Games of the Year 2022: Playdate Season 1

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Playdate is a weird one to cover in this list since it's a game system and not a game itself.  But I decided to wrap in all of "Season 1" as an item on this list.

If you haven't heard of it, Playdate is an experimental 1-bit handheld game console that came out earlier this year.  They have a cool site that gives the basic rundown so I won't reiterate all of that here.

I've had a lot of fun poking around and playing on this console.  I've played a bunch of games I downloaded or bought from itch.io but I've now also completed their full Season 1 content which is why it felt like a good time to add it to the list.

Season 1 is a set of 24 games that were included with the purchase of the console.  Each week on "new game day" they deliver the next 2 games to your console.  That must mean I've had this for about 12 weeks.  The games themselves ranged from tiny arcade games, to full on adventure games, to little experimental music generators.  In some ways, it felt almost more like a toy than a console... but in a good way.

I really love the potential of the Playdate and I'm super excited for the future.  That being said, none of the games actually held my attention for more than a few days before I got bored and set my console down to wait for the next week's games.  The one exception is Pick, Pack, Pup.  That game rocks.


In my rankings, this one lands around the middle for being a super interesting experiment with a lot of potential but didn't end up higher because I feel like that potential hasn't been fully realized through the games on offer:
  1. Elden Ring
  2. FFXIV Endwalker
  3. Citizen Sleeper
  4. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
  5. Horizon Forbidden West
  6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
  7. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
  8. Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
  9. Cult of the Lamb
  10. Neon White
  11. Halo Infinite
  12. Vampire Survivors
  13. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
  14. Playdate Season 1
  15. Immortality
  16. Cyberpunk 2077
  17. Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
  18. Triangle Strategy
  19. Mario Strikers: Battle League
  20. Multiversus Pre-Season
  21. Stray
  22. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
  23. Nobody Saves the World
  24. Unpacking
  25. Tinykin
  26. Total War: Warhammer 3
  27. Tunic

I'm still very excited about the potential future of this little experimental console.  If they end up doing a Season 2 of content, I will definitely be there on day 1 to try it out!

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