Main game
3.44 average rating based on 18 ratings
This was an interesting and surprisingly challenging game to try out. It's totally free, just check out http://candybox2.net/ and just work your way through the game. This is an ASCII art- and candy-themed game created by a French designer (whom also made Candy Box [1]). The first game can be accessed here: http://candies.aniwey.net/
Pros: It is intuitive, despite looking rather jarbled, and actually pretty challenging to get through some of the section. You get to experiment with different items to see what works and what doesn't. It's definitely very creative; while I've played games with similar concepts, it stands-alone with its own unique show.
Cons: This depends on how a person feels, but it's not a "pretty" game. It's all down with basic keyboard symbols to create images, so sometimes it's hard to see what you might be looking at or looking for. There are parts where, depending how you approach the challenge, you may just have to sit and wait for candies to accumulate or for your character to battle (the battles are auto-generated, so you just watch what happens). Despite being a "quick" game, it takes a long time for the candies to build (unless you cheat).
There …
This was an interesting and surprisingly challenging game to try out. It's totally free, just check out http://candybox2.net/ and just work your way through the game. This is an ASCII art- and candy-themed game created by a French designer (whom also made Candy Box [1]). The first game can be accessed here: http://candies.aniwey.net/
Pros: It is intuitive, despite looking rather jarbled, and actually pretty challenging to get through some of the section. You get to experiment with different items to see what works and what doesn't. It's definitely very creative; while I've played games with similar concepts, it stands-alone with its own unique show.
Cons: This depends on how a person feels, but it's not a "pretty" game. It's all down with basic keyboard symbols to create images, so sometimes it's hard to see what you might be looking at or looking for. There are parts where, depending how you approach the challenge, you may just have to sit and wait for candies to accumulate or for your character to battle (the battles are auto-generated, so you just watch what happens). Despite being a "quick" game, it takes a long time for the candies to build (unless you cheat).
There isn't a lot to say without spoiling the "story," but there were a few times where I had to look up the answers (e.g., the puzzle that the Ogre at the lighthouse is kind of insane). The hardest battle, in my opinion, was the battle against yourself. I would love to hear what anyone else who has played this game thinks!
Candy Box was the sort of game an exuberant 8-year-old might make. "Okay guys, you want to get all the candies. Here's the part where you have to fight the candy whale. And now you're at the part where you fight all the knights to get to the castle. Oh, you found a fireball scroll! And sure, you can dip your sword in chocolate to make it twice as sharper!" It wasn't coherent, it was largely unpolished, and the translation occasionally felt a little Babelfish, but I loved it all the same.
Candy Box 2 is the same game, but after that 8-year-old has spent a decade working on it. Now he's a rules-lawyering table top gamer, no stranger to game balance and competent design and geek humor. The game is crisper, cleaner; most of the best parts from before still shine through, but with a better paint job and more reasonable behavior. Honestly, things have improved since the original was released... but it feels less spontaneous, less adventurous. Where Candy Box offered a sense of adventure and excitement, Candy Box 2 gives referential humor. It's not a bad game, not by a long shot, especially considering the cheap-as-free price …
Candy Box was the sort of game an exuberant 8-year-old might make. "Okay guys, you want to get all the candies. Here's the part where you have to fight the candy whale. And now you're at the part where you fight all the knights to get to the castle. Oh, you found a fireball scroll! And sure, you can dip your sword in chocolate to make it twice as sharper!" It wasn't coherent, it was largely unpolished, and the translation occasionally felt a little Babelfish, but I loved it all the same.
Candy Box 2 is the same game, but after that 8-year-old has spent a decade working on it. Now he's a rules-lawyering table top gamer, no stranger to game balance and competent design and geek humor. The game is crisper, cleaner; most of the best parts from before still shine through, but with a better paint job and more reasonable behavior. Honestly, things have improved since the original was released... but it feels less spontaneous, less adventurous. Where Candy Box offered a sense of adventure and excitement, Candy Box 2 gives referential humor. It's not a bad game, not by a long shot, especially considering the cheap-as-free price tag. It's just that the competent has a hard time competing with the magical.
You can play Candy Box 2 for free here: http://candybox2.net/
Finally opened the candy box. I ate over 1 million candies to celebrate, then threw what was left on the ground.
Stumble upon this game in one of those "best free games" articles, it's pretty charming!