Anodyne 2: Return to Dust | Switch Review

I have played a lot of weird games in my day, but few have ever been as weird as Anodyne 2: Return from Dust. You play as Nova, a Nano Cleaner. A Nano Cleaner shrinks down to microscopic size in order to vacuum out the dust inside of people. You funnel this dust into a central collector and, once you find enough collectible cards, you can expand the world’s horizons. This is only the beginning of the bizarre.

Have You Ever Had a Dream?

The tutorial alone has you speaking to yolks inside your egg before you hatch. You are in for one trippy ride with this adventure. It’s a hell of thing, then, that Anodyne 2 somehow pulls it off. By the end of the game, you’re completely sucked into the weirdness, and on board for whatever is thrown at you next.

Gameplay is split between a 3D open-world platformer and a 2D dungeon puzzler. It’s a little jarring at first, but I’ll be damned if you don’t fall into a rhythm with it. The platforming is fairly simple, but the exploration does take you to some interesting areas. It even encourages a bit of boundary breaking, in a bizarre and bold move. And if you ever find walking to be too slow, don’t fret, as Nova can simply transform into a car. For some reason.

That You Were So Sure Was Real?

Around this world are plenty of NPC’s to talk to, each with fairly distinct personalities. Of course, this being Anodyne 2, it’s a pretty strange cast. You’ll meet a fella whose skin is now tongues, out of desperation to taste something new. A family of worms spewing dietary factoids is hidden in an alleyway. These are some of the earlier examples. These eclectic personalities need the help of the Nano Cleaner, and so you hop right up inside of them.

This is when the game shifts to a top-down 2D dungeon explorer. It starts almost annoyingly easy, but fairly soon the game ratchets up the creativity. These esoteric realms are mostly old-school adventure fair filled with vacuum-oriented puzzles to start, but eventually evolve into things you can’t imagine. One “dungeon” has you becoming a fashion consultant, for example. You never quite know what to expect in Anodyne 2: Return from Dust.

What if You Were Unable to Wake from that Dream?

As you clean the Dust out of various people, they learn to heal. Tongue guy learns to appreciate the world around him, or the worm family knows no amount of food will ever be as fulfilling as a familial connection. It’s just a little too far on the weird side to allow for a connection between player and NPC, but it’s nice there’s a little more color than checking off a box.

How Would You Know the Difference? 

Generally, it feels good to help these people have better lives. It’s something I’ve treasured in games dating back to The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Not enough games are about helping your fellow souls. Each character is unique enough that you likely won’t forget about them until the credits roll. Where Anodyne 2 loses me, however, is in its plot. I get the gist of it, but a lot gets lost in the bizarre atmosphere. I’m a story gamer first and foremost, so this was a bit disappointing, but the ending did bring it together in an uplifting and compelling way. It’s just a shame so much of the story is a mixed bag.

Between the Dream World and the Real World?

I absolutely adore the aesthetic of Anodyne 2. The PS1-era graphics are something I’m nostalgic as hell for, even though I didn’t know it before booting up this game. The sprite work of the 2D levels is frankly adorable as well. The music is always right for the area you’re in, and gets you right into the proper mood.

The overall weirdness of Anodyne 2: Return from Dust works because it feels genuine. The plot may be a bit too all over the place to connect with, but not knowing what bizarre curveball is coming your way next is a thrill. I know the esoteric and dreamlike narrative is intentional, it just doesn’t work as well as you’d hope, even with the good ending. I don’t know how Analgesic Productions came up with the stuff they did, but you can feel the heart behind everything this title puts forward. Analgesic Productions is definitely a studio I’ll be keeping my eye on going forward.

To hear me talk more about Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, be sure to listen to Episode 334 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 44:39 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Anodyne 2: Return to Dust provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows.