PlayDate Season 2: A First Look
- Antal Bokor
- Jun 12
- 4 min read
Okay, I know by the time this goes live week two games are available for Playdate Season 2 – and maybe even week three games. But if, like me, you’re just getting into Season 2, I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m going to stick to talking about Fulcrum Defender, Dig Dig Dino!, and Blippo Plus.
I can’t believe the PlayDate is already three years old, but here we are. It’s about time we got a Season 2! And there’s been a lot of stuff that happened since I last checked in on the PlayDate. For one, the dock was canceled, so that’s a bit of a bummer. But there’s also been a whole bunch of cool games that have been released on the PlayDate catalog that I’ve been checking out. And while I want to talk about that more at another time, we’re here to take a look at PlayDate Season 2.
The first game I’m going to talk about is Dig Dig Dino. It’s a cute little game all about digging. You and a team of anthropomorphized paleontologists are working to uncover the world’s underground secrets. At first, you’re limited by your tools and how much energy you have, but as you collect more underground treasures, you’ll get more money, which you can exchange for upgrades to your various tools.
Your shovel digs through dirt, while your drill takes out rocks and crystals. There are a few other tools, like radar to let you know if there’s stuff under the dirt, and even a dog that helps you find bones. You’re not timed, but you’re limited in how much you can dig by how much energy you have. Once all of that is expended, you collect anything left sitting around and tally up your total. You then use that money to buy upgrades, dig, and repeat.
Not only is there a satisfying game loop for Dig Dig Dino, there’s also a mystery beneath its surface. You’ll uncover more as you literally piece together clues from artifacts and bones you collect. It’s a fun, casual, no pressure game that is satisfying to play.
Fulcrum Defender, on the other hand, is high pressure from moment one. Made by the developers behind FTL: Faster Than Light and Into the Breach, Fulcrum has a fantastic pedigree, even if it doesn’t match elements from those other games. Instead, Fulcrum Defender is a type of 360 degree defensive shooter. I don’t really want to call it tower defense, since you’re in control of the only tower, and the enemies can come from all directions.
You use the crank to aim and the D-Pad up to fire. Bullets have a travel time, and you only have so many shots before you overheat, so you have to time your shots wisely. As you play, you’re given the ability to choose between different power-ups. Some of these upgrade your main gun, while others give you new weapons. If you are lucky and combine the right weapons, you can create a pretty unstoppable synergy.
I actually found Fulcrum Defender to be easier than I expected. On medium difficulty I never actually failed a run before the “You Win” screen. Of course, after you “win” the game doesn’t stop. It continues on to see how high a score you can achieve.I think that’s where the real difficulty lies, and there is some potential for some great high score moments. Bummer, though, that I’ve had a few PlayDate crashes in these later levels, especially when my weapons and abilities add a bunch of chaos to the increasingly busy screen. And when the PlayDate doesn’t crash, it sometimes chugs under the strain of Fulcrum Defender’s drain on its resources.
Fulcrum Defender is a great “one more round” type game, and I lost hours trying to beat my high scores.
And finally there’s Blippo+. Inspired by broadcast television and all of the non sequiturs and just plain weirdness that come with channel surfing. I have to say: Blippo + hits me in the nostalgia feels pretty damn hard. I’ve even watched TV on my Game Gear back in the day with the TV tuner add-on, so I have hard nostalgia for handheld console tv viewing–as weirdly specific as that might be.
And despite it being “broadcast” as “1-bit” television, it’s surprisingly watchable and even looks pretty good on the PlayDate screen. It’s unfortunately hard to translate to larger screens.
Blippo+ has an entire 11 week broadcast schedule, so you can expect some fresh programming for the next few weeks. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Blippo+ after they run through their broadcast schedule, but it would be great to see it stick around in some form or another. Even if the content is extremely strange. It all feels very public access, and I think that’s the feel that Panic was going for, and they’re obviously pulling it off.
In fact, it was just announced at the PC Gaming Show that Blippo+ will be going color and coming to PC and Nintendo Switch!
Each week during Playdate Season 2 you will get two more games until you get them all. And there are definitely some games coming up that i”m excited for, like Shadowgate PD and Taria & Como.
Comments