Play as an apprentice mechanic tasked with maintaining steam-powered cryo-colonies constructed for humanity to sleep out an impact winter following a celestial collision. Your master mechanic is abducted during some unplanned maintenance, setting off a lo-fi, top-down, action-adventure that finds the young Ratcheteer exploring the interconnected tunnels below the surface and a vast snowcean above to rescue friends, foes, and strangers alike.
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Ratcheteer is an accomplished action-adventure game that takes a lot of cues from Link's Awakening. It has really cool and interesting set of abilities to unlock throughout the adventure, with some great dungeon designs.
Though I enjoyed it a lot, I have a couple of nitpicks with the game: Firstly, I feel like it is not the best fit for a Playdate. Some of the stiffer challenges require a lot of dexterity and fast item switching. Even as the game wound to a close I never really felt comfortable with the controls and was making annoying mistakes, as well as developing hand cramps in longer play sessions! I couldn't shake the feeling I'd enjoy this game much more if I just had a controller with a few more buttons on it, and though the crank use was cool it was not essential by any means.
My only other minor gripe is too much of the game is spent exploring dark underground spaces, where you can't see much of the screen and have to rely on a lantern to light a small area around you. This mechanic isn't inherently bad, but the novelty wore off long before the sections of the game where it was used less.
Still, I must stress these issues are very minor overall. I liked a lot about this game. The background and sprite work is phenomenal for a 1-bit display, and the soundtrack is super catchy and perfectly captures the vibe of the games it takes its inspiration from. I felt that the overall pacing within and between dungeons was excellent, and the upgrades all unlock distinct, interesting new game mechanics. The backstory and premise serve their purpose well enough - the overall concept is a fascinating one but story of course takes a backseat in these kinds of games and I think that's a good thing!
Certainly a great game for the Playdate, but I think it would be great fit as just a PC or Switch title too! I'd pick it up for sure if it landed on one of those platforms.
Though I enjoyed it a lot, I have a couple of nitpicks with the game: Firstly, I feel like it is not the best fit for a Playdate. Some of the stiffer challenges require a lot of dexterity and fast item switching. Even as the game wound to a close I never really felt comfortable with the controls and was making annoying mistakes, as well as developing hand cramps in longer play sessions! I couldn't shake the feeling I'd enjoy this game much more if I just had a controller with a few more buttons on it, and though the crank use was cool it was not essential by any means.
My only other minor gripe is too much of the game is spent exploring dark underground spaces, where you can't see much of the screen and have to rely on a lantern to light a small area around you. This mechanic isn't inherently bad, but the novelty wore off long before the sections of the game where it was used less.
Still, I must stress these issues are very minor overall. I liked a lot about this game. The background and sprite work is phenomenal for a 1-bit display, and the soundtrack is super catchy and perfectly captures the vibe of the games it takes its inspiration from. I felt that the overall pacing within and between dungeons was excellent, and the upgrades all unlock distinct, interesting new game mechanics. The backstory and premise serve their purpose well enough - the overall concept is a fascinating one but story of course takes a backseat in these kinds of games and I think that's a good thing!
Certainly a great game for the Playdate, but I think it would be great fit as just a PC or Switch title too! I'd pick it up for sure if it landed on one of those platforms.
Ele lembra bastante os Zeldas de Game Boy, mas com uma história mais "fim do mundo" do que "fantasia". As mecânicas são bem legais e usam a manivela de jeitos interessantes, mas o level design é meio confuso e bem mais labiríntico do que eu esperava. Eu tô travado em uma dungeon e não sei muito bem como avançar - e tem muito jogo pra jogar - então um dia volto pra ele. Dito isso, é um dos melhores da S1.
fun enough zelda-like. might go 100% some other time.
A nice Zelda-like game with really cool music. Controls are not always convenient as you have to use several items consecutively but the game mechanics are pretty interesting. I always love when games encourage you to explore its world also through language.
A really enjoyable Zelda-like, with satisfying upgrades, an interesting world and story to explore, a really interesting system of collectibles (runes which let you understand an alien language letter by letter), and some of the best sound effects I've ever heard.
Ratcheteer is certainly the biggest game of Playdate's season one, revolving around its story and world while the others focus more on simple gameplay mechanics and loops. Because of this I don't think you'll find that Ratcheteer really does anything particularly unique in the genre, but it is a nice proof of concept that the Playdate can be a place for bigger experiences as well as smaller ones. I wasn't able to finish when I picked this up the first time due to life getting in the way, but I definitely plan on coming back.