Backloggd Review: Anodyne 2: Return to Dust
Originally written for Backloggd
What a wonderful little game. The story and really the soul of the game is where it's at in terms of what shines. The 2D gameplay sections are very competently designed, but for me the 3D exploration and mechanics just felt kind of lacking. It feels a bit torn between being a game with mechanics that go in-depth or just being a purely story-based game with no intentions of really being super interactive. Some of its mechanics work great, but other really just feel like they're there for the sake of it, resulting in something kind of underbaked and boring as the main gameplay loop of the 3D sections. It also takes a while to get going, as it really only truly reveals its intentions about a quarter of the way into the game (which isn't crazy for like an 8 hour game, but it's still a substantial amount imo). The parts before then are fine, and ooze with the charming writing and design that truly just loves breaking the fourth wall, making little jokes, playing into some meta concepts, or just all out breaking the game.
This meta aspect carries through into the later parts of the game and continue to keep it fresh as the game keeps finding new ways to break out of the box, and its structure of 2D 'levels' inside a 3D world allow its 2D section to have a separation where the developers can really go all out with their ideas, while still keeping the ideas cohesive and and tying symbolism together throughout the game as a whole. This is really what's special about Anodyne 2 in my opinion, as there's a clear intent with the symbolism, but also a lot of room for personal interpretation. It allows the game's themes to reflect on your own experiences better and lets you engage with the games themes (explicitly stated as a design goal by one of the devs in his solo project All Our Asias).
As for my very spoilery interpretation of the story:
The main conflict is between unpredictability/chaos/death represented by Dust, and the order that is provided by destiny, represented by The Center - Through this the game explores how many people experience some sense of destiny or duty or any other form of prescription of identity (for example, I also saw a lot of parallels with religious fundamentalism and "this is your calling, don't question it and just have faith", but also with unjust systems of power restraining people's freedom), which turns into an immense weight of expectation and a stifling of your own explored identity. In game, it's done to fight Dust, which we see infecting the world, and so we strive to remove it and stop people from dying altogether - no longer 'Return to Dust'-ing. Ultimately, the choice is between stopping The Center from prescribing identity and stifling life and emotion, or removing all dust, and with it, all death, but also all life in some weird universe where everything is orderly. While I think the former seems more like a "good" ending, I think Anodyne 2 does great at making it more of a difficult choice. After all, we see the infection dust causes, and how people are sick or dying because of it, and it restricts the world - by choosing to defy The Center, you choose not just the heights of freedom and emotion, but also death and disease. There's a lot more to be said about the story, as there's so many little areas that explore different parts of these themes, but I'll leave it there. Safe to say, it's really great and genuinely touched me, as it touched on a lot of things that I've been thinking and struggling with myself for the past while.
Anyways, it's a really cool game that's got a lot of soul. It's developed by just two people and their voice very clearly comes through in their work in a way that feels very personal. It's funny, charming, simple, and touching in ways only a small development team could be. Ultimately I think that's also its downside, resulting in its underbaked mechanics, which they could've just omitted, making the 3D sections a lot simpler but ultimately more engaging. Either way though, it's a really special game and I think it'll stick with me for a very long time.