I've enjoyed my time with the Playdate up until now, but while there are games I would say I enjoyed, there's always been the caveat that I enjoyed them as small indie games on a monochrome display. Saturday Edition is the first Playdate game that I would say is legitimately good, even if it weren't released on the Playdate. You play as John Kornfield, a man who claims to have been abducted by aliens, returned to Earth, resumed his normal life, and is increasingly involved in a series of mysterious disappearances in his city. It's a point-and-click style game, although there's not much actual pointing or clicking. You move between several points in the city, talking to NPCs and finding items which further the story. The UI is stylish and well done, with John only moving left or right, allowing the top of the screen to be used for notifying the player of an interactable. I really enjoyed the writing, you gain access to John's inner monologue as he begrudgingly deals with the situations he finds himself in, and both he and the overall story are charming and well written. I really sympathized with his character, and it's an approach to this type of story that isn't the most common. I think that statement applies to the entire plot. There are hints as to what is really happening sprinkled throughout, but the game still managed to subvert what I initially assumed was happening, while still remaining rewarding and organic. The game is admittedly a bit slow though, there's a lot of going back and forth between areas searching for what is new, and it might not seem like there's much happening in the middle chapters, but overall this is easily my favorite Playdate game to date.
Well, I was enjoying it well enough to see where it was going, but I hit a part where I explored each destination multiple times, using every item in my inventory and must have hit some bug, but not sure what I could do to get around it. I tried restarting the system and relaunching the game, but beyond that I was struggling to finish with its plodding pace due to the presentation. Had some decent hooks that were bringing me along, and I bet the ending was pretty cool, shame it just won't let me proceed into the final segment!
A really good mystery, which succumbs to some of the issues I have with the point-and-click genre
Probably the least unique of the games on the Playdate, at least in terms of using the hardware to its fullest. However the story, though plodding at first, really ends up being worth the ride. Great sound design and atmosphere.
Tem uma história interessante, mesmo que não seja exatamente meu tipo preferido de trama, e que termina de uma forma impactante e enigmática. O problema pra mim foi o gameplay extremamente lento que tornava o processo de revisitar os locais que você pode ir ainda pior.
Wow, surprised by how much I enjoyed this game. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but right up my alley. The story was extremely compelling, I found myself pretty much unable to put this down and burned through it in only a couple of sessions.
Very cool vibes going on in here, a minimalist but effective score and lots of great sound effects. Lots of great dialogue and characters, the main character is no-nonsense in a satisfying way. Smart, but fallible for sure.
I am a big fan of point & click games generally, and this game was quite an easy ride in that sense as most of the puzzles were fairly simple. I had one minor criticism, that ultimately was wrapped up neatly by the end - it's a small spoiler so I won't elaborate.
Suffice it to say I enjoyed this game a lot!
Very cool vibes going on in here, a minimalist but effective score and lots of great sound effects. Lots of great dialogue and characters, the main character is no-nonsense in a satisfying way. Smart, but fallible for sure.
I am a big fan of point & click games generally, and this game was quite an easy ride in that sense as most of the puzzles were fairly simple. I had one minor criticism, that ultimately was wrapped up neatly by the end - it's a small spoiler so I won't elaborate.
Suffice it to say I enjoyed this game a lot!
Sometimes you don't really know how to go further in the game and the navigation is quite laborious. It has an intriguing story with cool animations and a great atmosphere, though.
Saturday Edition no es un juego particularmente original, especialmente para el entorno de Playdate, pero eso no le impide ser uno de mis preferidos. Como aventura gráfica, este juego adopta el estilo de una historia cotidiana como la de Zack McKracken para narrar una experiencia de aislamiento, paranoia e incomprensión. A lo largo de los días que componen la semana de este relato, se nos invita a habitar el espacio vital y emocional de un abducido que se sabe incomprendido por la sociedad, pero que al mismo tiempo desconfía de sus propios recuerdos. Como hacen las mejores historias (de las que no hay tantas, por desgracia) de abducciones, Saturday Edition abandona las teorías de conspiración y prefiere centrarse en las secuelas emocionales que una experiencia así podría provocar en un individuo o una sociedad. Para enfatizar este punto, el juego te invita a participar en un sencillo pero significativo juego de confianza: ¿Te fías de que la prensa vaya a ofrecer una versión de los hechos que empatice con tu experiencia personal? ¿La motivación de la policía es proteger a los ciudadanos o guardar la ilusión de un orden social inexistente? ¿Te llevas bien con tus compañeres de trabajo, o la relación que estás teniendo con la vendedora de rocas mágicas es la más significativa que has tenido en años? Todo ello se ve atemperado por un ritmo lento y pausado que casi te invita a jugar también durante la semana, guardándote de empacharte con la historia.
Saturday Edition es el tipo de juego que desearía que tuviera más reconocimiento, si no ya dentro del limitado ámbito de Playdate, cuanto menos fuera de él.
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Saturday Edition is not a particularly original game, especially for the Playdate, but that doesn't stop it from being one of my favorites. As an adventure game, it adopts the narrative of a jaded everyman like Zack McKracken's, and uses that to tell a tale of isolation, paranoia and absence. Throughout the days that make up the week, we are invited to inhabit the vital and emotional space of an abductee who feels misunderstood by society, but who is at the same time distrustful of his own memories. As the best stories of abductions (which aren't that many to being with) tend to do, Saturday Edition avoids falling into conspiracy rabbit holes and focuses on the emotional aftermath that such an experience would have on an individual or a group. To emphasize this point, the game invites you to participate in a simple but meaningful game of confidence: Do you trust the press to offer an empathetic version of the events? Does the police want to protect its citizens, or does it merely want to maintain the illusion of a social order? Do you really get along with your co-workers, or is the relationship you're having with the magic rock saleswoman more meaningful than anything you've had in years? All of this is tempered by a slow, leisurely pace that almost invites you to play during the week as well, keeping you from getting bogged down.
Saturday Edition is the kind of game I wish had more recognition, if not at the very least within the limited scope of Playdate, but also outside of it.
Saturday Edition es el tipo de juego que desearía que tuviera más reconocimiento, si no ya dentro del limitado ámbito de Playdate, cuanto menos fuera de él.
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Saturday Edition is not a particularly original game, especially for the Playdate, but that doesn't stop it from being one of my favorites. As an adventure game, it adopts the narrative of a jaded everyman like Zack McKracken's, and uses that to tell a tale of isolation, paranoia and absence. Throughout the days that make up the week, we are invited to inhabit the vital and emotional space of an abductee who feels misunderstood by society, but who is at the same time distrustful of his own memories. As the best stories of abductions (which aren't that many to being with) tend to do, Saturday Edition avoids falling into conspiracy rabbit holes and focuses on the emotional aftermath that such an experience would have on an individual or a group. To emphasize this point, the game invites you to participate in a simple but meaningful game of confidence: Do you trust the press to offer an empathetic version of the events? Does the police want to protect its citizens, or does it merely want to maintain the illusion of a social order? Do you really get along with your co-workers, or is the relationship you're having with the magic rock saleswoman more meaningful than anything you've had in years? All of this is tempered by a slow, leisurely pace that almost invites you to play during the week as well, keeping you from getting bogged down.
Saturday Edition is the kind of game I wish had more recognition, if not at the very least within the limited scope of Playdate, but also outside of it.