A List of Playdate Game Recommendations
My personal opinion is that Playdate has a lot of games that are cool because they're on interesting hardware, but wouldn't be that fun when compared to games on other platforms. The games listed here aren't just good for a playdate game; they can stand against games on any mainstream platform! All games are very well polished and all are available on Catalog on the system, except for the ones with links which can be sideloaded for free.
- Root Bear - My favorite Playdate game! It's dead simple to start playing and has a high skill ceiling. It's the perfect game to introduce the Playdate to someone new and it's super fun.
- Tiny Turnip (S2) - The entirety of S2 is worth the price, but if you want to go piecemeal, Tiny Turnip is my favorite from the collection. It's a mini metroidvania with super satisfying controls and progression. The gamefeel is just extremely on point.
- Fulcrum Defender (S2) - From the creator of FTL, it's a score chaser similar to Vampire Survivors with great upgrades and a simple, readable art style. Fun to pick up and play in short bursts, but I often find myself going for one more run!
- Spilled Mushrooms - A puzzle game/deckbuilder with lots of content and polished presentation. Really tricky puzzles sometimes that make for satisfying aha moments. I find the Playdate to be a great puzzle game machine as it lends itself to quick sessions, portability, and playing outdoors.
- Diora - Graphically impressive 3D sokoban puzzler in the vein of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Mainly I enjoy this for the visual splendor it provides, but the puzzles and sound design hold their own!
- Bloom - A real-time light gardening sim that's mainly focused on experiencing a story through reading text messages. It's a fun little thing to check in on daily to see the next part of the story and tend to your garden/flower shop.
- Sketch Share Solve - A satisfying picross/nonogram puzzler with a TON of levels. This game with its clear controls and satisfying progression fits the bill well for that aforementioned quick outdoor puzzle game.
- Dig Dig Dino (S2) - Dalton likes this game. It's a chill-out game with no time pressure; you just dig away at dinosaur bones and upgrade your tools to dig more bones. There's also a fun subtle narrative!
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Honorable Mentions
- Office Chair Curling - Beautiful graphics, funny premise, Steam crossplay.
- Under the Castle - Fun little dungeon crawler
- A Fool's Errand - I'm a sucker for the resplendent graphics
- Mars After Midnight - Created by Lucas Pope, the creator of Papers Please and Return of the Obra Dinn. It's a funny game that seems a little more geared towards a younger audience but it's still fun and has nice art.
- tocc - A great simple timer
- Focus - A pomodoro timer if that's more your thing.
- Productivity Rabbit - A time tracker, useful for tracking time spent on projects or trying to stay focused.
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