Surreal ASCII-based RPG sequel Candy Box 2 is out now

Indie developer aniwey's ASCII-based cult sensation Candy Box has received a sequel with Candy Box 2.

For those unfamiliar with Candy Box, it made quite a splash when it debuted in May and opened up a whole new world of surreal candy-based possibilities. The idea is simple: the longer you keep the browser open, the more candies you accumulate. Initially you can only do things like eat candies, throw them on the ground, or unlock other features like a HUD or ability to save. But before you know it you can access things like various swords, lollipops and quests to go on.

Like the first Candy Box, the appeal is in slowly unraveling the bizarrely complex RPG buried within its goofy text. This sequel has a few notable additions like multiple save slots and the ability to set the game to autosave, so you don't have to worry about your browser crashing and losing the tens of thousands of candies you've accumulated in the few days you left the game untouched.

"You'll laugh at it, think it's dumb, but then get sucked in anyway because in the course of a work day you'll accumulate 12K candies, farm some lollipops and ooh, how can you resist the option to 'use 30 lollipops to make lollipop powder to polish your candy sword and make it awesome (and more powerful)?'" I wrote of the first Candy Box upon its release.