Game info: press website, Wikipedia
Listening: Bandcamp, Steam, free bonus tracks
Info
Played the sequel too, it’s really great! It’s much more cohesive and less cryptic/elliptical than the first game narratively and thematically, going beyond just providing a bunch of weird connected dream worlds and leaving you to piece together things, or not. There’s also some really fantastic integration of storytelling into the dungeons: mechanics, layouts, and aesthetic design all tying into the themes of the area. Also it’s kinda gay, which is always a positive.
The game mixes 2D puzzle/combat dungeons like the first game had with a new 3D explorey/collectathony overworld with no combat. The 2D themes are generally similar to the music from the first game in their instrumentation and moods, so if you liked that (and I liked that) then here’s more of that! The music for the 3D sections is generally arranged a slight bit more fully and features slightly less lo-fi staccato-sampley instrumentation and slightly more cool synths and environmental noises, which thematically makes sense: while the differences are kind of subtle, I think you can feel that the 3D music has a bit more dimension to it, which is appropriate because the game has an extra dimension to it.
When this soundtrack was first released on Bandcamp in 2019, it had a few hidden bonus tracks like the soundtrack for the first game did that were only available if you bought the whole album, but they’ve since been revealed and are available for individual purchase save one. They’re the same kind of things: prototypes, trailer music, and sound effects. Also included are three prototype tracks that Han-Tani would finish up and release as the mini-album Abundant Color in 2018 (“Dusk, Overwhelming” from this is really cool).
In addition to the commercial soundtrack release, they also posted a number of free tracks on the game’s website. This includes the full soundtrack for the game’s “New Theeland” RPG goof sequence (which was largely based on public domain MIDIs for authentic effect), ambient environmental sounds, and a bunch more prototype tracks. There are a few cool snippets in the prototypes but for the most part these bonus tracks aren’t super essential.
Recommended tracks:
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“Sludge-Stained Kitchens” is a big stew of rhythmic figures
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“Upon Soaring Highways” accompanies you on a connecting road between zones with the sounds of movement
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“Levitating Aurora Temple” is one of the more ambient dungeon themes, full of chirping in the night sky
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“Petrichor Bloodbath” plays during a sequence that comes out of left field and seems completely unrelated to everything else in the game, although thematically it actually kind of isn’t
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“The Land” (R23X) is one of two tracks in the game by a guest composer, a glitchy remix of music and sound effects from the first Anodyne depicting a corrupted world
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“The Anodyne” is a cutscene track that plays when you do an Evangelion
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“Sinister Glandilock Seed (Nano)” is a boss theme with some cool scale riffs and chord movement
(all selections by Melos Han-Tani except where noted)
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