Surreal claymation RPG Hylics 2 looks amazing
Wow!
Mason Lindroth's 2015 RPG Hylics is a game I want people to see. I want you to warm your eyes with its surreal and meaty clay-ish world, fill you ears with its warbling guitar, tingle your brain with its frozen burritos and ablative holopleather, move your hands in sync with the spellcasting gestures, and chill your spine with the claymation flesh melting off your weird crescent head when your fella dies. Encountering it is a delight. And now aw heck, come on, come watch this new trailer for the sequel I'd forgotten was coming. What a treat to be reminded of Hylics 2!
Amazing scenes.
Hylics resembles a JRPG: you engage in turn-based combat, collect items, level up, gather party members, move your fella around an overworld map, and all that. It also does not remotely resemble a JRPG, being built from clay, digitised video (I think?), and other media.
God, Hylics 2 looks gorgeous. Its surreal style also makes everything surprising because it's so far beyond the genre's usual terminology and visual language. Who knows what a Poolman enemy will do? And what should I expect from the Poolwine ability where I see my character's leather-clad hands swirling a glass of wine? I have no idea but am excited to find out.
The sequel seems more elaborate too. I am delighted by everything I see. What a game!
Hylics 2 is due out some time in 2018. In the meantime, you can follow Mason Lindroth's progress on his dev blog and the first Hylics is £2/€3/$3 on Steam and Itch.