If your Playdate wishlist is anything like mine (endless), here’s a good excuse to actually go ahead and free some of those games from limbo: Panic is running a two-week-long sale on the Playdate Catalog to celebrate its three-year anniversary. Sure, the majority of Playdate games are pretty cheap as is, but they can still add up when you’re on a wild purchasing spree. Ask me how I know! The sale will be running from March 5 until March 19 at 1PM ET (10AM PT), so take advantage of the discounts while you can.
There are 423 games available in the Catalog now, according to Panic, so if you’re having trouble deciding on which you should go for, I’ve got you covered with a few recommendations right here.
Season Two
If $39 felt like too much to drop on Season Two when it came out last summer, now’s the time to get it. Playdate’s second season had only half the number of games as its first, but it still felt like a much stronger collection. Each of its 12 games is really solid, and there’s plenty of variety in terms of genre and style, from puzzles and hours-long adventures to fast-paced action games that are great for bursts of intense play. And, it comes with Blippo+ — an oddball cable TV simulator that’s unlike anything out there right now.
All of these games are worth playing, but there were definitely some standouts from the bunch: The Whiteout, a post-apocalyptic adventure that’ll surely hit even harder now considering the winter we’ve had; the puzzle platformer Taria & Como; the arcade action game Fulcrum Defender; the climbing adventure, Tiny Turnip. I also really enjoyed Dig! Dig! Dino! for something on the chiller side.
Outside Parties
I have not been able to shut up about this game since it came out. It’s unique, it’s creepy, it’s completely engrossing and it really pushes the limits of what the Playdate can do. Outside Parties is a horror scavenger hunt, presenting you with one massive picture to scrutinize and find hidden scenes within, using the crank to adjust the brightness constantly so you can find anything that may be buried in shadow. As you find these targets, more and more of the game’s story comes to light through eerie audio clips. It is such a cool experience and the atmosphere of it all is incredible. You’ll get many hours of playtime out of this one too, with over 150 targets to find and lots of lore to uncover.
Castle Kellmore
Castle Kellmore absolutely rules. This first-person action game puts you in a series of mazes where you have to fight off floating-head-style monsters as you hunt around for keys and try to find the doors and portals to your escape. There are sixteen levels, and upon finishing each one you’ll get a little summary of how long it took you to complete that area and what percentage of the level’s enemies you killed. I also really get a kick out of the sounds in this game. The enemies slurp and squelch, and your character will let out a hilariously passionless, “Ah” or “Ooeuugh” after picking up a health boost or getting injured. Great for fans of dungeons!
Crankstone
A full-blown western for the Playdate! Crankstone is a gallery shooter with minigames mixed throughout, and between the aesthetic, the music and the activities, it’s a lot of fun. You can choose the story mode to get right into the shooting and defending the town from outlaws, or head to the saloon to pick from the handful of mini games individually, including some fast-paced “spot the correct card” deck shuffling games and a few mimicry games involving the crank. It’s like a wild west theme park crammed into the Playdate, which is to say, it’s wonderful.
A Fool’s Errand
I saw the description of this game — “Is it bravery or folly that calls young Roland to scale the winding heights of the Dark Tower?” — and had the following conversation with myself: “Dark Tower reference!?”; “No, no, chill, it’s just the poem”; “Hmm, this looks kind of cool, I guess I’ll get it anyway.” And I’m glad I did, because it’s pretty neat! By neat, I mean mildly infuriating and bound to trap you in a “just one more try” loop.
To play A Fool’s Errand, you have to flip your Playdate onto its side so the screen is vertical, which takes some getting used to. Then, you use the crank to guide Roland up the spiral staircase of the tower. There are all sorts of hazards though, and you have to constantly be on the lookout for things like flying bats, bouncing barrels and spikes jutting out of the walls, cranking faster to speed up a little or backward to get out of the way. It’s scored by how many steps you make it before you get taken out by something. As you progress through new levels, new lines of the poem will be revealed on the scroll that you can find on the title screen, presumably until you’ve uncovered the whole thing.
Bona Fido
This one is super simple, but I’ve been finding myself coming back to it a lot lately when I’m feeling antsy and just want to play something but I can’t decide on what. Bona Fido is a single screen platformer in which you play as a skeleton dog barking at enemies like crabs and turtles in fancy little hats. That’s it. Bark at enemies to obliterate them and rack up points, get boosts by digging up sprouts, and try not to die. Or… re-die, since you’re playing as an already dead dog in the afterlife. It’s super cute and more challenging than you might expect.
Other games to try
These are just the games I’ve been enjoying lately, but there are tons of other Playdate games worth checking out during the sale, like these cheese games. And if you need even more recommendations, take a look through our list of the best Playdate games, where you’ll find gems like Echo: The Oracle’s Scroll and Summit. There are quite a few I’m planning to finally spring from my wishlist too, including The Shape That Waits, Xeno Escape and Loona Landa.
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