Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

I went in with high hopes, expecting a modern interpretation of both 2D and 3D Zelda with original atmosphere and art design. Oftentimes, Anodyne 2 surpassed my already high expectations. It offers an assortment of creative dreamlike areas to explore, each with strong art direction and a thought-out depth of surrealistic bliss, a transcendentally beautiful soundtrack, and writing that's at times captivating from literary, not even video game perspective. With a variety of different levels, I was afraid it'd end up disjointed, but in all its quirkiness, Anodyne 2's deep lore and a satisfying story is tying it all together.

Where the game falls a bit short in my mind is its insistence on radical postmodernism, with continuous pop-culture references and tumblrish jokes that often feel cringe, breaking the fourth wall just because. I do understand it's part of the esthetic, and the vibe of queer nerdiness / nerdy queerness is my vibe to be sure, but I'd rather not be reminded that it's just a game whilst experiencing such a creative, meticulously crafted world. Also, even more importantly, the game, it hurts to admit, isn't just all that fun. It's a great experience, but at best only a good game from the perspective of mechanics alone. Variety and surprise keep the thrill alive, but no fights or puzzles are all that enjoyable by themselves, without the overall context.

Still, all these flaws make it "only" one of my favorite games, and not the favorite game. I hope that the Analgesic duo will some day surpass what they delivered here and deliver something even more stunning.

What a massive improvement from the first game, both in terms of the actual game and the quality of the port. This runs pretty much flawlessly on the Switch, with very few hickups throught the experience. And the game itself? Fuck it's amazing. Mixing the 2D Zelda style that the first game brought with fully 3D exploration that looks absolutely stunning, you have a recipe for just a stellar title. The plot is touching and thought provoting, the puzzles are a blast to figure out, the music is serene and ambient bliss, the visuals are probably some of my favourite in any game ever. There's just very little to complain about with this game. Maybe it's a bit short? I don't know, but I really feel that this is a must-play.

A gorgeous, messy, compelling masterpiece of a game. Everything from the storytelling, to the music, to the art style is laser-focused, and it feels like exactly the game the Melos Han-Tani and Marina Kittaka wanted to make. It is occasionally baffling and confusing, but it feels like that is sometimes the point: in real life, we don't always get all the answers. There is a horror section in the middle (which I won't spoil) that exemplifies this, and makes the world feel somehow even bigger than it is, with more mysteries than are possible to solve, but somehow that fits the overall narrative of breaking free from expectations others have.

I don't think I have the writing ability to expand on this, but it also feels like a video game about video games: The creators often pull the curtain aside to show the inner workings of the game, which somehow fits in-game as well. (This is besides the fact of the Meta Coin stuff, which I do think shows up slightly too early.)

Overall, a really spectacular game. Highly recommended for fans of indie games and the PS2 era.

It carries the banner for a type of indie game from 10-15 years ago that has gone almost extinct. It's personal, self-indulgent, meta and unfocused, but in the kind of way where it lets you feel the human behind the code. We don't see much of these anymore, and while I might have scoffed at this style back then, when every small game was meta and conversational, in the age of wholesome corporatism it does come as a massive breath of fresh air.

There are some wonky bits (the big RPG-inspired segment feels somewhat out of place) and some design decisions I'm not huge on (Metacoins, specifically, felt a bit awkward), but overall this is pretty great. The dreamy aesthetics work very well and I love that it brings back that kind of old-school weird-geometry platforming where you're never sure if you're on the beaten path or you just glitched through some stuff.

Just really cool vibes overall.