- Give Martians snacks, drinks, and therapy sessions
- Use the crank to clean up the place with your tentacles
- Available for $6 or local equivalent
Playdate has announced the official launch of Lucas Pope’s Mars After Midnight, letting players get their hands on this pixelated title for $6 or your local equivalent. Exclusively available on the Playdate handheld device, Lucas Pope’s (of Return of the Obra Dinn and Papers, Please fame) new game tasks you with working a day job at the Mars Off-Colony Community Support Center.
You’ll need to screen the Martian citizens and provide them with plenty of TLC such as drinks, classes, and tasty snacks. The game also makes use of the crank from the Playdate device to help you peek at the Martians at the door. Apart from using the crank to operate your peephole, you can also make use of this nifty little trick to clean up the centre using your own Martian tentacles – a quirky feat you don’t get to see every day with mobile games.
“The pandemic got me thinking I should try to make something my kids can enjoy,” says developer Lucas Pope. “They’re not impressed by BAFTA-winning miseries, so I sent them to Mars with a bunch of weird Martians and a messy table to clean. The Playdate had me at ‘1-bit screen’ and it’s nice that the crank, SDK, and Panic’s overall design philosophy are also great.”
Other Playdate games include a “hands-on” shoot-em-up titled Kuroobi, where your character will use their bare hands to fight spaceships and save Japan. It certainly gives a whole new meaning to taking matters into your own hands, doesn’t it? That and other fun titles are available in the catalogue if you’re interested.
If you’re looking for more nostalgic feels, why not take a look at our list of the best retro-inspired games on iOS? And if you’re curious about the device, Playdate is available for $199 from the official website.
