De Blob 2 arrived in 2011 as the sequel to a 2008 Wii game. Blue Tongue Entertainment built the original around a simple idea: a gray city, a rolling blob of paint, and color as both weapon and reward. The sequel keeps that idea and adds to it. THQ published the game in association with the Syfy network, and unlike the original, it did not stay on the Wii.
Trailer, via Diamond Longplays.
From the Wii to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
The first de Blob was a Wii game. De Blob 2 was not. Blue Tongue developed the home console versions for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and THQ also put out a Nintendo DS version built separately by Halfbrick Studios. That DS game takes place between the two console titles, which makes it a bridge rather than a port.
The platform list has only grown since. THQ Nordic worked with BlitWorks to re-release de Blob 2 alongside the first game. Both came to Windows on June 22, 2017. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One followed on February 27, 2018, and Nintendo Switch on August 28 of that year.
That re-release matters for anyone deciding whether to play it now. The game is available on Wii and PC as well as the newer consoles.
Comrade Black Returns to Drain the Color
The plot picks up where the first game left off. Comrade Black and the Inkies are back, and their plan is the same crime against good taste: rid the world of color. Blob is the answer to that plan, as before.
The structure is familiar. Blob rolls through a gray cityscape, mixes colors, paints objects, and brings life back to the place. Painting opens up areas that were locked before. His friends in the Color Underground hand him missions along the way.
Those missions cover a fair amount of ground:
- Timed races
- Defeating enemies
- Liberating captured Graydians
- Seizing important landmarks
It is a checklist, but a coherent one. Each task feeds the same loop of painting, opening, and progressing.
A Dash Attack and an Idea Emporium
De Blob 2 is not a straight retread. The biggest addition is a dash attack. Blob can now break through obstacles and kill most foes with it. The cost is a sizable number of paint points, so the move is a trade rather than a free win. That is the right kind of upgrade: powerful, spendable, and tied to the resource the whole game runs on.
Inspiration points are the second new system. Players earn them as they progress and spend them at the Idea Emporium on upgrades for Blob, including increased paint capacity and defensive shields. It gives the game a light progression layer on top of the painting.
Power-ups add more. The source lists five, and they do different jobs:
| Power-up | What it does |
|---|---|
| Wrecking Ball | Magnetic; lets Blob roll up metal surfaces, sink underwater, and destroy enemies easily |
| Hazmat Suit | Protects Blob from passive hazards such as ink and hotplates |
| Graviton Bomb | Temporarily turns Blob into a black hole |
| Re-Gen | Constantly refills Blob’s paint points |
| Rainbow | Infinite paint points and all seven colors at once |
The Rainbow is the obvious endgame toy. Infinite paint and every color at once is the game admitting what it is: a sandbox that wants you to stop worrying and start painting.
Pinky Joins, and the Bosses Get Bigger
Two-player mode is the other significant addition. It works like the co-op in Super Mario Galaxy. A second player takes control of Pinky, a new member of the Color Underground, and helps Blob through the harder challenges. Pinky is support, not a second Blob, which keeps the co-op from breaking the single-player design.
Bosses also play a larger role this time. The game expects players to use the painting mechanics thoughtfully to beat them. That is a meaningful shift for a game whose central verb is paint.
The Platforming Gets Heavier
The source notes that de Blob 2 puts a heavier emphasis on platforming than its predecessor did. That is the trade the sequel makes. The first game leaned on color and movement. The second adds more platforming on top of that.
Whether that is an improvement depends on what you came for. More platforming gives the levels more shape and more ways to fail. It also risks slowing down the part of the game that was always the point. The dash attack and the power-ups are there to keep that balance from tipping too far, in this paper’s reading.
What De Blob 2 Gets Right, and What It Does Not
The core loop still works. Painting a gray city back to life is a good idea, and it was a good idea in 2008. De Blob 2 does not break it. It adds systems around it and trusts the player to use them.
The additions are mostly sensible. The dash attack costs something. Inspiration points give the upgrades a reason to exist. Pinky makes co-op possible without redesigning the game around a second player. The power-ups are varied enough that they change how a level plays rather than just boosting a number.
The re-release is the strongest argument for the game today. A 2011 title that has been carried forward to Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch is a title that still has an audience. THQ Nordic and BlitWorks did the work of keeping it available, and that counts for something in a medium that buries its past quickly.
The weaker parts are structural. The mission list is a checklist, and the game leans on it. Timed races and landmark seizures are not the reason anyone picks up de Blob 2. They are the scaffolding around the painting, and there is a lot of scaffolding.
The heavier platforming is the other open question. It gives the sequel its own identity, but it also moves the game away from the loose, expressive play that made the first one stand out. De Blob 2 is a more demanding game than de Blob. That is not automatically a better game.
The published score is 7.5/10, an IGDB critic aggregate drawn from 8 outlets. It reflects a solid sequel with real additions and a clear sense of what it is. De Blob 2 is not a reinvention, and it does not need to be. The painting is still the draw, the co-op is a genuine bonus, and the re-release makes it easy to find. It earns its place.
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