Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

Anodyne 2 is a difficult game to recommend, in one hand it delivers so much on the art, music and story department, however it suffers from a lack of polish, where the gameplay can feel a bit tedious at times and the story lost on what’s trying to convey in some points. One of the strongest points in this game, it’s their art [h2]direction[/h2] , they take the PS1/N64 graphics to a new level, using lights and reflections to craft some gorgeous landscapes that it can only be possible nowadays, not only that, but it also finds success playing around with other art styles as well. On other hand, the menus and HUD look crude to say the least, it lacks the attention to detail that they pour over the game world. The [h2]music[/h2] and the game by extension, has this very dreamy and whimsical quality to it, helping the player immerse in the surreal world of Anodyne 2. Combine that with the landscapes previously mentioned, it’s a shame that the game doesn’t have a camera mode to capture those moments. Another cool thing is that depending on the style that the game is using, the music will change according to that, it’s such a neat detail and shows the repertoire of the BGM. With that being said, one of the toughest sells of Anodyne 2 is the [h2]gameplay[/h2] , and while it is completely functional, easy to use and responsive, i found myself bored due to how not engaging the puzzles were made. It never challenges the player in any meaningful way, and there’s few to none moments where it was used as a storytelling device. Being an open world game, Anodyne 2 allows the player to turn into a car, it gets the job done for sure and makes it easy to get anywhere on the map. It’s main focus it’s less about the exploration of the world, but more so to allow the player to soak up the atmosphere in the world. Personally I wish there were a bit more movement options like a 3D platform, it’d help to break up the pace from driving to story point A to B more, which in turn would offer different ways to engage with the world, without taking away it’s atmosphere too much. Finally the [h2]story[/h2] of the game has a lot of strong moments that are very clear on what’s trying to tell, yet they’re so spaced out between what is essentially flavour text, where most of the NPCs will say something random and quirky, that doesn’t add much to the main plot. Overall, Anodyne 2 is a game about [h2]VIBES[/h2] , it’s not focused on delivering a super tight narrative and gameplay experience, but rather invites the player to explore its dreamy world, full with weird npcs, and a surprisingly emotional story in the end. I overall had a great time with this game, but you’ve to come with the mindset, it might have some bumps in the road.

unique and artsy. story was good and had some great quotes. I like how the developers left a decent amount of the meta coins out of bounds so you had to get creative if you wanted to find them. Some required clipping into walls and others abusing the transforming mechanic to climb walls. Also the unzones were a treat giving a sneak peak of the development process and stuff that didn't make it into the game. Anodyne 2 definitely isn't a game that will appeal to the masses but I thoroughly enjoyed it

This is in my top two favorite indie games of all time. Not gonna say much else, because Anodyne 2 is just something that needs to be experienced. Big thanks to the devs for everything they've done but didn't have to, such as listing all the tools they used in the credits (very useful for beginner devs) and uploading the whole soundtrack to YT for free.

HANG IT IN THE GUGGENHEIM a video game for those sickos out there who believe the true essence of the video game can only be experienced by glitching out of bounds

Awesome game, incredible story I love it a lot, there are a million things that I could spoil about what I love but you should play the game yourself and make your own choices and thought-decisions

im a huge zelda fan so this game clicked for me on a hardware level, bare metal algorithms recognized the puzzles and strange characters, so i 100%'d it, great music, great writing, great art, great fun, great etc

Game loop is simply not fun. Find NPCs, talk to them 3-4 times, play a mini game, enter 2D area (BEST PART OF THE GAME) and solve Zelda-like puzzles, collect dust and cards. Repeat. Basically never-ending fetch quests.