Anomaly President Screenshot
Image: Phew Phew Games

I'll admit that Anomaly Agent caught me off-guard back in 2024. An oddball platform brawler with a quirky sense of humor, coming from Turkish indie studio Phew Phew Games. Having played it, I can confirm that it's a solid, stylish, frequently very creative romp, and they even added a roguelike mode as a free update. Yesterday, the sequel, Anomaly President, rolled out into Early Access. What could they add next to the formula? Base-building, staff management and politics, of course.

This one's twice the oddball, conceptually. Set after the action-packed heroics of Anomaly Agent, your pointy-nosed protagonist is aiming for the top, and campaigning to dethrone an evil president. By day, this means travelling around the country (inhabited by all manner of weird animal people, mutants and cyborgs as well as humans) in your customizable XCom 2 base-like tour bus, adding new rooms to it and staffing them with Fluffies, floating mascot critters oppressed by the current government.

It's all a bit Rogue Legacy. The management layer provides perks, new skills and character classes to you in the platforming stages, which have you fighting through surreal pseudo-cyberpunk city districts, battling gangs loyal to the president and bumping off his cabinet of bosses. It's a fascinating mixture of inspirations, genres and tones, and I'm very curious to find out how it plays compared to its predecessor.

While I've not had a chance to get my hands on Anomaly President, the early access release has been very well received, hitting over 500 user reviews (and the coveted Overwhelmingly Positive badge) within 24 hours of launch. A good omen for a first showing, especially with so much work ahead of the studio. Phew Phew Games estimate at least another year of development, and a lot more content coming in that time, including more areas of the world map and (of course) an ending for the story.

Anomaly President is out now for £13.49/$15, with a 10% launch discount, and further savings if you own the original Anomaly Agent, Grime 2, Gamble With Your Friends or Sodaman - an eclectic mix of games to partner up with for sure. The base price is also set to rise as the game nears completion.