Hylics 2

Hylics 2 is a 2020 role-playing video game developed by Mason Lindroth for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to the 2015 game Hylics. Set in a surrealist and absurdist world, the protagonist Wayne must stop the resurrection of the tyrant king Gibby by his minions. The gameplay is a turn-based RPG, the same as its predecessor. The game was acclaimed for its unique claymation and stop-motion visuals and psychedelic funk score.

Gameplay
Hylics 2 is a turn-based RPG with similarities to traditional JRPGs. It takes place in a surrealist and absurdist world, with some horror elements. The player character Wayne assembles a party of characters, fights enemies, and explore a 3D world, finding hidden treasure. Exploration is sometimes done in an airship, which has been compared to Final Fantasy. Unlike the first game, the sequel contains 3D platforming elements, and contains a segment of dungeon-crawling in first-person. The player can dodge enemies with a variety of moves. The plot of the game involves Wayne attempting to stop the resurrection of the first game's antagonist, the tyrant king Gibby, by his minions. There are many versions of Wayne in the world, of various shapes and designs. The player characters gain more flesh (hit points) by putting the meat of dead enemies and Waynes in a meat grinder. When all party members' flesh hits 0, the player and their reality dissolve.

Development
The game is a sequel to the 2015 RPG Hylics, both developed by Mason Lindroth. The sequel's plot contains motifs of the first game, but can be understood without playing the first game. While the first game was developed in RPG Maker, the sequel was developed in the Unity engine. In Lindroth's games, he uses a psychedelic claymation and stop-motion visual style. He makes clay models and takes pictures of them in front of a green screen, putting the renders in the game. Behind-the-scenes photos of the process were released in 2023. Lindroth supported the sequel's development with a public fundraising campaign. The game's psychedelic funk score was made by Mason Lindroth and Chuck Salamone.

The game was announced with a trailer in January 2018, with a planned release date for later that year. Another trailer was released in November, and by then, the release date had shifted to summer 2019. The game was released on June 22, 2020 on the Steam and Itch.io platforms for Microsoft Windows and MacOS.

Reception
The game was acclaimed upon its release, with significant praise being given to its visual style. Rock Paper Shotgun writer Alice O'Connor claimed the game had some of the best visuals and music in gaming. The visuals were compared to the video game Clayfighter, artist Bruce Bickford's works, and the movie Fantastic Planet, while the score was compared to Frank Zappa's music. The in-game models, animations, and battles were considered improved from the first game. In 2021, PC Gamer named Hylics 2 as having one of their favorite title screens in gaming. It has a Metacritic aggregated score of 8.0. Early user reviews criticized elements of the platforming, and the length of battles.