Anodyne

Anodyne is a 2D action-adventure set inside the surreal subconscious of a human named Young. You explore dungeons housed in apartments and hotels, drift through atmospheric lands, and meet bizarre characters, all wrapped in dream-like music and visuals. The question that drives it is simple: can you help Young wake up?

Gameplay sends you through fields, caves and dungeons to open portals in the Nexus that connect to other lands, solving puzzles and fighting enemies along the way with your broom. Mysterious Cards scattered through the world unlock deeper reaches of Young's mind, while health upgrades help you survive those darker regions. The world is nonlinear, linking natural places like forests and cliffs with abstract spaces and urban temples and hotels.

Running roughly 6 to 8 hours with surprises waiting after the credits, Anodyne is the 2013 game that launched indie studio Analgesic Productions, and players often compare it to Link's Awakening or Yume Nikki. The Steam version includes both the remastered and classic builds. A content note: in its low-res pixel style the game touches on suicide, mild horror, murder and other dark imagery, though such moments are not representative of the whole.