Adorable Exploration: Ittle Dew 2 Coming This Summer
Aww!
Back in 2013, Ittle Dew was a pleasant surprise: a lovely 2D puzzle adventure built mostly around block-pushing puzzles. Resident 'feels' expert John Walker wanted to cuddle it, mostly thanks to the charming writing and art, but, perhaps unexpectedly, the puzzles were often enjoyable as well.
Three years later, Ittle Dew 2 [official site] is ready to make its appearance, and it's bringing some changes. Ittle and her uninterested sidekick Tippsie will be exploring a new island in adorable 3D graphics, with a bigger focus on action and combat, and new puzzles that don't necessarily involve block pushing. Will it be time for more cuddling?
The original Ittle Dew featured an open world often gated by the requirement to obtain certain tools, à la Metroidvania. It was an alluring prospect, but it occasionally backfired as it was easy to get lost. In the new iteration, the world will be even more radically open: from the very beginning you'll be able to go anywhere and all the 8 main dungeons will be accessible and solvable, although additional tools and weapons will open shortcuts or make puzzles easier.
Whereas combat was often little more than an afterthought - a simple matter of mashing the attack button until the enemies died - the devs want to make it more interesting and challenging this time around, with a bigger focus on learning enemy patterns, dodging their attacks and hitting them at the right time or from the correct side. Again, upgraded weapons will make the fights easier, but determined players will only need the stick Ittle begins the game with.
Ittle Dew is set for a summer release on Steam. Here's a more meaningful video than the trailer above. It's a few months old, but it shows a large chunk of gameplay with devs' commentary on top.
