PHPM

About This Game

In this unique Zelda-lite game, explore and fight your way through surreal and creepy, nature, urban and abstract themed areas in the human Young’s subconscious, evoked by a 16-bit-era visual style and a moody, dream-like soundtrack. Talk to bizarre characters and survive through Game Boy-styled dungeons, while hunting down mysterious keys and cards that will allow you to dive deeper into the dream world.

ESRB Rating M. Content Warnings at bottom.

Buy the sequel, Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/877810/Anodyne_2_Return_to_Dust

(Please note: Achievements may not work on the Mac OSX version. Sorry!)

Content Warnings (Light spoilers)

Low-res pixel art (like in the style of the screenshots of): Suicide by hanging, mild horror, murder by blunt objects, dead bodies, stabbing, blood stains, mentions of sex, unexpected killing of an NPC. Rare strong language. Note this isn’t representative of the majority of the game, but it is unavoidable.

Content Warnings (Spoilers)

Early on, if you try to talk to a fisherman, when trying to talk, you will unexpectedly hit them into the ocean and it turns the water red. They’re implied to die.
In the late-game black/white suburb area: suicide by hanging, murder by blunt objects, stabbing, blood stains, dead bodies, mild horror
In the late-game 8-bit pixel art maze: blood stains, dead bodies
In the late-game circus area: mentions of suicide, suicide by falling into a pit, dead bodies, blood stains
In the very-late-game golden garden area: mentions of sex
Throughout: rare strong language

Reviews

“Anodyne’s puzzles are old-school in the best way, requiring NES-era logic and reasoning skills […] The stirring, thoughtful narrative saves the experience. At its core, Anodyne is about alienation from the real world, particularly for gamers.”
Polygon

“Anodyne can be as funny and charming as Link’s Awakening on occasion, but the overall tone is one of unease, with a subtle malevolence – the ‘something seems a bit off here’ factor – reminiscent of the indie horror Lone Survivor. Meaning is elusive, but themes and motifs soon begin to take form, in a game that feels increasingly personal the more you burrow into it.”
PC Gamer – 84/100