Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

If you enjoyed Anodyne definetly check this one too. I would say that for a 3D jump by a small studio this is very well done, it definetly has its flaws and felt like there's a lot of room for improvement... But i was very surprised at how openly this is stated through the mid to late game, in fact, i would strongly recomend you to try to get the logs of each zone unlock asap, just hearing about the developement of an area as i was going though it, seeing the vision the devs had, the effort put in taking that vision and the struggles made it very personal, I don't think i would be writing this review if not for the clear struggle and passion behind it shown. Like I said, if you want a bit more out of the first game then you're going to get something out of it, i wouldn't suggest picking this one up, it has some lore related to it.

Edit: You probably know what you're in for if you're playing this.

I love a game where, from understanding reading online, the bad ending is basically 100% the game.

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

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.

Very good game. Love the top-down dungeons and their designs, the design of these microscopic dungeons feels much like a little world of its own, and they all are super cool!!! With To add, the music as well is so beautiful and melodic, there's some incredible tracks throughout the game. Lastly, the side characters are utterly adorable and scratch the itch for someone who was addicted to Majora's Mask growing up; just haunting enough to make me reflect, just silly enough for me to keep going with a smile! The overworld traversal was kind of unpleasant, and by the end, I was getting rather annoyed by it, but I think the game's length matches what is needed out of the overworld. The story itself is rather cute, even if barebones, and more-so shines through the personalities of the different characters. Some of the verbosity of the language used feels adjacent to purple-prose without fully being reviewed before submission. The overworld was giving me a headache too by the end. All in all, the ideas are there and attempted, but needed a little more room to breath. If you're craving a top-down dungeon crawler, a cute story about finding oneself, exploring a world of cool vibes, or looking to fill the void of Majora's Mask's writing (not to pick one game, but we all know there's a whole subset of gamers searching for exactly this!)

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

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.

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.