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Metro
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Playdate Season 2 full review – the best games on the weirdest console
The black and white portable console with a hand crank as a controller has completed its second season and the games have proven just as odd as the hardware. The Playdate handheld, with its perfectly weighted crank and immaculate hardware design has been out for just over three years, and while it hasn't quite set the world on fire it definitely has plenty of devotees. At launch it came with a 'season' of 24 games that arrived as a drip feed of two per week, and made for a delightful introduction to the system, even if we never found ourselves playing any of them after the first few weeks. Season 2 is just over half the size, bringing you 12 games – along with Blippo+ which is more of an interesting curio than a game. Once again, the variety really impresses, with original and highly unusual games that are built for a system with significant and quite deliberate limitations. It's fascinating to see how developers adapt, and this season comes with some real highlights. Week 1 Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. As openers go, they don't get much braver than Blippo+, which isn't a game at all. It's a set of video streams supposedly from the planet Blipp, showcasing bizarre trashy cable TV type content of the sort that used to populate daytime telly in America in the 80s. It takes a while for streams to load on the Playdate, but the slightly grainy content somehow really suits the tiny device. Quite what it's attempting to convey we have to concede we never really figured out, although there are some common themes you start picking up as you watch more of its abject weirdery. Engineered around aiming using the crank, Fulcrum Defender is a circular and completely manual tower defence game from Subset Games, makers of FTL and Into The Breach. Unusually, you have to prevent various shapes, that fly in from the screen edges, from reaching the core in the middle. Enemies employ different flight paths and tactics to avoid your defensive fire, while your advantage comes from power-ups and special weapons, in a fast-paced and precise shooter whose trance beats help augment the sense of being in the zone. One of the most substantial of season 2's games, this has you playing palaeontologist, excavating dig sites in search of dinosaur bones and lore-conferring alien artefacts. Its clever use of black and white textures does a great job of representing the different strata you dig through, while upgrading everything from your shovel to bone-detecting sonar proves pleasantly addictive. An involving game that proves hard to put down once you're in the swing. Week 2 Riding Wheelsprung's tiny trials bike is an exercise in balance, throttle control, and braking to avoid obstacles and ensure you don't hit the ground with enough force to destroy your bike. Its 34 side-scrolling tracks swiftly become extremely challenging, with each requiring multiple attempts even to figure out which way to go and what approach you should take, let alone actually reaching the end. Deep, subtle, and physics-based, it demands dedication to reveal its charms. After an icy but unspecified cataclysm that's wiped out human civilisation, you trudge around its wreckage trying to eke out an existence scavenging through the snowy debris. As usual, the real horrors are other people, some of whom can be friendly but are often horribly bad news. Its melancholy tone and world-building, your character's reminiscences overlaid on your exploration, are punctuated by inventory puzzles and moments of savagery perpetrated by fellow survivors. Your ultra-slow walking pace and continual backtracking are in keeping with the mise en scène but can grate. Week 3 This crank-orientated animal catching game has you controlling a cat with a hoop. Your job is to swing it over an unwary creature and then rapidly turn the crank to encircle it, adding it to your inventory, and capturing multiple enemies if you time it right. Its mechanics and locomotion are unlike anything you're likely to have played before and take some getting used to, giving seasoned gamers a brief glimpse of what it must be like for non-gamers to pick up a controller for the first time. An accurate recreation of the 1987 game, Shadowgate, complete with single channel audio tunes and monochrome still frame graphics, played by selecting an action from a list, then moving the cursor to apply it to something on screen. It's an incredibly clunky control scheme, but it just about gets the job done. Even overlooking the inherent unwieldiness, it's almost unbelievably difficult, with obtuse puzzles that are seemingly immune to logic and instant death around every corner. By today's standards it's all but impossible and in the years before internet walkthroughs it's astounding that anyone could have worked out how to complete it. Week 4 You're an extendable dachshund, the crank stretching your sausage dog body to try and reach pieces of food, each of which makes you longer, a bit like old classic, Snake. The lengthier you get, the better your reach, letting you access previously inaccessible areas, then at the end of each level you crank out a dog egg whose size depends on how much you've managed to eat during your escapades. It's quite the oddity, if not the most compelling of this season's titles. Otto's Galactic Groove is a funky rhythm action game with the messy hip-hop spirit of Jet Set Radio, blended with the otherworldliness of Space Channel 5. Its story is purposely bizarre, even if its rhythm action is more or less as you'd expect, apart from a reliance on the crank to target the notes you tap. You'll also need to use it to hold sustained notes, which slope up and down, and in Extreme difficulty turn into improbable zig-zags that you'll need to track at speed. It features admirably eclectic musical styles, and you can really hear when you miss a beat. Week 5 To destroy the black holes threatening your planet you need to launch black holes of identical size to cancel them out. Adjust the diameter of each hole using the crank, aim and fire, the difference between the size of the one you shoot and the one you hit getting deducted from your health bar. You'll also need to avoid space tourists, amongst other obstacles, by bouncing black holes off the wall to target their harder to reach counterparts, in levels that sadly aren't all that much fun. This season's undoubted star is Taria & Cosmo, a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platform adventure about a girl and her grapple hook robot, which she can fire out and stick onto certain surfaces, letting her swing or suspend herself from them. You use the crank to aim the grapple, then once attached, lengthen and shorten the rope, letting you perform increasingly dazzling acrobatic moves as you get used to the unusual feel of traversal. Despite the small screen some of your antics feel elegant – majestic even – and its narrative is a searing satire of cold-hearted corporate control and the American medical system. More Trending Week 6 You're a small, two-armed turnip, exploring a sizeable map by climbing your way around it, the crank swinging one arm, then the other, as you grip and release. New skills you unlock open up new parts of the map, Metroidvania style, and just getting around is enough of a test on its own until you get the hang of it. You'll soon find yourself becoming more proficient, which is just as well given the lifts, pinball-style plungers, and rows of spikes you'll need to navigate as you explore, making frequent use of the map. Chance the dog's point 'n' click adventure is just under an hour's worth of novelty grade good luck/bad luck scenarios, that see its law-breaking canine anti-hero alternately tormented and rewarded by fate. Starting with a flat tyre and a lost mobile, that prevent him warning his gangster pals of their imminent arrest, he immediately falls down a manhole into the sewer, and that's just the start of his mini-calamities. Set in a city populated by talking dogs, cats and duck-billed platypuses, it makes good use not only of the crank, but also the Playdate's microphone and accelerometer. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: PlayStation sues Tencent over Horizon 'clone' Light Of Motiram MORE: Lewis Hamilton admits he's cancelling work just to play new video game MORE: 90s Nintendo classic Mario Paint is now on Switch 2 with mouse controls
Digital Trends
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
If you can't get a Switch 2, now might be the time to get a Playdate
It's a great time to be a handheld gaming enthusiast. Last week Lenovo launched a version of its Legion Go S that comes with SteamOS, an addition that improves a capable portable PC. Nintendo has the stage this week, as the Switch 2 is set to launch on June 5. Those two devices alone are enough to keep players' hands full for a while. But another portable device is having a moment of its own right now: the Playdate. Panic's yellow, crank-controlled handheld just got a major update last week. For $40, players can now sign up for Playdate Season 2. Doing so will get them 12 new games delivered over six weeks, as well as a bizarre bonus in Blippo+, a sort of subspace television app for the system. While I hadn't planned on signing up, my curiosity got the best of me this weekend; I paid the entry fee and got access to Season 2's first two games. I'm very glad I did, because I'm now reminded why the console is so special in the first place. If the Switch's high price tag has you bummed out, this may be the perfect moment to grab a Playdate instead. Recommended Videos Upon purchasing the new season, two new games showed up on my home screen: Fulcrum Defender and Dig Dig Dino. The first one is a major attraction considering that it's the latest project from Into the Breach developer Subset Games. That was a big reason I decided to dive into Season 2, as it showed me that Panic is still serious about courting top-tier indie developers to experiment with its console. Fulcrum Defender is relatively straight forward game compared to some of Season 1's more out-there releases. It's a minimalist wave defense game where I'm controlling a turret at the center of the screen. Shapes fly in from the sides and try to attack the turret, so it's my job to shoot them before they reach it. To do that, I need to use the system's crank to spin my gun around in a circle and fire away. It's this season's version of Hyper Meteor, arguably Season 1's best game. As a simple high score chase, Fulcrum Defender is a fun little time waster with just enough depth to make it interesting. In a good run, I'm able to equip three weapons. My top D-pad button fires single shots, while the bottom shoots them in rapid-fire mode. I can't just spam those buttons, as doing so will overheat my gun and take it offline for a few seconds. I eventually get more powerful weapons that map to the left and right D-pad buttons, though those weapons have a cooldown. That combat system is infused with a light roguelike hook, as I can choose from one of two upgrades every few minutes. It's not too complex and not as original as other Playdate games I've enjoyed, but it's the kind of game that I could see myself pulling out every now and then when I want to get a quick run in. I'm more enamored with Dig Dig Dino, which has quickly become one of my favorite games the platform has to offer. The idea here is that I'm an archeologist looking for dinosaur bones. I drop into a dig site, which is presented as a small grid that fits on the display. Every time I dig in a spot, I use a tick of energy. My goal is to dig as much as I can before I run out, finding as many bones as possible as well as cash. When a dig ends, I can then buy upgrades that allow me to dig further, drill rocks more efficiently, or ping treasure locations. It's almost like a 2D version of A Game About Digging a Hole, and it's every bit as engrossing as that game. I played through the entire thing, getting every dinosaur and hidden artifact, in one sitting. As I tore through both games on a lazy Sunday, I was reminded how much I loved the Playdate when I first got it. It's basically one big game jam, where developers get to toy around with short, creative ideas. I can especially see that in Blippo+, the most fascinating app the system has gotten yet. It's essentially an alternate version of cable TV that's running its own weird shows at all times. I've yet to spend too much time with it, but it's the kind of wild swing that makes the Playdate so special. It simply inspires developers to cut loose, even three years into its niche little life. So if you're on the fence about getting a Switch 2 right now, but still want to dig into a handheld device, now might be the perfect time to grab a Playdate. You'll get a great collection of games out the gate with Season 1's offerings and be able to add Season 2 on top of that. That's not even to mention the catalogue of purchasable games, which includes Lucas Pope's excellent Mars After Midnight. The Switch 2 may have Mario Kart World, but the Playdate might be more of a Nintendo console than Nintendo's own console.
Engadget
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Playdate Season 2 review: Fulcrum Defender, Dig! Dig! Dino! and Blippo+
Playdate Season Two is here, bringing with it two new games for the quirky yellow handheld every week until July 3. And if the first two titles are any indication of what this season will be like, it's sure to be a great one. Season Two kicked off on May 29 with the arcade action game Fulcrum Defender — from the studio behind FTL: Faster Than Light and Into the Breach — and the delightfully chill Dig! Dig! Dino! . The two games couldn't be more different from each other, but they're both bangers in their own right. Panic also released Blippo+ , which can only be described as a fever dream of cable TV, with the first drop of Season Two, and it is amazingly bizarre. "Survive for 10min!" sounded almost like a threat when I first started reading through Fulcrum Defender 's How To Play guide. Between all the on-screen information you need to pay attention to, the many different types of enemies that'll be attacking and the various weapon upgrades you can earn over the course of a run, there's a lot to take in, and I braced myself for a tense and complicated playing experience. But, while that may be closer to the case on Hard Mode, I found that Fulcrum Defender wasn't all that punishing of a shooter on Normal Mode. It's a challenge, for sure, but one with a surprisingly achievable goal that I was able to enjoy without losing my mind. At least, not until crossing the 10-minute mark. After that, all hell breaks loose. In Fulcrum Defender , you're positioned at the center of a circular arena and have to fend off a continuous swarm of enemies. Your shield will take damage any time an enemy collides with it, and once enough have breached that zone, it's game over. To avoid that, you need to shoot them down one by one, using the crank to aim your weapon and the D-pad to shoot. Some enemies can be taken out in one shot, but others — distinguished by their filled-in appearance — require multiple shots. Over time, you'll earn weapon upgrades to build out a more powerful defense system, with options like large, guided projectiles and a flail that can knock out several enemies in one sweep. It's unexpectedly addicting. The music is beautiful and calming, giving the whole thing a pleasant atmosphere despite the fact that you're surrounded by enemies at any given moment and trying not to die. Once I realized it was absolutely possible to survive 10 minutes and even go beyond that, I got sucked into the loop of trying over and over to beat my high scores. I'd love to see a global leaderboard for this game at some point, because I just know I'd be floored by how long some players will be able to last. If you liked this one and want to know a little more about the making of it, be sure to check out our interview with Jay Ma , the co-founder of Fulcrum Defender developer Subset Games. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing right now than pretending to be a paleontologist and casually digging for bones. No thoughts, just dig. That's exactly what Dig! Dig! Dino! has going on, and it's awesome. You're working as part of a crew (made up entirely of anthropomorphic animals) at the site of some really unusual dinosaur fossils, and it's your job to dig up new bones and artifacts. Once you've got the entire skeleton of a particular dinosaur, you can scan it in the lab to reveal what it was like when it was alive. That information, coupled with the peculiar artifacts scattered around the site, paints a picture of some pretty strange activities that went on there long ago. For example, some of these dinosaurs seem to have had crystals growing out of their bodies, and it looks like they were warned about the asteroid extinction event. Fishy! The gameplay is extremely low stakes — this is one for when you just want to zone out playing something that'll keep your hands busy. You're equipped with a shovel, a drill and a radar gadget for detecting items beneath the surface, and have no time-sensitive goals to hit. You only have so much energy, though, which will be consumed with each use of your tools. When you run out, the round is over. But you can visit each site as many times as you need to in order to find all of the dinosaur pieces hidden there, so it can be a really casual undertaking if you want it to be. It's a really nice time, with a fun story to tie it all together. You'll get a solid few hours of playtime out of this, too, and the simplicity of it all means you can put it down and come back to it later without having to rack your memory to figure out where you left off. I loved this one. What can one even say about Blippo+ ? This bizarre "1-bit television" experience came as a bonus with the first Season Two games, and it is something. Panic first teased it back in December 2024 as a Steam title, but here it is for the Playdate now, complete with a roster of channels playing hallucinatory programs and Femtofax, an interactive message board of sorts where you can find affirmations, neighborhood drama, chatter among amateur astronomers and more. Panic describes it as being "comparable to an old episode of The Twilight Zone ," but it's more like an old episode of The Twilight Zone if it were made by Tim & Eric and aired after midnight on Adult Swim. I think I am obsessed with it? I'm really interested to see where this goes. It'll keep getting new content alongside the rest of the Season Two releases, with new episodes every week for 12 weeks. I would totally park my Playdate in a dock (but not the Stereo Dock </3) on my desk and leave Blippo+ running in the background all day if it has enough fresh material to sustain it. The song playing alongside the endlessly scrolling Blippo+ TV guide screen is already stuck in my head, and I don't hate it. The program guide with this week's schedule is online, if you're curious about what's going on right now.
The Verge
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Playdate's second season is off to a great (and very weird) start
A lot of games have been released for the Playdate since it launched in 2022, as a quick browse of or the Catalog shop will attest. But still, there's something unique about the handheld's seasonal format, which just kicked off its second iteration. When it first launched, the Playdate came with 24 games from notable indie developers that were steadily released on a weekly cadence, making a perfect introduction to the little yellow device and its crank. Now, a few years later, we finally have season 2, and it's off to a solid start — and it even includes a bizarre mystery. The new season runs for the next six weeks and totals a dozen games, two of which will drop each week. The entire collection will run you $39. To start, we have a pair of very different games. Fulcrum Defender, from FTL: Faster Than Light developer Subset Games, is sort of like a modern take on Asteroids. You control a little ship in the middle and fire guns at little squares flying toward you. The twist is that you use the crank to rotate the ship around and aim your shots. There's also something of a roguelike element, where you steadily unlock random upgrades like new weapons or a larger spread for your bullets. The goal is to last for 10 straight minutes. It's a pretty challenging game — so far, I've only really had success on easy mode — but it's also surprisingly chill, eliciting that sort of zen state that the best shooters and puzzle games can create. This is helped by its lo-fi soundtrack that pretty much demands you play with headphones on. It's an absorbing game. On the other end of the spectrum is Dig Dig Dino!, developed by Dom2D and Fáyer, who brag that the game 'is perfect to play while watching TV! No time pressure, no quick reflexes needed!' It's a puzzle game where you travel to different dig sites to uncover dinosaur bones, artifacts, and trash. You only have a limited amount of moves per dig, but you can upgrade your capacity over time — while also getting new tools to smash rocks or dig deeper — letting you dig both more and for longer. It's sort of like a really cute take on Minesweeper, one clearly designed for short play sessions. It's not exactly difficult, but there's still something satisfying about uncovering a large dinosaur bone when you're just about to run out of moves. These two games do a good job of showing the breadth of games possible on the Playdate; one is meant for quick bursts, the other for longer, more focused sessions. But the launch week package is rounded out by something a whole lot weirder. It's called Blippo Plus and, well, it's a series of TV channels you can flip between using the crank. Some are nothing but static, while others have giant FMV videos of strange TV shows or commercials. One show, called Tantric Computing, is nothing but closeup shots of someone using a computer mouse. Another, Werf's Tavern, is some kind of musical talk show. There's also a messaging tool and some kind of fax service. What's most interesting about Blippo Plus, though, isn't just that it's odd. It's also a mystery that seems like it will evolve over the course of the season. Playdate maker Panic says that 'Playdate season 2 owners should tune in weekly and make sure they are connected to WiFi when season 2 updates at 10 AM PT on Thursdays.' There are lots of other promising games planned for season 2, including the point-and-click adventure Shadowgate PD and whatever the heck Long Puppy and Tiny Turnip are. But an FMV mystery that unfolds over the course of weeks is something that's pretty unique to this format — and further evidence that the Playdate exists in its own parallel universe.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Playdate Season Two includes an action arcade game from Into The Breach studio Subset
The long-awaited second season of weekly Playdate game drops commences on May 29. During a showcase on Thursday, Panic revealed that players will get two fresh games on their console every seven days for six weeks. It's also promising a surprise of some kind. Unlike the first season of games that's included with every Playdate, you'll need to pay extra for this one. Playdate Season Two will run you $39. You can pre-order now through the Playdate Catalog. Part of the allure of Playdate's seasons is that the games are a bit of a mystery, so you never quite know what you're going to get in your weekly drops. To that end, Panic didn't go super in depth into all 12 during the showcase, instead opting to shine a spotlight on four of them. One of the games will be of particular interest to FTL: Faster Than Light and Into The Breach fans. Subset Games, the studio behind those hits, has made a brand new game for the Playdate. It's an arcade action game called Fulcrum Defender. You'll use the crank to aim and shoot at waves of enemies as you try to survive. Subset co-founder Jay Ma says the enemies will progressively become more complex and you'll need to have good aim and choose upgrades wisely to keep your run going. Antonio "Fáyer" Uribe, one of the folks behind last year's well-received Arco (which Panic published), teamed up with Flinthook designer Dom2D to make Dig! Dig! Dino!. This is a relaxing puzzle game in which you'll be digging for dinosaur bones and treasure. Sell the booty and you can unlock upgrades to help you dig deeper for more bones and artifacts. The maker of Playdate titles Life's Too Short and Time From Earth is back with another game that will be part of Season Two. It's a remake of the classic point-and-click adventure Shadowgate for the diminutive console. Pixel Ghost says it took the best parts of the previous versions to make Shadowgate PD, which includes new music, art and features. The fourth game that was featured in the showcase is Taria & Como, a puzzle platformer that's based around swinging instead of jumping (that reminds me a little of the wonderful Grapple Dogs). You'll take on the role of Taria, a girl with a prosthetic leg who sets out to find her sister, Como. JuVee Productions, Viola Davis' production company, collaborated with Popseed Studio on this project. "A few years ago, my friend's son was diagnosed with Tourette's, and I began to think about what sort of stories he'd grow up with. As a disabled person, I've seen the same tropes recycled — pity case, inspiration, disability as a superpower, magical cures," Taria & Como creator Kip Henderson said in a statement. "Disability is complex, and we're more than the inspirational fodder for able-bodied people. Taria & Como is the story I wish I had growing up." In addition to the Playdate Season Two details, Panic revealed a new cover for the console to go alongside the purple, blue and pizza ones. This one is yellow to match the hardware and it costs $34. The price of the console itself recently jumped up to $229, but you might be able to snag an official refurbished model for the system's original price of $179.
