I'm conflicted on how to feel about Anodyne.

On one hand, I think the dreamy aesthetic is done excellently. Most of the environments look like they were taken from a nightmare or a tranquil fantasy environment, and the soundtrack reflects this well too; you'll go from calming, ambient tunes, to growling, ominous tracks throughout the game. The story's alright and at times felt a bit forced to me in how dark and brooding it was trying to appear, but I can appreciate the interpretations on how the narrative felt like an inner struggle for the silent protagonist and how those around him dealt with their struggles in different ways.

On the other hand, I really can't say I'm a huge fan of most of the gameplay. It's very akin to an indie top down Zelda game, and most of the puzzles were pretty rudimentary, to say the least. What bugged me more however, was the game's reliance and inconsistency with jumping. At times, you can cheese the game by doing two block gap jumps to skip entire rooms; I didn't have the execution 100% consistent (you have to run off the edge a little before jumping), but since you don't actually take damage from falling, you can just retry over and over again until it works. And then later in the game, you're expected to make two block gap jumps (at least this felt like the case in the 8 bit maze) as part of exploration. It also doesn't help that diagonal jumping doesn't really work for some reason, and the boost jumping mechanics in the circus felt very frame tight (it took me significantly longer to get past a particular diagonal boost jumping room than beat any boss in the game). I also faced various jank in the form of drowning/not drowning by almost falling off edges, dust often getting caught on edges before I could use it to swim (or getting caught inbetween screens on a boundary so I'd lose it somehow trying to get it back), wrong warping between connected rooms when I took damage from enemies in one particular water filled room (this one happened more rarely), and so on so forth. Combat's not particularly difficult either; I felt like I was able to get by just tanking hits from bosses and rushing them down before they took me down in every fight except for the final boss. That said, fighting some of the common enemies (particularly the dogs) felt strange because I couldn't quite pin down how they moved somewhat erratically. And finally, most of the puzzles and a lot of the exploration sort of felt like they were just taking up time, including many of the rooms that required a lot of jumping feeling a bit strange with jump lengths/timing; if there was some form of movement tech to accelerate this, I feel like this problem would have greatly alleviated.

It also doesn't help that I spent a solid hour prior trying to figure out how to use an Xbox Wireless controller in the game, but ultimately couldn't make it work. I think somewhere along the last few years, updates in Steam/Windows broke the controller support, and this was never quite rectified, which is a bit of a shame. I would call jumping and dodging somewhat functional with keyboard controls, but I feel that it would be much more consistent and fluid if I could use a controller.

In short, I think Anodyne's got its great moments and potential, but I definitely felt lethargic playing this for a good chunk of the runtime, which concerns me because my final in game time was only four and a half hours. It just didn't quite click with me most of the time, and I often felt that the gameplay more often than not was an impediment to the otherwise solid atmospheric experience. I'm still looking forward to tackling Anodyne 2 soon though, as I've heard great things about the sequel and am very interested to see their spin upon the old PSX era.

A very cute game, and one that definitely has stood out in the more early (relatively anyways) days of indie projects. It is a great tribute to the classic Gameboy era of Link's Awakening, but with dashes of inspiration from games like Yume Nikki and other games like it to give it a bit more flavour. It is not a mindblowing game, but its a fun, dreamy romp, and one that got a sequel six years later that I played well beforehand and that I think far exceeds this haha. Still, this is a standout title in the indie scene, and one worth checking out if you have that top-down Zelda itch you need scratched.

🧹💨🪰🪱☁️🪢🌫🔪🃏🥪

perfect little vaccine recovery game. the texture of the setting is weirdly satisfying: ominous red bugs carving out health bars with loud teeth, massive unshackled worms digging up fresh maws for exploration, the proliferation of dust in every corner of reality and it’s universal utility. everything down to the two button action controls is simple enough that this could easily be burned onto a GBC cart and spun up as a creepy forgotten game from the era.

playing through the this feels like an interweaving of dream-feuled obscure gameboy logic with this anti-narrative clawing against the idea of a chosen hero, all while staying on a pretty linear path towards it. parts of the beginning felt abrasive at first contact—like the game resented me for playing it—but a few hours in you can start to see that it’s more of a og grumpy animal crossing villager vibe. i personally wish they leaned more into the dream stuff, but having done that messy work of creating a nonlinear story that tries to be satisfying no matter what angle you come at it from, i get it 💯

it’s fun to see a small game that came out in 2013 & see how much it was doing ahead of the indie crowd. i don’t know if we’ll ever be able to track its influence on a map, but it’s out there. mostly, i’m glad that there’s no pitfall damage, since that would have drawn out the game unnecessarily. the post game looks like it’s own beast that’ll be fun to jump into sometime! for now, i’ve got plenty to chew on.

((DISCLAIMER - This review(like all reviews) is biased and is entirely my opinion based on my own gaming preferences.))
Definitely an interesting 2D Zelda-like. I went in completely blind and had no clue what to expect. I got the game on sale but I feel that there was definitely a substantial amount of playtime for an indie adventure title at around 8 hours for my personal completion.

PROS -
- The gameplay is very open and leaves a lot of room for exploring and discovering new things.
- Dungeons all feel unique and filled with combat, puzzles, and exploration, each with a unique and fairly challenging boss.
- The artwork is definitely well done and very reminiscent of 16bit video games like ALTTP with perhaps even a bit more detail.
- There were a few characters who had funny moments and I definitely enjoyed some of the humorous writing.
- Mitra is hands-down my favorite part of the game and the most helpful person in the game. I genuinely looked forward to talking to her and appreciated the little hints she would give.
- Without giving spoilers, there is more exploring to do after completing the game with a very unique method of interacting with the game world. I honestly began having even more fun with the post-game than I had with everything that led up to it.

CRITICISMS -
- The atmosphere was so melancholy that it often times became unsettling in a not fun way for me personally.
- The writing and themes seemed to hit both extremes. At times I would chuckle at a light hearted, sarcastic character line one moment and then walk over to an area that was extremely dark in a sickening way.
- I often found myself lost and with no direction, having to backtrack through area after area just trying to clear the map in hopes that something might happen. Eventually, I realized that all the exploration amounted to was finding little art cards all over the place. The cards function like power stars in a Mario game, letting you enter the final area once you acquire them all. In the end it felt more like a chore to me, searching every inch of the map and dungeons just to get the game to move forward rather than a satisfying or useful collectible that gave any sense of progression.
- There were moments where characters using foul language, seemingly out of the blue, completely broke immersion for me, often during lines that seemed overly meta. While most dialogue in the game is entirely optional, there isn't much more to the writing and characters.
- The story... Honestly, I feel that this game was lacking much direction when it comes to plot, motivation, and character development. It seemed like it was more of a joke that the story is nearly non-existent with names being very much like placeholders rather than parts of a fictional world. In the end, I was left wondering why any of the game was even taking place or even what at all was taking place with seemingly no answers.

I know nothing about the developers or the development of this game, but in the end, I look at games as what they are. As a game, it delivers on some pretty solid Zelda-like exploration, dungeon crawling, boss fights, with the last one being challenging in a satisfying way, and some beautiful pixel-art, varied biomes and creative puzzle-solving. I was not very satisfied by the lack of story, and the atmosphere was not something I personally enjoyed all the time. Overall, Definitely a unique experience that scratches the Zelda itch pretty well, though I would have enjoyed a bit more on the story side of things.

Fun old school Zelda-lite adventure game. The map is kind of annoying, and the nexus is super annoying trying to remember where each portal leads to. The combat is basic as hell, puzzles are ok, enemies are ok, bosses are pretty basic, I just tanked most of them with no real strategy. The final boss difficulty ramps up pretty hard, and I just gave up and uninstalled. The story is kind of non-existant, you're some guy called Young (?) who goes around beating dungeons and collecting keys and cards, some of the NPC's just blather complete nonsense at you.

Like, its a good effort from just two guys who made it, but there are some deep flaws with the gameplay, UI, map, and the story and characters were very forgettable. But its a decent way to spend 10 or so hours in an 8 bit world.

So far, Melos Han-Tani is 0 for 2 in terms of making an experience enjoyable to me. Between All Our Asias and this, I'm questioning if I'm missing something with their work or if it just isn't for me. Unlike All Our Asias, however, Anodyne does have some actual merit and points of quality to it. The music is sublime, varying from extremely cozy to having the ability to instill some strong discomfort. If there's one thing to take from this game, it's that you should listen to the OST. The artwork is also fantastic, with most of the areas being really pretty, some of the more thematic areas working really well visually, and the enemies being well designed on a visual sense. Past that, there really isn't anything I found enjoyable or worth caring about.

Most of the game is just spent meandering around, trying to find where to go next. An adventure game with a more free progression system isn't a bad thing, but when you need exactly one card left and the one card missing is in an area that's disconnected from the main map, it's really frustrating to deal with. On top of that, you really need to get the wide and extend upgrades for your weapons early just to make the game easier, but there's no way to know they even exist in the first place nor where they could be. Combat was frustrating, never hard but it feels terrible to fight anything and it almost always just ends up being a matter of spamming your attack until they die, taking hits in the process (which doesn't matter since save points that heal you are all over the place). In between the meandering exploration and floundering combat is one of the worst platforming I've played in a little while. I can't think of a single area where I enjoyed the platforming puzzles. I don't understand how developers can make something like this and think it's fun or rewarding.

I'm gonna try Anodyne 2. Nitro Rad sold me on this game and while it unfortunately didn't end up hitting the mark for me, I'm praying 2 will. If it doesn't, I guess that just means I should avoid Han-Tani's games from now on since they aren't for me. I would just recommend listening to the music and watching a video going over what this game's about, it's more engaging and entertaining than actually playing it.

Anodyne ilginç bir oyun ve bunu biricik karakterlerine, gerçekdışılıktan uyanıklığa akan müziklerine, oyuncuda anbean aykırı düşünceler uyandıran metnine bile bakmadan ufak bir göz atışla fark etmesi işten bile değil.

Bir büyücü dedenin "Diyarı karanlıktan kurtar, ey kahraman!" nidalarının ardından adına yaraşır karakterimiz Youngın hemencecik ilk ve tek silahı değerli süpürgesini almasıyla oyuncu, ancak merakının karşısında kendini açık eden bu Zeldavari topraklarda bir gezintiye çıkıyor.

Yume Nikkiden açıkça esinlenen geliştiricilerin tek bir amacı var: bu medyumu gerçeküstücü perdelerle çevirerek oyuncuya bir düşdeymiş deneyimini yaşatmak, dahası bunu Young'ın odasında uyandığı bir giz™le de yoruma yer bırakmayacak biçimde destekliyorlar. Dolayısıyla oyundaki hiçbir kişi/yer/olay kendini açıklamakla asla uğraşmıyor. Karşılaşılan herhangi bir durumu anlamlandırmaya çalışmaksa hiç kuşkusuz oyun deneyimini yırtan yegane unsur.

Güldürü, oyunun bir ayağı bu. Para taşımak için gerek duyulan cüzdanı parayla satan bir tüccar da var, akıllara ziyan bir subredditten çıkmışcasına çığıran bir et yığını da, geçimini çalılık keserek sağlayan bir cüce de. Kimi dekor kayalar da üstlerine düşeni yapıyor ve "Ömrüm boyu hep bu köşede kalmaktan korkuyorum." ya da "Hiç arkadaşın olmadığından gelip de taş okuyorsun herhalde." demekte gecikmiyorlar.

Keşif, oyunun bir ayağı bu. Açılan her haritanın girişinde durakalmak, basılan toprak bilinmeden atılan her adım, neye açıldığı belirsiz her sandık, bağlanan her patika apayrı bir kıvanç. Dünya yapı olarak karmaşık ve git gel yapması çok olağan. Bir zaman sonra yolbilmez avare oyuncunun sonu gelmez bir bıkkınlıkla oyunu terk etmesi de pekala anlaşılabilir. Bu noktada tam çözümlerden yardım almak es geçilmemeli.

Oyunun oyun kısmına gelindiğindeyse hem savaş hem hareket mekaniklerindeki hamlık ve toyluk en başından oyuna kapılamamak için büyük bir etken olabilir. Konuşma balonlarının atlanamaması, elebaşları™nın Young'ın canı tükenmeden tek bir noktada durup saldırı tuşuna basarak geçilebilinmesi (sonuncu dışında), oyun herhangi bir cevap getirmeden sonlanıyor oluşu vd. diğer sorunlar olarak karşımıza çıkıyor.

Yardım alınmadan yedi saat kadar süren bu oyun, sonlara doğru sündüğü için bazı bazı sıkıyor olsa da duyum odaklı, çokça farklı bir deneyim. Biraz da "LoZ'ya en yakın deneyim." dendiğinden mutlaka denenmesi ayrıca tavsiyemdir.

™bkz. easter egg
™bkz. boss