The Playdate is an adorable little handheld with a unique and satisfying lineup of games.
Next to the analog clock on the screen was a small text box confirming that new games were available.
That’s how I started viewing the games delivered to my Playdate each day: as little surprise treats.
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But it’s also a whole lot more than a convenient time waster.
It weighs just 86 grams–less than 0.2 pounds.
A 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the bottom of the gear next to the USB-C charging port.
You could think of the crank as the Playdate’s analog stick.
Playdate games rely on the crank to varying degrees.
You simply lift it up into place and you’re good to go.
It’s a seamless transition from play mode to storage mode and vice versa.
There are a couple of things that take getting used to, though.
Most often, this meant holding the Playdate at a slight upward angle.
It was always a comfortable viewing angle, though.
Since the crank is on the right-hand side of the handheld, left-handed players might have some issues.
The inverted display setting isn’t the only alternative control scheme for Playdate.
Support for conventional controllers and keyboards will undoubtedly make the Playdate more accessible for a wider swath of users.
The picture took up almost all of my 14-inch MacBook display without losing its sharpness.
Mirror can also be used for streamers on sites like Twitch.
It’s still early days for Mirror, though.
These issues significantly affected playability in some cases.
I also dealt with some intermittent issues with the app recognizing my controller.
Sometimes I had to unpair it, restart the app, and then take another crack.
The Playdate best captures the pick-up-and-play mentality.
When sitting idle in sleep mode, the Playdate barely drains any battery.
Panic says that the Playdate can remain in standby for 14 days between charges.
Playdate’s UI is tidy and easy to use.
The clean home menu houses all of your games as cute little tiles.
Load times are brief, with most games booting within a few seconds.
Even with all 24 Season 1 games installed, my Playdate still had 3.7GB left.
There’s even a top-down Zelda-like.
Game length and replay value varies considerably across the collection.
Games with linear progression auto-save frequently, so they are good for both short spurts and longer play sessions.
The library is a collection of games that feel joyous and playful.
The Playdate is a quirky machine filled with off-kilter and extraordinarily clever games.
Those instances–the wow moments–are what makes the Playdate feel like magic at times.
A secret little world of offbeat 1-bit games that you might’t play anywhere else.
Whitewater Wipeout feels more like a tech demo for the crank.
It has a learning curve, as the crank controls feel touchy at first.
There’s not much to this one, so it becomes repetitive rather quickly.
Casual Birder:A top-down adventure game set in a town where birdwatching is what cool people do.
You use the crank to focus your camera.
With funny writing and a charming world, Casual Birder is a fun little adventure.
Day 2
Crankin' Presents Time Travel Adventures:Controlled entirely with the crank.
You play as a wind-up toy person with three ovals for a body.
It makes clever use of the crank to contort your body and avoid obstacles.
It took me about 1.5-2 hours to complete this adventure.
Boogie Loops:This isn’t a game.
It’s a loop station to make music to dance to.
The UI is very tiny and hurts my eyes.
Day 3
Flipper Lifter:The first game in the season that hooked me for hours.
This Lemmings-esque game revolves around delivering penguins to the right floor of a building.
You control the elevator with the crank.
Once you pick up a penguin, they become impatient, so you have to be efficient.
It’s a simple concept that evokes the “one more try” mentality splendidly.
Echoic Memory:A match-the-music game.
You play as an inspector at a factory for robot radios that need to be calibrated.
The crank is used to dial in the music to match to the sample track.
It’s a neat use of both the crank and sound as mechanics working in tandem.
Plus, there’s an overarching and well-written story that involves a troubling but funny AI.
Their latest invention makes all your decisions for you.
Humorous writing, but the central gameplay is kind of frustrating.
You guide a marble with the crank through rudimentary mazes to “choose” responses to dialogue.
It gets chaotic and disorienting, because the crank twists and turns the screen.
It gave me a headache.
Pick Pack Pup:Lovely grid-based puzzle game about matching groups of three or more of the same objects.
Each match automatically boxes the items, and therefore blocks off part of the grid.
Strategy is required to pack as many boxes as possible before loading them onto the truck.
Day 5
Hyper Meteor:Retro space shooter where you run into meteors to destroy them.
It uses crank controls to steer the ship.
It’s also a one-dimensional experience that feels familiar.
Zipper:A really cool turn-based puzzle game that reminds me of Superhot.
It has one-hit kills, and each move takes a point off of an hourglass.
You have 249 moves total, but I haven’t come close to exhausting those.
It’s quite challenging, but nothing is left to chance here.
Your dialogue choices matter, too.
DemonQuest 85 is a game of deduction with superb writing and a compelling loop that advances the intriguing story.
I spent a few hours summoning demons.
Omaze:Omaze is about eyes.
You maneuver a pupil through a series of eyes, using the crank to manipulate obstacles and avoid threats.
It makes great use of the crank and is a clever puzzle-platformer.
Day 7
Executive Golf DX:Side-scrolling golf going up and/or down a skyscraper.
It plays like many three-click swing mobile golf games such as the Stickman golf series.
It’s pretty tough to get a handle on distances and the environments are cluttered with obstacles.
As an avid golfer and golf game enthusiast, I like games that encourage you to replay courses.
After “climbing” a few floors, though, I was ready to move on.
Questy Chess:It’s aptly described as a “role-playing chess simulator.”
You play as a pawn, traversing levels in search of the exits.
Chess rules apply on each turn.
Day 8
Star Sled:Another arcade spacecraft game, also controlled with the crank.
Here, you have to make circles around sparks in the sky.
This often makes it difficult to manage with crank controls.
It’s a side-scrolling narrative adventure in which you piece together in overarching mystery.
It’s a riveting ride that lasts a couple hours.
Day 9
Snak:Snak nods back to the classic game Snake.
Your goal is to eat as many apples as possible.
Snak gets challenging pretty quickly, and there are multiple difficulty levels that make it absolute chaos.
It’s a decent time-waster, but there’s not much to it overall.
Sasquatchers:A resource management and strategy game about searching for and photographing sasquatches.
It, of course, makes me think of Finding Bigfoot, the reality show starring earnest Bigfoot believers.
Sasquatchers has humorous writing and a fun loop.
Day 10
Inventory Hero:One of the most interesting games I’ve played this year.
It’s a fast-paced resource management game that solely focuses on inventory management.
It doesn’t sound super cool, but it’s unironically brilliant.
Inventory slots gradually fill up with weapons, food, gear, and useless junk.
You have to manage all of this as the hero runs through levels and fights monsters.
It’s all about quick wits, thinking ahead, and constantly surveying the hero’s build.
It rapidly doles out satisfying rewards and upgrades.
The visuals and animations are great, and the UI is clean and easy to use.
Inventory Hero is an outside-the-box adventure that I adore.
Orders are received via eMeow and customer reviews are left on Welp.
As orders come in, you combine the ingredients and use the crank to mix and prepare them.
It’s a leisurely game with smart and funny writing.
Day 11
Battleship Godios:Shoot-‘em-up combined with Breakout.
You “rewind” with the crank when you lose a life.
It also has Galaga callbacks with ships that come off of the fleets.
Forrest Byrnes is Up in Smoke:Platformer with randomized levels.
You’re a park ranger carrying a shovel, and there’s a fire engulfing the forest.
Your goal is to rescue people, grab collectibles, and escape before the flames catch you.
It feels awkward and unresponsive at times, and the levels start to blur together rather quickly.
Day 12
b360:Breakout but with a 360-degree plane.
The paddle is controlled with either the crank or the D-pad.
Each level has a different brick layout.
The crank controls work really well here.
It’s a really cool way to play the classic game in a refreshed form.
Ratcheteer:A top-down action-adventure reminiscent of classic Zelda games.
Ratcheteer has traditional Zelda progression, including hidden heart pieces to find and the tried-and-true dungeon setup.
Dungeons have locked doors, a new gadget to secure, and bosses to tackle.
There’s already a wealth of documentation and tutorials for making games on the Playdate website.
Pulp even has its own scripting language called Pulpscript.
Then it appears on your home screen with a tile of its own.
But first you have to unwrap it, just like the official Season 1 games.
The open nature of the Playdate further fuels its potential.
And maybe you will be the one to create those adventures.
The bottom line
As a piece of gaming hardware, the Playdate certainly punches above its weight.
Playdate is available to preorder directly from Panic for $179.
Playdate preorders opened last summer, and every 2022 unit is spoken for already.
If you order now, Panic estimates a 2023 delivery window.
Steven spent dozens of hours with the Playdate over the last few weeks.
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