vid_fullscreen 1 +set u_vid_fullscreen 1 +set gl_mode 8 +set u_gl_mode 8 Also pick this up for widescreen: https://www.moddb.com/games/anachronox/downloads/anachronox-widescreen-fix The combat is trash and thankfully is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →in the video game Anachronox, which is somehow where 50% of Mass Effect came from despite no one having heard of it, the international standard unit of exchange is, due to a quirk of galactic economy, the Canadian loonie
unlabelledView post →A two page ad from 2001 for Anachronox, an RPG for PCs by Ion Storm featuring main character, Sly Boots It drew design inspiration from Japanese RPGs such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy with its turn-based, "active time battle" mechanics alongside an ambitious scope and cliffhanger ending.
unlabelledView post →Absolutely one of my favourite games of all time. The humor and story never get old. Eddie knows. My playtime here is low as i used an original CD version since years. I just wanted this game in my library.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →anachronox, random game names, debug menu option, pc (2001) 'a window with randomly-generated names of supposed "mintendo" video games.' tcrf.net/Anachronox/D...
unlabelledView post →Going to have to see if I can redeem my honour in 2026, which I have already decided is the Year of Sixth Gen Consoles and Also Anachronox Which Could Totally Pass for an Xbox Game. (Operator's Side / Lifeline is my unofficial 27th game)
unlabelledView post →Anachronox is a singular role-playing game that has earned its cult reputation not through technical excellence or mainstream popularity, but through sheer creativity, ambition, and personality. Set in a richly imagined science-fiction universe, the game opens on a deliberately small and grimy scale, following Sylvester “Sly” Boots, a washed-up private investigator living in poverty on a decaying city-planet. This grounded, almost mundane starting point contrasts sharply with where the story…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow, I'm surprised to see some of the other Steam reviews. I loved this game back in 2001 and now I'm replaying it on my Steam Deck for the first time in almost 25 years and falling in love with it all over again. First of all, this works shockingly well on the SD. I downloaded a 1080p widescreen fix and some upscaled textures and it looks fantastic. If you're at all into retro graphics or you have nostalgia for an era when practically everything ran on the Quake 2 & Unreal engines, you're in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gameplay: 5/10 Story: 7/10 Graphics: 5/10 (for the time) Performance: 6/10 Overall: 5/10 Time has not been kind to Anachronox. This is a game I seriously tried to push myself through to the end, but admittedly, after 20 hours in, I just can’t. That’s not for lack of trying though. After making it a little bit over half-way through the game, I’ve concluded that I just don’t see many redeeming factors for Anachronox. Maybe when Anachronox was released, it might have been a decent title to fill…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A two page ad from 2001 for Anachronox, an RPG for PCs by Ion Storm featuring one of its key characters, the mercenary, Stiletto Anyway Its sci-fi fantasy was inspired by a wide variety of sources that included books like Frederik Pohl's Gateway to RPGs such as Wizardry and ended on a cliffhanger.
unlabelledView post →Flawed. but ultimately well crafted experience from the days of yesteryear when games were not yet made along focus groups and checklist. Very immersive with memorable moments. Even if the cast is diverse, it doesn't feel forced.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You know that feeling you get after completing a game, like that "what am I gonna do with my life now?" type of feeling? Anachronox hits that feeling hard. This is a beautiful, inspired RPG and one the most underrated games I've ever played. It's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy meets Chrono Trigger meets Ender's Game with a dash of noir. The game boasts a memorable cast of characters, subtle yet hilarious humor, and cutscenes that are composed with more imagination and creativity than most…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has a really good story, with very charming characters and relationships, and very ambitious cinematography. The soundtrack is atmospheric oozing personality. This is a very one of a kind game. However, the gameplay can be bothersome. It distracts from the main goal at times, the combat can take forever at times, and the puzzles can be very annoying and hard to figure out. But if you can take that on, or use a walkthrough, you're bound to have an amazing time. A true 7/10, if you know…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really more of a point and click adventure than a RPG, though the RPG elements are still there together with a mindless yet tad flashy turn-based combat. Possibly the biggest appeal of Anachronox is its worldbuilding, the setting is very creative and elaborated upon, much more conceptually than in terms of lore depth, I would think, but it's still pretty captivating. Maps are rich in details, personality and spots to look at, and I really love the visual variety as you hop from one hub area to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lots of fun things on this one, like higher-quality Anachronox art and assets from the cancelled Saboteur game. Plus higher quality art for Omikron/Nomad Soul too! And of course many others.
unlabelledView post →I will forever be fascinated by the many stories that came out of Ion Storm. So here’s one more from @duncanfyfe.net for the original Waypoint about Tom Hall, Anachronox, and how the maligned developer got a win. #RandomVGRL videogameresearchlibrary.com/how-kindness...
unlabelledView post →Great game and greatest example how one stupid design decission can make great game into a terrible experience. Story is generic, but what carries it is great characters and their interactions. Game succesfully tries to be original and funny, with different aproaches to story telling and handfull of mini games, but with somwhat repetetive and boring fights i could do without in the end. But the most extraordinary thing about this game is how one demented end bos fight can ruin the whole…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →“Well, now I'm standing. Happy? We're all standing now. Bunch of jackasses, standing in a circle.” ~Rocket Raccoon Sometimes it's easy to explain why people should care about certain old titles. For example, I can easily explain why modern kids should care about the first Deus Ex, I can easily explain why they should care about Thief: Deadly Shadows, but somehow... I'm having a hard time with the Anachronox. But I'm getting ahead of myself. As you've probably already guessed by looking at the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →LRT: That Anachronox article is great and really goes into how that game was saved largely because Tom Hall is just a really nice dude. He also does a ton of fun stuff like organizing game jams for the PICO-8 community and is worth a follow on Itch too thattomhall.itch.io
unlabelledView post →There will never be another game like Anachronox. It is truly wonderful hidden gem; almost a masterpiece. The story, dialogue, atmosphere, music, and characters are all superb. Combat is a pretty slow, but all right nevertheless. You can really tell that the developers put a lot of love into this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A friend in the gaming industry explained to me that he is motivated to show others what is possible within the medium. Anachronox is the template which sets the example for a higher narrative with plenty of humor, combined with heavenly camera work in a sci-fi blanket. It's arguably a mess on all fronts, but the breath of imagination and compelling characters elevate it amongst the finest PC games. In short, if you're willing to bring the patience, Anachronox will deliver on the level of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The greatest point-and-click adventure game of all time, brutally stapled to one of the slowest and clumsiest turn-based combat systems of all time. An abomination against God. I love it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like it, but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, is there no modern day patch or fix for this game? If you dont have a WinXP laying around to play this thing you might as well just not buy it, i got stuck in the tutorial for fighting after completing it because the elevator that took me there wouldn't work. Which is a shame because its such an unique game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is extremely hard to describe, the most charitable way to describe Anachronox would be you going on a vacation in some foreign country, WITHOUT a tour guide. What I mean is that, while you will see some impressive architecture, history and culture that people with tour guides will see, and you might see something interesting off the beaten path, a lot of what you'll see will be of differing quality, and you'll have to do a lot of busy work. I'll start with giving Anachronox praise…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a rare gem. I found out about it on YouTube and I like the style of game a lot. It looks like a classic n64 game but a lot better. I had to patch it for my tv so I could view it in 16:9. You can mod the game for better textures if you want. If you don't like the 4:3 the game comes in you can patch it. This game is a great gem. I only wish that they would have made this game I to a multi part franchise. If you love classic sci Fi stuff and shows this game is for you.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you are looking for good "JRPG style role playing game made by westerners" try this it won't disappoint you... unlike that horrible game with 33 in title.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a delightful story wrapped in a barely playable game in 2025. It may not be long before this dated game can still be played. This game is 100% story and humor-driven and its good that both are better than most games. I would not recommend this for players that do not have patience to read.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is just right up my alley with it's mix of Scifi and Rpg Elements. it's quirky and wierd and the story is interesting enough I want to see it through despite the clunkyness of combat. Love the game, Anachronox is clearly a hidden gem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is turning into my favorite RPG of all time at an alarming rate! Great story, funny, entertaining, and beautiful what they did with the Quake 2 Engine. *UPDATE* Can not recommend this game any further. After you beat Magmatos and get to the lounge after talking to the Abbot and viewing the cutscene when I try to leave the lounge it says, "Not so fast, talk to your entire party to come up with a plan before leaving." I've recruited every different combination of party members, talked to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're playing this for nostalgia, knock yourself out. If on the other hand you're not already a fan, you might want to just go watch a Let's Play unless you really like 20 year old games. The game is functional, but it's also ugly and clunky and the world interactions are not as fluid as you might hope. What it does well is tell a story, it's an extended narrative of a down on his luck investigator in a dark and dingy sci-fi setting. As a narrative this game could use a remake or a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A real forgotten gem, Anachronox which was made by Ion Storm was a pioneer of "cinematic" games, utilizing a highly cinematic presentation. But unlike today's garbage cookie cutter "cinematic" games such as those from Naughty Dog or the Metal Gear Solid games before The Phantom Pain, Anachronox doesn't sacrifice being a game. It is highly interactive and utilizes lots of RPG elements in the process, thus utilizing the strengths of gaming to aid its narrative design opposed to just blindly and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very happy birthday to @thattomhall.bsky.social Known for working on Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Rise of the Triad, and voicing Walton Simons in Deus Ex. And a little game called Anachronox. Much love from a Norwegian retro rat!
unlabelledView post →Anachronox would probably be worth re-visting but there is is too much to over look. It is very outdated and did not age well at all. The quality of life features like graphics and audio control are very limited for the modern age. There was an option for "3d" sound (how exciting!) but the option just remained greyed out and could not be switched on (let me just plug in my Sound Blaster 2000). The graphics options consisted of just two resolution options which can make a huge difference in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty cool for an unfinished game! I think it goes unsaid that the fighting mechanics was treacherous and repetitive, so it was easy to find it dull unfortunately. The story is quite interesting and grand but I did feel that they dragged it out. Loved the aesthetic, sense of humor and life it had which I thought were it's biggest strengths. Every dialogue with every character was interesting and the worlds were so different from one another, not to mention the cool backstory and distinct vibe…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this game back when it came out in 2001 but never finished it due to one game breaking bug affecting progression. Having gone through it again very recently, the story and characters still hold up pretty well, the combat was inspired by turn based JRPGs from the 90s but has not aged as well as classics like Chrono Trigger and FF7, it can get annoying mainly due to the long/slow animations. If you can get past that, this game is worth playing with its memorable characters.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a bit dated, but still fun to play. Interesting world, memorable characters, many hours of story.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played many hours back in the day. Deserves a modern remake.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like Final Fantasy but with good writing and likeable characters.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of the best adventure games ever written, period. Play it, you won't regret it. My only sorrow is that they never got around to making a sequel. If I'm ever a billionaire, I'll personally fund it. That's how freakin' good this game is.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Imagine a Mass Effect style 3rd person RPG created with 90's game design. Clunky UI with no map, lots of back tracking, no waypoints and generally getting lost in awful maze like maps with no clue where to go. Add in the JRPG (why???) combat and this game should be terrible. But it's not. Its well written, sometimes confusing but also funny, charming and at times a lot of fun. It's a game crying out for a remaster there is so much scope here. Will never happen it wasn't a success and I can see…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of those games that gets a few too many unearned kudos due to the nostalgia factor, but unlike Deus Ex which is still entirely playable today, Anachronox has drifted beyond the playability event horizon. Combat is very simple and undercooked. It features animations that feel overly long and quickly get old. Your best bet is to throw it on Easy so you can just get it out of the way as quickly as possible. You can see many elements of a solid combat framework that were clearly left…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I no longer remember how I heard about this game for the first time but I've always thought Anachronox sounded really cool despite western PC RPGs normally not being my thing.
unlabelledView post →The game is slow and a little tedious but it is fun and funny. The characters are mostly likable and the story gets interesting. The gameplay feels mostly like a 3D point and click adventure game where u explore and solve simple puzzles and then there is combat. Combat is turn based ,JRPG Style, but it feels a little bit too slow and not complex enough to be entertaining. I didnt hate the combat but its also not a selling point. overall the game was fun to play thorough, Its just unfortunate…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy Birthday to Anachronox(2001)🎉🎂 I'm not even crowbarring a punchline into this post, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 how much I love it😍 Genuinely funny game & absolute dead cert in my personal top 10. Even if I do still blame @thattomhall.bsky.social for Red Bipridi & how I twitch when I hear circus tunes😅 #Retrogames
unlabelledView post →I'm playing videogames today. Happy to report that Anachronox is very much my shit. Feels like the PC game equivalent of something like Farscape.
unlabelledView post →Well that was great!! A true hidden gem very slow at times very clunky you will be backtracking a lot and you will probably screw up npc quests. But the story is very charming and the cut scenes are by far the best part very funny and even tragic at times with great characters and a protagonist giving bruce campel vibes. Well worth plodding through the slow parts its amazing its not more of a cult classic very little love for this odd little rpg from the golden age 8.5/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A Tom Hall JRPG magnum opus! Anachronox has lots of heart, interesting world-building, nice writing, great sense of humor, decent length, comfy idtech2 old ass graphics, janky af gameplay, and bugs that could soft-lock you from completing the game or ruin your save files... It pretty much has everything you've expected and wanted out of a classic hidden gem from the early 2000s PC gaming golden age!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At least it was a finished game, unlike KOTOR 2. But it teased a sequel that never happened. In a just world, we'd get FF7-level remakes of Anachronox and Deus Ex 1
unlabelledView post →do yourself a favor and play this game on easy and get ready to spend hours on game that doesn't flow nicely and use a walkthrough. would not recommend.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Anachronox was the first game I ever worked on professionally and it’s still one of my favorites. I consider myself so profoundly lucky to have been a part of it.
unlabelledView post →Quake 2 engine RPG? You bet! Tonight we are playing Anachronox, a perhaps overlooked game, that's been on my list to play for a long time. Starting at 8 PM CT youtube.com/live/I3JEe-_...
unlabelledView post →All i knew approaching this game was that i heard it described as a "comedy RPG" and that it's from Ion Storm, the same guys who made Deus Ex (well, sort of, same company, different studio) I say this because perhaps you are as clueless as i was, and you're going in expecting a funny Deus Ex like i did, in which case i must warn you this game is completely different from what i expected To my initial surprise, this game takes a lot of inspiration from classic Final Fantasy and the likes, both…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of those games that deserve a remaster
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a little piece of nostalgia from back before almost every new release had to be a sequel or a new entry derived from an IP. It's an original, difficult to classify game (jprg in a cyberpunk mixed with a noir vibe) which had the potential to be a really good game if not for the lack of polish and depth of its combat, the very dated graphics even for its time, and a combination of being very linear and at the same time not really knowing where you should look for the next important…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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