This dev's first game, a surreal trip based on a YouTube animated series, came out 3 days after Schedule 1 and is right on its heels for best-reviewed Steam release of the year

a character with half their face straight on the other half as though it's in profile. It's very Dali
(Image credit: ENA Team)

Sometimes you see a game trailer so weird and wonderful you just think, "Yeah, I have to play that." After just a few minutes with Ena: Dream BBQ, you'll see why it's racked up almost 25,000 reviews in just two short months.

Ena: Dream BBQ is an odd game. Rooted in surrealist inspirations and made by the creator of a web series named Ena, playing it makes you feel as though you've stepped into the world of a Salvador Dalí painting. You play as Ena, someone with a face split down the middle in a way that makes it look as though one side is facing you directly and the other is side-on – it's trippy, and most of the other characters are just as bizarre.

I can see why people are so taken with it. The art is gorgeous, the characters are intriguing, and even though I don't fully understand what's happening, I'm having fun. Even the menu opens itself up in Ena's hands – a wonderfully diegetic touch.

Issy van der Velde
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

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