Life’s Too Short: A Christmas Spirit
What’s more wholesome than a Christmas story? And what’s more wholesome on the Playdate than Life’s Too Short? In this pseudo-sequel, you’re called back to the mansion from the first game, but this time by the two vampires you helped reunite. You’ve been here before, but you get to see what your old friends have been up to and meet some new ones. Also, there’s some light gambling with elves! (Don’t worry, you can’t really lose anything.) For a wholesome series like this, a Christmas story is the perfect fit. The vampires’ baby Vlad got put on the naughty list? That doesn’t seem right – nobody named Vlad would ever do anything wrong. Let’s find Santa and see what’s up!
The puzzles are more complex than the first one, and I even got stuck for a few minutes this time (hint: the butler isn’t just for solving other people’s problems). Still the same concept, and doesn’t push it technically too far beyond what the first game offers. But it’s like a Christmas episode of The Office: always a nice time, and you get to see the best of all these characters you know and love. And, just like those episodes, I could see this game getting an annual replay every Christmas season.
The wildest thing in this one is a rap/riddle battle featuring not-The-Grinch that goes on for quite a while. It’s not a long game, but this is maybe 10% of the playtime by itself. The riddles and rhymes are interesting enough, but it goes maybe four verses too long. Still, you can tell a lot of time and effort went into them, and what Christmas story doesn’t have a musical interlude? Like the first game, this is a very pleasant way to spend 30 minutes and two dollars. You don’t need to be groundbreaking gameplay-wise when your goal is just to tell a nice little Christmas tale.