A special thanks to Q-Games for the review code. For transparency sake, previous employee PushDustIn works at Q-Games, but his presence there did not influence this review in any way, shape or form.
Over the past decade, there’s been a rise in a video game genre colloquially called the “Zen game.” These are games where you sink into your bed, plug your headphones in, and get absorbed by the audio and visual stimulations. Tetris Effect is one of the big names of this genre, along with titles like Journey, Flower, VA-11 HALL-A, and Gris all fall into this category in one way or another. Before all of these was the 2008 PS3 indie darling PixelJunk Eden. Made by Q-Games and directed by prominent Japanese artist and musician Baiyon, the game was a visual and audible treat. Now, 12 years later, the series returns on consoles with the Switch exclusive PixelJunk Eden 2. But now it exists in a market that’s much less niche and much more competitive. Can the classic PixelJunk Eden 2 stand-out from the crowd?
The idea is fairly straightforward. You play a little insect called a Grimp, and your goal is to help this Grimp find an end of level McGuffin called a Spectra. To do this, you need to collect pollen. To do that, you need to break open these floating spores by swinging around in a circle using your web. Get enough pollen to make plant seeds sprout and that creates the pathway to the Spectra. It’s a pretty straightforward premise and from the tutorial, I was worried it would get old fast. Thankfully, the game is masterful at using its simple premise in interesting and engaging ways.
The core gameplay never changes. You can unlock different Grimps and Spices that offer different perks – some are incredibly useful, others not so much, and a few late game ones are incredibly broken – but they add little difference to the core gameplay. Instead, the way this game expands is with its level design, introducing new puzzles and stage gimmicks to keep the Gardens you explore feeling fresh.
There are 10 Gardens in total and 5 variations of each, leading to a total of 50 levels. The Gardens are unlocked as you progress through the game, but the variations are randomly assigned every time you advance, meaning you’re never quite sure what is coming up. Even though there are technically 10 Gardens, these stages are massive, so replaying the same map feels less like rethreading old ground and more like a new map with a similar aesthetic. You can even head back to areas of the Garden you’ve been before, usually from a different angle, and that’s actually pretty neat. It was fun when I realised that I was doing one level from long ago, but BACKWARDS!
Each of the 10 Gardens comes with a unique gimmick attached to it. They’re usually visual, like distorting the background with every spin of the web, but sometimes they offer mechanical changes like changing the direction of gravity. Then there are some new mechanics that are universal, like Flower canons or pollen that fights back.
This game doesn’t have lives; it has time. Other than in the game’s Garden Collection mode, which lets you explore one of your unlocked Gardens at your leisure, every level has you play on a timer. Falling off screen or taking damage only delays you from moving forward. You can just get up and try again from where you left off, as opposed from the start of the level. This is a better mechanic than a health system, and it is not very stressful. It was rare that I reached the end of level with under a minute to spare, thanks to the abundance of checkpoints that restore your timer.
Overall, the gameplay is pretty solid. I must admit, I do have a thing for games that let me swing around like I’m Spider-Man, and while this one keeps it contained to a circle each time, using the momentum to launch yourself forward and then double jumping out of anti-gravity to change direction mid flight is a very satisfying mechanic. Even when you accidentally angle it wrong and watch your Grimp completely miss its target.
That does it really for the gameplay but it’s clear from the way the game looks and sounds, as well as Baiyon’s history, that the presentation is the true selling point of the game. After all, it is these features that really create that Zen feeling in the player. So do they succeed? Absolutely.
I realised my problem with the tutorial was down to two factors: the confined area and the dull presentation. It’s nothing special. However, once you enter the Gardens proper, things really begin to pick up. From the changing colours and bizarre background visuals, the game’s presentation is absolutely mesmerising. I played it on both handheld and on the television and both really put me in the Zen zone (although handheld won out as the preferred way to play). There are some stunning visual effects on display here through simple shapes, light, and colouring, and it is a joy to behold.
The music obviously helps. Like many games of this genre, it’s best to play with headphones at all times (another reason why handheld is better). The music feels organic to the environments they playing in and have a unique way of getting into your head. It’s not Lo-Fi, but it gives me that same studying vibes when I listen to the soundtrack. It helps me connect with the world and get into the swing of things easily – pun intended.
PixelJunk Eden 2 was a blast to play, especially after a busy day where I just wanted to mellow out in bed. The beat of its music and stunning visuals, along with the admittedly simple, but effective, gameplay makes PixelJunk Eden 2 really stick into your mind. There are a few elements I would change in the game, like the tutorial and maybe offering a bit more control in the players progression through the different Spectra levels. And I didn’t get to test out all of the Grimps or the 2-player options. But from everything I did play, this is a strong recommend. I never played the original game so for me, all of this was a new experience, one that managed to entrap me with its presentation and keep me playing as I chilled out and entered my own sense of Eden.
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