Dig! Dig! Dug!’s home base interface.
Last year I happened to notice a stranger playing with a Playdate. As I keep my finger on the pulse of technology, I had heard about the Playdate before. But seeing this woman grin as she played some game on the little console had me reconsidering my decision not to buy one over its lack of a backlight. I bought one, and a few weeks later, and I was hooked. In many ways, the Playdate brings out the best of gaming. From creative ideas, unique games, stories, and more, the Playdate never felt like any other console. It felt like something that was everyone’s passion project. People loved making assorted games and apps, and the console had a novelty that made virtually everyone who bought one fall in love. I started my review with the same message I ended it with: just buy it.
When the Playdate first launched, it came with 24 free games, delivered two-per-week for 12 weeks… unless you got impatient and downloaded them all at once. The console also has a catalog of games and apps, and users can sideload games from other services, like Itch.io. Many games are just a few bucks, and some, despite costing me less than $5, have given me hours of fun. Now Panic has a new set of games for the Playdate, made by a variety of developers. Today, the first two games launched. Over the next 6 weeks, we’ll get 10 more games for a total of 12 (or more?) games for $39. That’s around $3.25 per game, and you’ll likely spend many hours in each of them.
That wasn’t all. A third app, Blippo+, downloaded today as well, and it’s a weird one. The other two games include Dig! Dig! Dino, a charming paleontology game, and Fulcrum Defender, an arcade game that combines strategy and skill. Today I took a quick look at these, and I’m glad I jumped in on the new season so early.
Dig! Dig! Dino!
Dig! Dig! Dino! will feel both unique and familiar. You’re an intern working for an archeology team, looking to dig up dinosaur bones and various artifacts to figure out what happened to the dinosaurs millions of years ago. The music, characters, and sound effects are all charming.
You play as a thankless intern, digging up bones, treasures, and trash. You’ll find things of value, which you can use to upgrade your tools. A lot of games have this kind of upgrade mechanic, enabling you to explore more as you progress. As you find more dinosaur bones and artifacts, a strange mystery will begin to emerge. What actually happened to the dinosaurs? Maybe it’s not so clear.
The main story of the game will take only around 4-6 hours to complete, according to the developer. I haven’t yet completed it, but I did find myself getting a bit sucked in. It’s easy to see each goal and work your way up to it, either finding new tools or bringing on new help. I look forward to figuring out what really happened to the dinosaurs all those millions of years ago.
Fulcrum Defender
Fulcrum Defender is an arcade title that reminds me of a cross between Orbo and Laser Sphere, with a bit of the survivor genre thrown in there, like Core Fault or Vampire Survivors. If you’ve played any of those, you may already excitedly have downloaded it.
In Fulcrum Defender, you defend yourself in the center of the screen, firing a limited number of bullets at a seemingly endless number of enemies. After defeating so many, you get to choose one of two upgrades. Your play style could change with each round, and your success will depend on both skill and strategy. I was quite good at Orbo, and found myself blowing past the 10 minute mark in Normal mode on my second try. However, hard mode has been a much greater challenge. I’ve been struggling to make it to the 5 minute mark. If you’re new to this style of game, the normal or easy mode may be a good introduction for you. If you’re more experienced, hard mode will offer you a challenge that will have you mixing up your play style quickly.
Blippo+
I’ve struggled with sleep all my life. I often spend large portions of every night, awake and desperately trying to quiet my brain enough to sleep. When I was a teenager, I finally had my own TV in my bedroom, and even a cable hookup too! I’d sometimes turn my TV on late at night and watch the often dreamy, weird, or artistic shows from the likes of Adult Swim, Toonami, and others. Adult Swim still puts out the occasional weird one-off short video. These kind of felt like they were “out there,” coming from the same place strange and memorable dreams are made in. Always unexpected, yet somehow oddly relaxing.
All this to mention the new TV service from Panic, available on the Playdate. Blippo+ was a free download that also came out today. You can get a preview of what to expect in the reveal trailer. It’s a collection of TV channels you can flip through for little mini episodes of shows. These seem to be hosted online, with other episodes coming in over time. Episodes are odd, and remind me of those late nights, laying in bed, watching the TV guide channel scroll by as I try to find something worth watching at 4am. Many of the episodes seem to make a reference to a larger in-universe story, something happening in space that’s on everyone’s minds… right before they’re cut off.
When I first saw it, I wasn’t sure if it would be anything worth watching. But I quickly found myself watching every episode from every station. I even stared into the Celestial Snow and Dancing Dots shows, just to see if there were answers in the static. Maybe if I had stared longer it all would have become clear.
Blippo+ is weird, it’s trippy, it’s nostalgic, and I kind of love it. It’s not a game, but it’s weird, and fun, and exactly the kind of thing you’d only find on the Playdate.
And More!
You can get a little preview of the other games coming to Season Two from Playdate’s announcement video. I won’t spoil all of them now, if you’d rather be surprised. I love getting that feeling of getting new games every week and eagerly awaiting each new title. I’d often spend hours with each game every week, sometimes so much that by the time the next games are out, I don’t feel like I’ve finished the previous week’s games yet!
I can’t wait to play these titles as they roll out. I’ve been distracted with a pretty major new game of late, along with so many of my other hobbies, but it’s lovely to get a little reminder that the Playdate is still special. It’s a pocket-sized gaming console made to bring unique joy, and I just love that about it. You can buy Season 2 from your Playdate in the catalog, or online. If you don’t have a Playdate yet, now’s the best time to order! The console is, as usual, backlogged. It’s incredibly popular! However, order now to get it as soon as possible, about 2-4 weeks, depending on where you are. At $229, it might seem like a lot for such a simple console, but play with one, and you’ll quickly realize it’s worth the price.