Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, the sequel to the 2013 top-down Zelda-esque adventure game, has revealed an official release date in their newest trailer. The dreamy, atmospheric clean-’em-up will be launching sometime in May.
Released back in 2013, the original Anodyne had players control Young the human. Set within Young’s subconscious, Young is tasked with saving ‘The Briar’ from ‘The Darkness.’ The game was heavily inspired by old-school Zelda games, most notably Link’s Awakening, and the freeware RPGMaker game Yume Nikki.
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust abandons the top-down 2D style for a 3D perspective in a world that looks like it came out of a PlayStation 1 game. In this game, players control Nova, who is tasked with cleaning deadly dust across a strange world, before dropping it off for recycling at “a mysterious entity only known as the ‘Center.'” Most of the game is spent in a 3D view, but certain dungeons require Nova to shrink down to access, which switches the game into the 2D style seen in the original game. As well as a mix of platforming, puzzling, and combat, there’s also some driving via Nova’s ability to transform into a vehicle.
If you’re looking for other works by the Anodyne team, co-creator Sean Han Tani created another exploration game called All Our Asias last year. Like Anodyne 2, the game, which is available for free on Steam and pay-what-you-want on itch.io, has players exploring a lo-fi 3D world, this time to explore the experiences and memories of the protagonist’s dying father.
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust releases sometime this May. It will be available on Steam, itch.io, and the indie-focused website Kartridge. If you want to follow the game’s development, you can follow Sean Han Tani on his Twitter or join the mailing list on the developer’s site.