Direct Drive
For the first year or so of its life, “silent movie musical” Direct Drive was the most expensive game on the Playdate, at a whopping $15 USD when most games don’t cost over $6. It has since done well enough that it could get a permanent price drop to $10, leaving Shadow Gadget/Shining Gadget as some of the few games left on the system with a MSRP of over $10 (although you can catch them on sale sometimes, including NOW if you’re fast). Direct Drive itself isn’t too long or complex, but you can immediately tell where the development money went: the music. This is one Playdate game you’ll really want to play with headphones on.
It's listed on the Playdate website as a rhythm game, and it… kind of is, if by which they mean you need to do actions to a certain rhythm. The core gameplay mechanic revolves (heh) around rotating the crank at the right speed to make the direct drive record player go at the right speed to match the music and actions on screen. Too fast or too slow and you fail. There are three 1.5-minute songs from each of four different performers, and you can immediately tell how much work went into the production. They sound like songs from 1927, when the game is set, but they do NOT sound like you had a record from 1927 and played it today, because that would sound terrible. Records don’t really last that long.
The musical styles range from talk-singing to things that flapper girls would love. It’s not really “my” style of music, but there’s no denying that it perfectly fits the style of the game and the Playdate. And I’d love to try and remix some of these songs. Maybe that’s a thing for another day.
The song levels alternate with story cutscenes that are told in silent movie format, with the text cards in between action. You’re the intern at this record company, so you get to rotate at the right speed, and the speed changes up as the song goes on. Sometimes you’ll get a request for a hot dog, hamburger, bourbon, cigar, whatever, and you have to press the correct button while cranking in time. It doesn’t get too much more complicated than that, but there is also one “calibration” level that I really did not like at all, which used the internal gyroscope while cranking and was far too precise for my tastes. I got through it eventually and it was just the one level, but here's a pro-tip if you get stuck on it for a few days like I did: push right on the D-pad three times to skip any level! (This hint is hidden in the accessibility options on Catalog, but it’s good to have. I eventually got past the calibration level but I did not enjoy it.)
This game also has achievements and a music player after you beat each level for the first time, which will be great if that Playdate Dock ever actually happens. It’s a very short and straightforward game, but you can replay the levels and try to get three stars on each. There’s no online leaderboards, though, so you’re just fighting yourself.
This game won a bunch of awards, like Best Soundtrack from the 2023 Playdate Community Awards, and the Games Without Borders 2023 Gameplay Innovation Award. And they hid some secret stuff inside, like access to [REDACTED], and it was neat earning access to that just by playing. Also, you should read this thing on Eurogamer about the 57-year-old that made this, his first game ever, and know that his child did the singing on my favorite tracks. The full game is what, 20 minutes long? But there’s so much more to it than that.
(Get it on Catalog. Or pre-order the soundtrack on vinyl– only 100 records will be made!)