Initially released in August 2019, Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is back again this time on the newer generation of consoles. Developed by Analgesic Productions, Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is an action-adventure video game that lets you play as Nano, a dust cleaner with special abilities, which allows you to clean out dust from every citizen of the world.
Nano comes out of an egg at a facility called Center. And thus, introduces the overseers that guide you through collecting and cleaning out the dust. The goal of the game is to clear out the dust storm that is causing the craziness in the world and people have varying degrees of different issues from anger to disease caused because of the dust. Special ability of Nano is to connect with the NPC and enter the bodies microscopically to clear out the dust.
And hence there are three different playstyles: one is the open world, which is free to move around in third person view. In addition, it allows you to convert into a vehicle that gets you to travel throughout the world at a faster pace. Then there is a minigame that makes you match the directional keys of the oncoming projectiles and this allows you to enter the bodies as a microscopic organism; the game turns into a retro Zelda style gameplay where you collect the dust and defeat the main boss of the area and collect the cards. Four cards unlock the next area that allows you to travel to a different world and clean up dust but can only be used after enough dust has been submitted. After you have collected enough dust, the player has to get to the Center or available portal in the different areas to submit the dust.
That was the overall gameplay of the Anodyne 2: Return to Dust. Graphics of the game are like PS1 style polygon models and the 2D gameplay in the microscopic world is similar to Zelda. The game is an interesting mix of nostalgia from that era of gaming.
Dialogues are text based that you need to read and there are not many pointers on the map that clearly identify where you have to go in order to get the next available objective. Player must talk to everyone to get the hint of the next objective. It is an interesting play style that allows you to mix puzzles as well as exploration.
Overall, Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is a great addition to the game library but I am not sure what it could bring to the newer consoles as it pretty much gives a feel of an older generation game. This does not make Anodyne 2: Return to Dust a bad game; it is still amazing with the story and the play style. One of the greatest things is that Anodyne 2: Return to Dust keeps the player attached to it. I would rate it 8 stars.
Check Out the Anodyne 2: Return to Dust Trailer:
For more information, please visit: https://www.analgesic.productions/
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A gamer turned into a game developer. A huge batman fan and follower of Arkham Series, generally I like to play mostly Action and RPG genre of Games. Into the Abyss!!! PSN: AbyssRyder
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