Developer: Analgesic Productions
Publisher: Nnooo
Platform: PS4, Switch, iOS, Mac, Linux, PC, Xbox One, Android,
Tested on: Switch
Anodyne (Switch) – Review
A lot of things from the past keep coming back and become popular once again. Pixelated graphics are certainly a hype that has come back from the past. Often you see games based on other golden oldies pop up. These sorts of games will either awaken the flame of past memories or make people disappointed that it doesn’t even come close. Anodyne seems to be the game that fits in the first category. It is reminiscent of games like the older Legend of Zelda games. Even though it is similar, Anodyne manages to put its own spin on it. Anodyne has been developed by Analgesic Productions and published by Nnooo and we got a chance to review it for the Switch.
Story
You play as Young, a person who has been summoned by an old sage. The reason he has been summoned is because the darkness has spread across the land. Now it seems like the darkness is after the legendary Briar and wants to use its power for evil. So, it is up to Young to reach the Briar before the darkness does.
You get story parts all throughout the game but mostly from the old Sage. There are some other characters that you will meet but they don’t always talk about the world and more about themselves. Since the story is mostly told by people and not by a narrator, it is not forced upon you, which is a nice change.
Graphics
Anodyne has a more pixelated style, reminiscent from older games. This style of game is quite popular even now, certainly for the people that loved, for example, the older Legend of Zelda games. There are different areas which each have a theme, which re-uses a lot of the same objects and textures. Anodyne uses smaller sections to divide an area. Going from one section to another will make the camera move to show the other section. However, sometimes this bugs out a bit; in that the camera keeps moving from one section and back to the other. This is quite annoying when you are trying to get to the other section and it will only stop when you manage to walk away far enough from the edge.
Enemies will re-appear quite often but there are enemies that only appear in some regions. There are for example frogs that will appear only around water areas. Bosses are also well designed and often resemble smaller enemies that appear in that region. Young and other characters are pretty well designed. It’s nice that they don’t even resemble one another and look differently. Anodyne on the Switch in handheld mode looks a bit like how an emulator would look since it only takes up a small part in the middle of the screen. You are able to stretch the game out but this sort of ruins the graphics.
Sound
The music in Anodyne is really nice and atmospheric. Most of the tracks are nice and relaxing, only the tracks for the caves and dungeons get a bit more upbeat and thrilling. The sound effects are well done and aren’t annoying. Often 16-bit games their music can get a bit annoying with weird sound effects, however, Anodyne’s developers did a good job picking gentle but still clear sounds. There is no voice acting present in Anodyne, so you will have to just imagine the characters their accents.
Gameplay
Anodyne is an action adventure game where you will beat enemies with a broom. You play as Young, who you don’t get a lot of information about, besides that he was summoned to help the land. As you start up the game you will first start out in a tutorial area where the controls get explained. They also explain that when you stand on a checkpoint you will first need to press a button before you actually save. Which is a bit odd since it also doesn’t turn on the checkpoint unless you do that.
When you finish the tutorial, you meet the sage who tells you what you are here for: to get to the legendary Briar before the darkness. He then points you to a portal which leads to the starting area. If you look around before you start, you will notice that the area is filled with different portals that are still closed for now. These portals you will unlock throughout the game. Almost every area has at least one, so they allow you to fast travel back to other areas. Some portals are locked behind a gate which you can open once you unlock that portal and press the button to open the gate.
As you jump into the portal, you will notice that you are actually starting without a weapon. So, when you first encounter baddies you will have to avoid them until you find something to defend yourself. This item actually will turn out to be a broom. This broom doesn’t have the highest range, so you will have to be careful not to stand too close, so you don’t get hit while you were trying to hit something else. The broom also has a special feature, it can pick up dust. Even though this might make sense for a broom, it is actually a nice feature and a good idea from the developers. The dust you can pick up will help you on your adventure. You can put it back down to block lasers or even to block certain monster attacks. Funny enough, you can also use the dust to walk over water by using it as a sort of “raft”. Even though you still keep the dust raft, this is actually the only dust that will transfer over sections. So, the dust that you pick up one section, will disappear in the next section, this means you can only use dust in the same section you pick it up.
Throughout the game, there are a few things you can pick up; keys for the area, cards, keys to unlock new areas and upgrades for your broom. The cards that you are able to get are actually cards that depict monsters or characters that you encounter in the area you find the card. There are actually gates that will only open after you have a certain number of cards. These gates usually have some kind of power-up behind them. The keys to unlock other areas are usually tied to a special color lock on big gates. You will get this kind of big key when you beat the boss of an area.
Conclusion
Anodyne is a really fun game that is similar to the older Legend of Zelda games. You will explore different regions with different monsters, try to solve puzzles and end up being a hero with a broomstick. There might be a few things that are a little bit wonky most of them being caused by the style of the game. Anodyne is a recommended game for everyone who loves adventure games and loved the 16-bit era. Even if you didn’t play any 16-bit games before, the style has a charm to it that might intrigue every age so if you’re interested in a nice adventure give Anodyne a shot.
No Comments