Anodyne 2: Return to Dust
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust
Game
Game2013
Anodyne
Developer Melos Han-Tani, Marina Kittaka
Anodyne is an action-adventure video game developed by Analgesic Productions. After a nearly year-long development through developers Melos Han-Tani and Marina Kittaka's last years in college, the game was released on February 4, 2013, for Windows PC, Mac OS X and Linux. An Android version was released as part of a Humble Bundle on October 15, 2013. The PlayStation 4 version of the game was released on September 9,… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
284 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 3, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
85
LovedLoved
153 positive · 27 negative
95% range 79–89%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 153 | 27 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 35 | 2 | 50 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,106 of 1,307 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
84% recommend · 150 yes, 28 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 178 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,359 of 1,605 positive).
Players praise the game's surreal atmosphere and unique aesthetic. [1][2][3] Some find the gameplay derivative of Zelda but with cryptic storytelling. [4][2][5] A few reviewers criticize the game for being boring or frustrating. [6][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [6]
Anodyne is perhaps the best title to give this game because that's how I felt playing this. It almost lands in terms of gameplay. The main issue is that enemies rarely pose much threat to you on virtue that none of them can hurt you more than one health piece, including the bosses. The only exceptions are two enemy types that you can't hurt and are designed for the purpose of avoiding. The ghosts are placed in wide …
- [1]
Anodyne is good until it ends, but it's great once it did. Let me explain. At first I had a decent amount of fun with it, but after a while I got bored and was just trying to get the game to end. Then it ended, and the game left me with a power that let me explore the game in a way that you're only able to do via cheating in other games. And not only that, poking around a bit here and there, I discovered that there …
- [2]
This game is weird, ominous. I see a lot of people simply comparing it to an OK 2D Zelda clone, and while it is indeed what you'll find from a gameplay and game design perspective (at least for the most part), there's a bit more to it than that. If you like Link's Awakening or the Oracles' games on the Gameboy, this part alone is enough to make Anodyne a great couple of hours to spend. It's basically the same …
- [3]
Weird one. You can't know well if the game's taking you anywhere. When I finished it I still wasn't sure what the hell I just played or if it had any meaning, leaving me a bit empty. But it's the whole atmosphere which drew me in. Pleasing sights and art style, beautiful color palette, atmospheric soundtrack, clever mechanics that do their job and weird dialogues. Worth a shot.
- [4]
Before I start with the review: keep in mind that the story is near to non-existent and the meaning could be completely different. The game doesn't explain anything, is cryptic in multiple places and probably wants you to make up your own story. With that being said: You take on the role of "Young" in Anodyne, a man who, equipped with nothing but his dependable broom, has found himself inside the domain of his own …
Summarised from 34 of the 260 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Anodyne talk about atmosphere and art style are highly praised; those who didn't talk about gameplay is too easy and lacks challenge. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Anodyne was met with mixed – though overall positive – reviews, in general comparing Anodyne's gameplay to that of Zelda games such as Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past, and praising the game's pixel art and music style. Critics often praised the game's unsettling and surreal nature. Polygon's Danielle Riendeau stated that, regarding Anodyne's world: "Fantasy and reality exist adjacent to one another, highlighting the central theme of disconnection nicely." Criticism of the game often centered around frustrating platforming sections, and the reception to Anodyne's narrative was very mixed. Regarding the story, Tom Sykes of PC Gamer stated "I doubt I’ll ever get to the root of its…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 284 · most liked firstAngeline Era received Grand Prize and Design nominations in the 2026 Independent Games Festival!! (This was our 2nd IGF Grand Prize nom after Anodyne 2!) To celebrate this, the game is on sale. Come explore (and perish in) the world of Era!! store.steampowered.com/app/2393920/...
neutral · AI labelView post →If anyone's played Anodyne 2...you have played a panzer dragoon saga inspired game!!
neutral · AI labelView post →4,327 days ago I put a Easter egg into Anodyne. It was based on what let's player, raocow, would say when finding HP Ups in indie game "An Untitled Story". And today in his first Anodyne playthrough...he has found the heart. The cycle is complete!
positive · AI labelView post →Probably no analgesic without Adam's framework! Tinkering around in flixel 15 years ago was what got me into game making. Communities of other flixel users and game jams was where I learned how to code things, and architectural choices in flixel led to beloved stuff in Anodyne like the swap
positive · AI labelView post →Saw a new video essay discussing Anodyne in it alongside Moon and Deltarune! Interesting to hear people's thoughts on the game even 13 years or so on. Also a reminder how the pixel art in anodyne 1 looks so good too youtu.be/64WAeEip3vw?...
positive · AI labelView post →Oh wow, this pick n' mix bundle is absurdly good. Almost every game in here is a recommendation from me or something I've been wanting to play. £3.33-£2.85 (likely direct conversion to dollars) per game, depending on how many you grab. FOUR Steamworld games count as just one & Anodyne 2 is magic.
positive · AI labelView post →Indie game-covering folks, do not skip on this. Analgesic Productions (Anodyne 1 & 2, Sephonie, etc) are a fantastic studio.
neutral · AI labelView post →The video game "Stray Children" is very satisfying and if you remember the old DS RPG "Contact" and feel like "Contact" was made for you personally, you should play "Stray Children" immediately. I mean, also if you liked "Anodyne" or "Moon". But the most direct Feel transfer is Contact.
neutral · AI labelView post →listening to some unused songs from Even the Ocean's OST. some fans say it is our most haunted game and i agree bc theres a whole 2nd unused OST made for the game in a style in-between Anodyne 1 and ETO. and the postgame is an entire game's worth of empty levels htch.bandcamp.com/track/in-a-s...
neutral · AI labelView post →If you want to play and discuss Anodyne 2 with others (potentially even locally!) then The Game Club could be for you!!
neutral · AI labelView post →It gives the games a very friendly, cozy aftertaste. This sense that the artist is overjoyed that you liked the experience enough to want to talk to them (or, at least, their videogame facsimile) about it afterwards. I wrote a bit about Anodyne 2 and that vibe over on PC Gamer a while back.
positive · AI labelView post →Anodyne Remastered is out now with Linux and Steam Deck support https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/10/anodyne-remastered-is-out-now-with-linux-and-steam-deck-support/ #Linux #SteamDeck #Anodyne
neutral · AI labelView post →Putting my own suggestion in here, please try out any game by Analgesic Productions. Anodyne 2 is one of my favorite games ever, and they just released a new game called Angeline Era! store.steampowered.com/publisher/an...
positive · AI labelView post →Anodyne is good until it ends, but it's great once it did. Let me explain. At first I had a decent amount of fun with it, but after a while I got bored and was just trying to get the game to end. Then it ended, and the game left me with a power that let me explore the game in a way that you're only able to do via cheating in other games. And not only that, poking around a bit here and there, I discovered that there were almost as many secrets hidden away everywhere as the actual game had…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Before I start with the review: keep in mind that the story is near to non-existent and the meaning could be completely different. The game doesn't explain anything, is cryptic in multiple places and probably wants you to make up your own story. With that being said: You take on the role of "Young" in Anodyne, a man who, equipped with nothing but his dependable broom, has found himself inside the domain of his own subconscious (?). Young is informed by a hooded figure that he has been called…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Today's weird archival discovery...in one of marina and I's first interviews (2012), a host asked if Anodyne combat is influenced by Ys! Never heard of it at that time and did not follow up on the game for many years. If someone has a time machine they should go back and get me to play it earlier..
neutral · AI labelView post →Played a lot of cool older indies lately to clear out some backlog. Runner3 - reminds me of Tropical Freeze if it were a rhythm game SteamWorld Dig 2 - 2nd time beating, still as addictive as ever Chasm & Anodyne - fell off previously but gave a 2nd go and super impressed with both! Games are fun
positive · AI labelView post →Going live with Danchi Days, a new game published by Analgesic Production(Anodyne, Angeline Era) who provided me with a game code! voxandra.gay
neutral · AI labelView post →The way a Danchi housing complex (seemingly a limited or repetitive subject) is made into a highly memorable game world feels like a culmination of navigation design threads (and scrapped directions) from Anodyne to Sephonie and Angeline Era. An intimate space, yet vast in possibility!
neutral · AI labelView post →i just cannot stop coming back to this game. i kept playing the original version from itch.io over and over. i kept playing the switch version over, and over. and now i've got it on my steam, to play over and over until the end of time. Anodyne strikes every last chord with me. the irreverent humor poking fun at classic zelda tropes, over a winding, ethereal Land that often makes you feel uneasy. the soothingly haunting soundtrack lulling you into a trance, as an inexplicable narrative of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a review I probably should have written over 10 years ago when the game was first released and I played it for the first time. I cannot recommend this game enough. In fact, it's pretty much the one game I do recommend to all of my friends, and I've gotten a lot of my friends to play it! It is without a doubt my favourite indie game, full stop. It's even marked as my favourite game on my Steam profile for the last decade. I own a copy on pretty much every platform it's available on!…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8) Anodyne Gonna stop shilling RPG Maker a bit to shill the works of Analgesic Productions (who recently released a new game, btw). Anodyne was their first game that follows in the vein of Gameboy Zelda games while having a surreal story.
neutral · AI labelView post →198.) Anodyne 2: Return to Dust There really is not a game out there like this. Liminal, lonely, esoteric... and that makes the intimate moments of connection all the stronger 9.5/10
positive · AI labelView post →A weird dream adventure with Yume Nikki feel, in pocket Zelda format . . . and probably some metaphors too While I'm not the most ardent fan of bluntly metaphoric storytelling, oneiric weirdness and cucumber-cool atmosphere get me with some frequency. So it is here! Instead of a sword, Young early on equips a broom for his subconsciousness quest -- he can load it up with clots of dust he can deposit to block projectiles or even power machines, which is not something I've seen in any game,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A new week, a new schedule! I want to learn a new art program, and show it off on stream, but I don't know if I'll have time to get it ready by Wednesday. Let's give it a shot! This Sunday, we'll start Anodyne! it's the first game by the Angeline Era devs, and I want to check it out again!!
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm still learning, but I today I tried my hand at Young from the esoteric indie game #Anodyne ! Would recommend if your a fan of discovering things on your own, or beating people up with brooms
positive · AI labelView post →9) Anodyne 2: Return to Dust With a 3D overworld and a more explicit story, I think Anodyne 2 is my favorite game that the studio put out (that I've played, anyway).
positive · AI labelView post →just finished Anodyne 2 by @hantani.bsky.social sky.social and @even-kei.bsky.social so now i'm having fun breaking the game going out of bounds and finding very sneaky secrets
positive · AI labelView post →Anodyne looks very good on the RG CubeXX, did not expect it to have integer scaling... also this game is just awesome i deeply recommend it even though it feels like i've barely started
positive · AI labelView post →fan art of “Young” the main character of the video game Anodyne #MelosHan-Tani #MarinaKittaka
neutral · AI labelView post →Anodyne is perhaps the best title to give this game because that's how I felt playing this. It almost lands in terms of gameplay. The main issue is that enemies rarely pose much threat to you on virtue that none of them can hurt you more than one health piece, including the bosses. The only exceptions are two enemy types that you can't hurt and are designed for the purpose of avoiding. The ghosts are placed in wide open spaces so avoiding them is trivial. Some of the houses cluster them a bit,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not what I normally draw, but sometimes I get an itch to just draw something pretty scenery from an indie game I like. 4K wallpaper of the cliff from Anodyne.
positive · AI labelView post →I played Anodyne, a 16-bit-era looking indie Zelda-like game. I checked it out because the remake was made in part by the great @sephdebusser.bsky.social and I was curious about this game she spent years remaking. I enjoyed the sleek gameplay and the dark undertones below the gentle visuals.
positive · AI labelView post →NOW PLAYING THE DEMO FOR ANGELINE ERA!!! The new game by the devs of Anodyne 2!! Very excited to try it out! TUNE IN! www.twitch.tv/padabana
neutral · AI labelView post →Do you like mazes? Do you like constantly hitting dead ends? Do you like large worlds that are mostly empty? Do you like not having a useful map? Do you like not having i-frames after being hit? Do you like "quirky" indie games that pretend to be mature and deep by making allusions to trauma? Do you like playing games with no sense of progression beyond collecting macguffins? If you said no to *any* of these, avoid this game. This game is boring, frustrating, and pointless. With how many…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →some more basic recs: Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Thief Gold, Prey 2017, Immortality. Liz specific recs: The Northern Journey, Ib, Anodyne 2, Funi Raccoon Game, Disillusion ST, Mosa Lina, Decarnation
neutral · AI labelView post →Anodyne 2 is the first video game ive ever played where the player character openly has a mommy kink
neutral · AI labelView post →1.) Anodyne 2: Return to Dust You really won’t find a game as strikingly unique and inventive as this one and it’s probably my pick for favorite indie game of all time. It’s impossible to describe what I love about it properly so just trust that if you play it you will not be dissapointed.
positive · AI labelView post →if you do play this game then whether you love it or hate it at least try and get to the rooftop area no matter what, the moment there is unforgettably beautiful and even though this game is pretty take it or leave it i feel like that moment alone makes this game worth playing
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My favourite test rooms are both semi-canon! Anodyne and Corn Kidz 64 had such neat test rooms that you have to beat to do the post-game stuff
neutral · AI labelView post →My review of the Kindergarten alphabet banner: A: Apple. Fine B: Bat. Mediocre C: Cat. Fine D: Dog. Anodyne so far but fine if that's what you're doing E: Ed?? Are you fucking kidding???? There are a billion better choices than a guy with his name on his shirt F: Fun. A bit abstract G: Game. Sure
neutral · AI labelView post →peanut would love some pets and treats :) 🌸＞ フ | _ _ l ／` ミ＿xノ / | / ヽ ﾉ │ | | | ／￣| | | | | (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__) ＼二つ
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8-bit Zelda clone. Not that interesting unless you like those tiny bitsy games like Pokemon and such then you might like it. For me it's a bit waste of time. Navigating through map to solve simple sokoban like puzzles or pushing some switches to unlock passages. Most of time you gonna explore map and search for new opening. Overall bongos.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Apart from Look Outside, Anodyne is the closest I've come as an adult to wiping EarthBound from my memory and experiencing it again. So there's that.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played through and beat Anodyne 2....man....what a weird but great game. It gave me a strange, indescribable feeling like Hylics 2 did lol Highly recommend; it IS a walkthrough game, kinda- which is cool imo bc it has the feeling of an old cryptic N64 game
positive · AI labelView post →Working on archipelago(randomizer) integration for Anodyne. Just finished getting co-op synchronization working for quite a few in-game events.
neutral · AI labelView post →oh man I love Dark Savior so much! Analgesic's Anodyne games are this. Corn Kidz. Some older indies: Fjords, Real Texas, Super Win The Game, Full Bore
neutral · AI labelView post →how many of you guys are familiar with Anodyne 2: Return to Dust? i love that game sooo much but i literally never see like, ANYONE talk about it haha
positive · AI labelView post →Oh hey Anodyne 2 which is one of the strangest, most pleasant indie games of the last decade is now open source (on the VVVVVV noncommercial-use license) store.steampowered.com/news/app/877... You don't need to play the first game first, the series might even work a little better in reverse order
neutral · AI labelView post →playing some Anodyne tonight. Happened upon this game while looking for chill music. twitch.tv/denm0
neutral · AI labelView post →Bought this game hoping for a old school Zelda experience and after multiple attempts at getting into this game I give up. It's Zelda with bad controls, bad map design, and none of that Zelda charm whatsoever. Piss easy dungeons which aren't fun to navigate and have nothing exciting waiting for you just dumb cards so no real motivation to progress. Would not buy again 3/10.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hello, all! My name is Anodyne! I'm an illustrator and designer who enjoys game fanart and OCs.
neutral · AI labelView post →The game starts as an inferior imitation of Link's Awakening; but it slowly mutates into this bizarre, puzzling, horrifying, yet beautiful psychological art piece. This was an experience I will never forget, and I will gladly continue to explore the rest of these developers' catalog! Please give it a whirl if it interests you!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have had this game for several years in my steam library. I always played it halfway through but I never beat it... until NOW! There was nothing really keeping me back from this game, except my own interest. Anodyne is very clearly a Zelda-formula style adventure game. Its very simple but very effective. It is really more of a puzzle game that is very intuitive and not at all difficult. Its artstyle and story is different from other indies because it actually achieves a level of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is weird, ominous. I see a lot of people simply comparing it to an OK 2D Zelda clone, and while it is indeed what you'll find from a gameplay and game design perspective (at least for the most part), there's a bit more to it than that. If you like Link's Awakening or the Oracles' games on the Gameboy, this part alone is enough to make Anodyne a great couple of hours to spend. It's basically the same concept, but more open ended in structure and less mechanicaly involved. It's short…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Weird one. You can't know well if the game's taking you anywhere. When I finished it I still wasn't sure what the hell I just played or if it had any meaning, leaving me a bit empty. But it's the whole atmosphere which drew me in. Pleasing sights and art style, beautiful color palette, atmospheric soundtrack, clever mechanics that do their job and weird dialogues. Worth a shot.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Melos Han-Tani (Anodyne dev) uploaded a previously-delisted Steam demo for Angelina Era on Itchio. Melos Han-Tani (Anodyne dev) uploaded a previously-delisted Steam demo for Angelina Era on Itchio #GameDemo #GameRelisting From the announcement and the demo's description: > The demo for Angeline Era that was available in 2024/2025 on steam for windows. > > It's not really representative of the final game FYI and has some bugs, but it's here for history's sake. Progress doesn't carry over to…
neutral · AI labelView post →::: spoiler hidden as the list can be long; also should I list games not on Steam? - 8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure - A Vampyre Story - ABZÛ - Anodyne - Battle Chef Brigade - Celeste - Codemancer - Coromon - Dandara - Divekick - Downwell - Dreaming Sarah - Dreamscaper - DUSK '82 - Etherborn - Hollow Knight (& Silksong) - Ittle Dew - JackQuest - Knight Club (friends required for this one) - Kraken Academy - LiEat - Lost in Dungeon - LYNE - Micro Mages (includes ROM!) - Momodora III (iirc…
neutral · AI labelView post →Large game studios have different inherent strengths than smaller game studios, unfortuntately I think much of the gaming world has forgotten this in the excitement about the collapse of competency in and enshittification of traditional video game companies "clearing the way" for indie game companies. I love indie games but some types of games can only be made by large predictable sort of boring game companies, I am mostly uninterested in those games but even I can recognize that they fulfill…
neutral · AI labelView post →Admittedly, I didn't beaten the final boss and watched the ending on YouTube. I am recommending it because I think a lot of games should be this surreal.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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