Posted in: Games, Playdate, Video Games | Tagged: Panic Inc., PlayDate

Playdate Announces Several New Games Launching In Its Shop

Check out all of the new games coming to Playdate as the devs have launched an in-console shop for all of your needs.

Panic Inc. announced several new titles on the way for Playdate in 2023, as they have launched the handheld unit's in-console shop. The company showed off over a dozen games that were either newly announced or on the way for you to play on the yellow handheld device, most of which will be a part of the latest season of content. On top of that, Playdate's curated store, Catalog, has officially launched with multiple titles for you to snagm, 11 of them launching today, with two of them being free to all Playdate owners as an extra bonus for Playdate Season One. The news also came with a price increase as the console will jump from $180 to $200 starting on April 7th. You can read more about all the games below.

Reel Steal

Reel Steal is a heist game where a mysterious figure hires thieves to reclaim loot & justice. As renegades, nab appropriated art from evil billionaires, hurriedly making calling cards to leave in their place. The hook? You're armed only with a fishing pole.

Recommendation Dog!!

Recommendation Dog!! is an adorable action-puzzle game about being a tiny dog with a very big job. You work at a temp agency, cranking through names in your rotary organizer to fulfill the wacky, lovely, and strange requests of the people who come through your door. Connect the right people with the places that need them, make fast-paced choices, and get the high score you deserve! Good boy. This is Recommendation Dog – and you are a very good boy indeed.

Carve Jr.

Hit the slopes like never before in the all new Carve Jr.! This pint sized prequel packs a punch! Use the crank to perform pinpoint accurate, death defying, nonstop gnar action. Chain tricks together to fight your way up the leaderboard and prove your salt. Just don't let those pesky trees, rocks, and narc skiers be a buzzkill!

Direct Drive

Direct Drive is a silent-movie-musical game about being an intern in the music industry in 1927. The game has: Four chapters, Four singers, Mini-games, Twelve 1.5 minute long songs, Flow modes, Music player, Mysterious extra stuff, and Future updates.

Playmaker

Paint, compose, build, record, and dance your way across six playful creative spaces for your Playdate. Turn your Playdate into a synthesizer-backed music box with 15 fantastical instruments. Then turn the crank to perform your masterpiece for family and friends. Relax while painting with 15 unique and playful crankable tools. Color with a 1-bit rainbow of shades and patterns, or create your own with stamps. Snap together a story with 30 built-in block shapes, or design your own stamp blocks. Use shades and patterns to texturize your worlds. Pixelate your ideas and use them across your drawings, stories, faces, and more. Grab sound with your Playdate's microphone, then bend and twist it with AudioBot and its eight sound effects like pitch, echo, crush, and more. Dance – Adjust the stage lighting, set a backdrop, pick an outfit, and… a face?? Then crank your way across the dance floor and into our hearts.

Skew – A The Last Worker Spinoff

The world's 1st real-time 3D endless spinner, developed exclusively for Playdate by Frédérick Raynal (Alone in the Dark, Little Big Adventure, Toy Commander). Race the single-propeller CoBot (voiced by Jason Isaacs) through endless randomly generated levels. Each run is unique. Controls: Crank the propeller – clockwise to go up, counter-clockwise to go down – Tilt your Playdate to steer. Switch to Crank and/or Button controls on the fly.

Swap Machina

Help PD, the robot supervisor, defrag the mainframe before it's too late in this fast-paced puzzle game made in the Pulp game engine. Inspired by classic 90's block-based action puzzlers Panel de Pon and Tetris Attack, arcade game fans are sure to enjoy Swap Machina. You can compete with your friends' high scores online and locally using the leaderboard feature. There are separate leaderboards for "Normal" and "Mayhem" difficulties. Veterans of the genre will surely be keen to test their mettle on Mayhem mode. Special blocks will help you clear the screen in a pinch — if you're cunning with how you use them. Take too long, however, and you'll find yourself mired in an electric mess!

Grand Tour Legends

Grand Tour Legends is a crank-operated arcade racing game. Spin those pedals and battle 19 other riders across the tour. Experience the thrill of hurtling down the alpine countryside after an exhausting climb. Feel the ocean breeze as you sweep along the coastline. Work out the perfect strategy on each track, save energy to crank it when you need it!

The Botanist

Follow the Botanist as they travel through space, searching planets for the rare plants needed to solve the food shortage back home. This interactive sci-fi adventure comic is a linear story that takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

Hidey Spot

There are presents hidden around the house. Who can wait for Christmas morning to open them all? Sneak around in the middle of the night and find the goodies before your family wakes up. And who knows—maybe it'll turn out there's something else for you to discover in the home you thought you knew so well… Hidey Spot is a spoopy little adventure every kid will relate to. Short, sweet, and just a little challenging, this game was made in Pulp!

Word Trip

Word Trip is a light-action word-building game with three levels of difficulty, daily challenges, and a stress-free free-play mode. Includes online leaderboards! The goal of the game is to get from the top word to the bottom one by making new four-letter words. The goal of the game is to get from the top word to the bottom one by making new four-letter words. Sometimes you can't reach the bottom word. Press 🅑 + 🅐 to make a pitstop and refuel. Then set off again from a new word. Earn extra pitstops for the third, fifth, and thereafter, for every eighth word you reach. The harder the difficulty, the fewer the pitstops you can hold at once (and the faster you burn through fuel). Enjoy your trip!

A Joke That's Worth .99¢

A tiny person with a bouncy butt tells a very long joke. Control the crank of the Playdate to not make him fall. This game contains 2 jokes: One very long joke that is worth 99 cents, and one very short joke that is worth 1 cent.

Bloom

Bloom is a real-time narrative-driven social sim about starting up a flower shop made exclusively for Playdate. Tend to Midori's garden while texting friends and family as she starts a new chapter of her life. The game takes place over many real-life days. Respond to texts and tend to your garden in real-time. Check in over the course of many real-world days to see Midori's story unfold. Experience a changing environment including a day/night and weather system. Go for high scores in the arcade-style minigame and acquire daily collectibles. Enjoy a relaxing lofi-inspired soundtrack as you play. Bloom v1.1 will be launching as a free update on Catalog and Itch.io. It features new post-game story content, including new characters, collectibles, and more. Players can also now change their phone wallpaper and receive new ones as they progress.
You can now also enter Chill Mode from the system menu while in-game, allowing you to listen to the Bloom original soundtrack at any time. Players can experience all this with their pre-existing save files, and new players will see the bulk of it after they near the end of the main game. (If you purchased Bloom on Itch, download the latest version from Itch to play the new content.

Eyeland

After the mysterious loss of your only way to leave home, you find yourself confronted with a transformed world. One thing leads to the next as you make your way through this beautiful little adventure. Have fun, that's all you need to know — but if you'd like a little more context, consider this: sometimes it isn't until you lose something that you realize what it meant to you.

Tapeworm Disco Puzzle

Tapeworm Disco Puzzle is a grid-based puzzle game where you play as a tapeworm; the local night club owner. It's your job to make sure the fleas enjoy themselves. You'll be helping them collect blood, play bangin' tunes and get them to gigs on time. Each level has an objective and obstacles like: -Avoid enemies -Don't kill the fleas -Collect all the notes -Help the fleas collect the blood -Open Doors witch switches -Help Fleada get to the gig on time (Fleada is a catwalk model)

Down The Oubliette

Down the Oubliette is a dungeon crawler for people who like tower defense games. Take on the ghost infestation below an abandoned country house. Play through four randomized levels to get rid of all the ghosts. Use four different towers: beacon, coil, fan, and torch. Configure the game to play with one hand. Replay a floor as often as you need to. There's no permadeath. Use ghost energy to build and upgrade towers but manage your resources well to not get stuck.

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