AFAIK, this is the first game by the two designers. You can't deny that it ticks all the boxes and that they succeeded in making a complete game by themselves. However, I feel like Anodyne lacks a clear direction. It has many mixed and matched parts that don't seem to go well together. The devil is in the details here.

The somber atmosphere doesn't mix naturally with the action and adventure components of the gameplay. The story failed to intrigue me. The dark themes are immediately discarded by the self-referential and 4th wall breaking parts. In many ways the story doesn't seem to take itself seriously and I consider it to be ultimately meaningless.

Unfortunately, the gameplay also suffers by what I consider to be very clear design flaws:
The game often expects you to kill enemies to unlock doors. But killing them is just not fun. Your weapon is not just a joke in-game, but also feels miserable to actually use. Hitboxes are very unforgiving and the broom upgrades are useless except for select occasions. Besides the potential heal drop, there is nothing to gain from killing enemies.

Map design seems to have the goal of annoying the player as much as possible. Single screens often have multiple exits, but your area map doesn't show individual exits, so you have to keep track in your head anyway. Many screens are designed to produce as much walking distance and time wasted as possible, there is barely anything interesting going on. Very often a screen transition will immediately move you into the hitbox of an enemy or similar obstacle.

The jumping puzzles were frustratingly hard to me. The later ones with speed-pads also got me stuck in walls, so I had to use no-clip in the hotel.

Ultimately, I would only recommend this game to you, if you like brutally hard rom-hacks of SNES games. In that case, Anodyne should be right up your alley! Otherwise, maybe check out the more recent games by the designers and just skip this one.