The best out of all the Analgesic games. The 2D visuals retain the 16-bit quirkiness of the first Anodyne, and the 3D environments bring a nice PS1 feeling of loneliness and simplicity.

The story is a bit predictable, but the character interactions are what make it. The second half of the game is really strong, with the secret ending tying things up nicely and leaving you wanting for more.

My only critique is that, like the PS1 games it was inspired by, some of the environments feel kinda barren. This is somewhat fixed by metacoins on the second half (they even show up out of bounds!) but it's still not enough of an incentive in my opinion. Some spots just scream secret collectible, makes you wonder if something was cut out late in development.

I didn't really care for the Anodyne 1 references in the post game, but that's probably because I don't like the first Anodyne all that much to begin with. Maybe someone who enjoyed it more than me will find them at least neat.

Reviewed on Feb 15, 2021


Comments