I dared say I enjoyed being angered by a game. The Playdate gods must’ve heard me. Week four of Season Two landed with notone, buttwotrials-bitter for one’s sanity. First was CatchaDiablos: a roguelike fiend that pitched movement as a crank-propelled carousel of chaos. Good concept? Absolutely. Annoying to the max? You bet. And then, just with a sly grin, Shadowgate PD comes crashing down-the Playdate-patched revival of the point-and-click classic-that flings puzzles straight into your face and death traps down at every pixelated corner. I think my love for frustration just might down me.
If they were storms, one would swarm about with fire. This week, it has been gladiatorial. The great iron hands are tearing apart the jungle of game development, with two savage beasts fighting for my thumbs. Purely, unmitigated joy? Sure. Existential dread? You bet. From time to time, a new update of Blippo+ mocks me at the sidelines; a digital oasis that I can almost taste. Soon,verysoon, I will gladly trade myl blood, sweat, and tears for some blissful brain-meltage in its gloriously weird world. This is the hope I cling to.
CatchaDiablos
Amano
Amano’s back at it! This mad genius seems to fancy anything that’s a bit out of the box in the field of locomotion. Remember Pullfrog Deluxe, that tongue-in-cheek Tetris twist where you were a frog hurling blocks? Amano has surpassed himself. In CatchaDiablos, you are a cosmic demon herder stranded on a bare, desolate moon, assigned to wrangle some mischievous “Diablos”. How very witchy: chalk circles! But here’s the thing: that chalk circle is not just a means to trap; in fact, it is your wrapped-limited form of ambling.
Throw any notion of handholding out of the window; CatchaDiablos really does thrust you headlong into a chaotic fiesta of little devils. A blink-and-you-miss-it tutorial introduces the idea of arced journeys with a fixed reach. Once done, good luck.
Weapons-on-will: chalk and a broad grin. With a crank flick, throw down your circular snare. Prey encircled? Hold ‘A’ and revel in the chalk-dust dance through the air. Complete capture relies on the chalk loop securing those dastardly treats. Want to reposition? Chalk will freeze half-way in its majestic flow, permitting you to retreat and re-angle like a true cunning devil. Every inch of chalk is accounted in this demonic rodeo of high stakes.
Picture this meticulously formed scene: A lone warrior desperately cranks some weird instrument. A nightmare swarm of Diablos threatens to swarm, each one-if even an inch-was scorching with brand. But these guys aren’t any more common than your run-of-the-mill demons. Some spit fire to turn the arena to a bullet hell. The horde grows by multiplying in the never-ending suffocating circles of horns and rage. Panic grips you. Half-baked strategies become your only weapon with a nerve-wracking dance of dodging and cranking-none can call them full-fledged strategies anyway. Then, as three glowing eyes ominously flare above, the true terror comes-a lanky, towering boss. One mistake, one glancing hit by a Diablo, and it’s over. No continues; no second chance; it’s the stark, cold reality of permadeath. Back to square one, warrior. Can you tame the chaos?
I’ll put it out plainly: I’m hopelessly hooked.CatchaDiablosremains firmly gripping my hand. The crank, that weird little appendage, is used for fun, sometimes unexpected, forms of chaos. At the same time, though, and in all its charm, a harsh truth is that this game is kicking my ass real bad. But then there is some hope inCatchaDiablos. Monster-catching is well and truly functional here, providing a gratifying power-up system. As you trap fiends under your grasp, a gauge charges up to grant you immensely useful perks. These perks can coalesce from shimmering discs as if by divine intervention, allowing for larger chalk circles so that pinning down targets would be easier, ultra-quick speed boosts, or clutch healing.
Roguelikes do not appease everybody, but grabbing the bug of procedural construction, this gem for Playdate is a must-try. And, here comes a nice twist: a “Diablory” Bestiary that one can access right from the title screen. Maybe think of it as a fully illustrated field guide to every beastie you have valiantly (or idiotically) encountered. Trust me; after a few runs, perusing this collection of creature curiosities will be a reward in itself.
Shadowgate PD
Pixel Ghost
“Looks like you’re wasting your time.” It hardly sounded like a greeting but a personal insult. Being trapped in the first room felt like being a digital Sisyphus, perpetually forced to click on every object with so little hope of advancement. Players who remember the trials of the after-1987 classic incarnation probably would have set their minds for whatever was to come. Me? I was an ignorant hopeful, unprepared for the harsh welcome. My first run was so catastrophically bad and utterly demoralizing that I committed the cardinal sin of gaming: I looked up some walkthrough online.
Okay.
Limping away from Shadowgate’s towering ramparts, battered are my pride more than my pixelated adventurer. I conquered, yes, but with an assist here and there. Both with and without help, let me tell you: Shadowgate for Playdate is pure, just-bite-sized genius. Now, picture this: a giant castle, with each room that contains a fiendish puzzle. A player scavenges for keys, collects weird artifacts, fights beasts, all the while trying really hard NOT to be supper for monsters. This is not a game; it’s more of a masterclass in “try, die, try again.” The whole game commands determination, which Shadowgate puts to good use in awarding a special kind of rewarding, retro satisfaction.
All in all, death can be anything in the world! Half the joke is in cataloging my many demises. There’s the run-of-the-mill kind-a-sudden scream-esque end-of-the-fall-when-the-floor-gives-away kind of death, or the good old crispy kind of death-by-extermination-fire from a sleeping giant. Then there are those ridiculous-gone-awry fails, where I literally face-plant into the abyss, just tripping over my own two feet (torch discipline is KEY, people!). Well, death is but a small hiccup, bringing me back to the very room in which I breathed my dying breath, lessening the potential for a rage quit. Not forgetting the murderously picturesque visuals and the atmospheric soundtrack: this is more than just a game; it’s an entirely immersive experience.
Thanks for reading Playdate Season 2 review: Shadowgate PD and CatchaDiablos
