During a recent demo event for its portable Playdate system, Panic unveiled more than a dozen future exclusive games. Additionally, the firm revealed the long-awaited release date of Mars After Midnight, which is probably going to be the console’s first big game, which is March 12.
Renowned game developer Lucas Pope, who also worked on Papers, Please, and Return of the Obra Dinn, is the creator of Mars After Midnight. Both of these films received positive reviews from critics and did well on the box office.
In Mars After Midnight, you assume the role of a door guard for an extraterrestrial colony, with inspiration drawn from Papers, Please. Your job is to grant visitors entry. One of Pope’s and the Playdate’s selling points is the gorgeous low-res visuals. It also utilizes the cute tiny crank on the console.
However, Lucas Pope’s latest creation wasn’t the only news to come from today’s presentation. Panic also showed off 16 games that are scheduled to hit the platform “in 2024 and beyond.” These include a cool-looking rogue-like/golf hybrid called Faraway Fairway, the pixel-art brawler Midnight Raider and a sci-fi RPG named For Home, among 13 others.
Company CEO Cabel Sasser also took the time to reiterate that the Playdate console is actually now available to purchase, with no wait times. This was a long time coming and Panic says it has finally “caught up” with the more than 70,000 preorders.
The Playdate online store, called the Catalog, is approaching its one-year anniversary. To celebrate, Panic is holding its first-ever storewide sale from March 7 to March 14. Many of the titles are already pretty cheap, so console owners will likely have a field day here.
For the uninitiated, the Playdate is a truly unique portable gaming console. It’s cute and bright yellow, with a manually-operated crank that’s used as an additional control mechanism in many games. Each $200 console comes with 24 free titles, with two unlocking each week for 12 weeks.
