To rejoice the tenth anniversary of its first launch, Analgesic Productions is making a gift of Anodyne, a surreal homage to the old fashioned 2D Legend of Zelda video games, without cost. This weekend, you may declare a duplicate of Anodyne on itch.io (opens in new tab) for a grand complete of zero {dollars} and nil cents.
Again in 2013, our reviewer Tom Sykes gave Anodyne a score of 84, saying that, “Anodyne will be as humorous and charming as Hyperlink’s Awakening occasionally, however the total tone is one in all unease, with a refined malevolence—the ‘one thing appears a bit off right here’ issue—harking back to the indie horror Lone Survivor. That means is elusive, however themes and motifs quickly start to take type, in a sport that feels more and more private the extra you burrow into it.”
In addition to the giveaway, Analgesic is working a few fan occasions for Anodyne’s tenth anniversary. As described in a birthday blog post (opens in new tab), the studio is gathering gamers’ written reminiscences of their favourite locations in Anodyne to publish “in some type of writing sooner or later” in addition to fan artwork of the sport “which we’d publish in digital or bodily type indirectly.”
It’s possible you’ll bear in mind Anodyne as the sport whose builders ran a promotion, shortly after launch, by which they lowered its worth to a single greenback whereas additionally uploading it to The Pirate Bay, internet hosting a torrent themselves so that folks might obtain it without cost. A word included with the torrent mentioned, “We might wish to make a residing by making video games that can give individuals memorable experiences, however we all know not everybody can afford them. In order that’s why you may obtain a torrent of our sport, Anodyne, and if you would like and are in a position, additionally buy the sport!” It additionally exhorted gamers to vote for Anodyne on Steam Greenlight, which on the time was how indie video games discovered their manner onto Valve’s storefront.
The stunt proved efficient, with its creators earning over $12,000 from the promotion, in addition to getting an additional 13,000 views on Anodyne’s Greenlight web page. Simply over a month later Anodyne launched on Steam (opens in new tab), the place it presently holds a person score of Very Constructive.
A sequel, Anodyne 2: Return to Mud, was launched in 2019. It shifted the setting to a 3D world, although one the place characters had 2D interior dungeons to explore. A multi-genre meta-commentary on video games, it was as a lot Psychonauts as Legend of Zelda. Analgesic adopted it with split-world platformer Even the Ocean and near-future explore-em-up Sephonie (opens in new tab).
Proper now Analgesic is engaged on its fifth sport, as but untitled, which will probably be 3D and top-down, set in a “Fifties Eire-inspired setting.” It has been in growth since 2021, and you’ll sustain with progress at Analgesic’s devlog (opens in new tab).
