Hylics 2

Mason Lindroth’s Hylics 2, released June 22, 2020 on Steam, isn’t interested in meeting players halfway. While most indie developers chase the comforting nostalgia of 16-bit pixel art or the clean lines of modern minimalism, Lindroth has spent years refining a visual language that is entirely his own. This sequel to the 2015 cult classic is a maximalist explosion of stop-motion animation, 3D-scanned clay models, and digital artifacts that feels less like a product and more like a curated gallery exhibition.

The game returns players to the crescent-headed protagonist, Wayne, as he attempts to stop the resurrection of the tyrant King Gibby. It’s a familiar JRPG setup—assemble a crew of weirdos, explore a world, and hit things until they stop moving—but the execution is anything but standard. Every frame of Hylics 2 is a labor-intensive achievement. Objects don’t just exist; they wobble, ripple, and melt with a kinetic energy that is unsettling and deeply charming in equal measure.

In a market saturated with “surreal” games that merely lean on random humor, Hylics 2 establishes a coherent, albeit alien, internal logic. It positions itself as a successor that doesn’t just iterate, but radically expands. By introducing 3D platforming and first-person dungeon crawling, Lindroth attempts to bridge the gap between a static turn-based experience and a fully realized, navigable world. It is a firm rebuke to the visual homogenization of contemporary gaming.

• The Claymation Aesthetic: Every character and environment is hand-crafted from clay and animated via stop-motion, creating a tactile, physical presence rarely seen in digital media.
• Expanded Movement: The addition of air-dashes and 3D platforming shifts the gameplay from simple menu-navigating to an active, spatial interrogation of the world.
• Television-Based Progression: Players unlock the game’s lavishly animated special abilities by finding and interacting with hidden televisions, tying character growth directly to exploration.

Hylics 2 demands submission to a specific kind of sensory overload. The core gameplay loop remains rooted in the JRPG tradition, but the context is so heavily distorted that even the most mundane actions feel fresh. Combat is a turn-based affair where “spells” are gestures—Wayne snapping his fingers to ignite enemies or melting his own face to heal—and these animations are designed with enough fluidity and detail that the inherent repetition of the genre becomes its greatest strength. The grind is easier to forgive when the grind is this beautiful.

The Kinetic Friction of Combat

The combat system is functional, if familiar. Players manage health and “Will” (mana), utilizing a party of four bizarre allies. The depth comes from the lavish special abilities discovered through exploration. However, the game’s commitment to its art style creates a specific kind of pacing friction. The combat animations, while stunning, run a beat too long by design. There is a deliberate slowness here—a droll, hypnotic tempo that demands patience. It isn’t a flaw so much as a stylistic choice, though it stretches the game’s length during more combat-heavy segments.

The Platforming Experiment

The most significant departure from the original Hylics is the transition into 3D space. Wayne can now air-dash, double jump, and navigate complex environments. This is where the game’s ambition hits its first real snag. The platforming is built floaty and imprecise, lacking the “snap” expected from a dedicated platformer. Navigating 3D clay landscapes is visually rewarding but mechanically frustrating; the perspective can be tricky, and the collision detection reads as an afterthought.

Despite this, the exploration remains the game’s heartbeat. Moving through a world that feels like it was physically pinched and pulled into existence is a rare joy. The first-person segments and the overworld airship travel provide a sense of scale that the first game lacked. It feels like a complete world rather than a series of disconnected vignettes.

The Experimental Audio Landscape

The soundtrack deserves its own discussion. It is an experimental, guitar-driven odyssey that mirrors the visual distortion. The music doesn’t just sit in the background; it aggressively shapes the mood, oscillating between laid-back psychedelic grooves and frantic, dissonant riffs. It’s the kind of soundscape that would feel right at home in a late-night experimental film festival, and it cements the game’s identity as a singular, uncompromising vision.

Visually, Hylics 2 is in a class of its own. The blend of claymation and digital artifacts creates a “crusty,” analog feel that is incredibly difficult to replicate. As a 2D-and-clay game of this scope, it is light on hardware demands, and its high-resolution textures are designed to let the detail of the clay fingerprints pop. The UI is equally inspired, eschewing standard boxes for organic, morphing shapes that fit the “melted” world aesthetic.

The Steam version supports both mouse-and-keyboard and controller input, and the design clearly favors the latter: the air-dash and jump mechanics are tuned for an analog stick, and the tactile nature of the game feels more at home with a gamepad.

Hylics 2 is a rare example of a sequel that successfully scales up the ambition of its predecessor without losing its soul. While the mechanical execution of its new platforming elements doesn’t quite match the polish of its visuals, the sheer audacity of its design is enough to carry it. Mason Lindroth has created a vibrant, tactile world that begs to be touched and explored. It is a confidently strange, original work that reminds us the medium of video games is still capable of unadulterated weirdness—and one we recommend without hesitation, reservations about the platforming notwithstanding.