Reviews from

in the past


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.