From the deep psyche of the mind that brought you Hylics comes its unsettling sequel, Hylics 2. Earlier this week, developer Mason Lindroth revealed a preview for his upcoming game on his YouTube channel. Like the first game, it’s looking to be exceedingly weird. Haunting, ethereal tones waft from the void, punctuating a bleak pixelated claymation wasteland swimming in oceans of upsetting color.

Off the Beaten Path of Reality

Developer Mason Lindroth made Hylics as an absurdist and offbeat take on the JRPG genre. “The style of Hylics is a head-compressing mix of clay, comic book pointillism, pixel art and abstract paintings,” writes Brian Hamby for IndieRuckus!, “It’s unsettling and alien, and thus the perfect visual companion to the warped sensibilities of Hylics.” Nothing makes sense in the abstract world of Hylics. The player must cling to any semblance of normality in this twisted world.

Hylics 2 appears to continue in that same trend. Alien sights and sounds assault the viewer, grotesque shapes and colors filling the screen. A few recognizable elements anchor this fever-dream to reality: text-boxes, overworld maps, and battle screens give the vague impression of a JRPG.

But comfort of the familiar ends there. Dirty, discordant guitar notes chunk away while flesh-like figures swirl and unfold in an unsettling storm of absurdist artistry. Hylics 2 is at once both foreign and fresh, a unique mind-bending experiment that could only come from the world of indie games.

Hylics is available to purchase on Steam and itch.io