Lillybug
Lillybug is kind of a tower-defense game? It feels like something you might play in an arcade in the 80’s. It’s also a lot less abstract than the Shifts or Four Corners of Scenic Route’s gameography, and the crank is a real, fun control option.
You play as a little firefly, trying to save your tree home from being consumed by termites. This is done by dashing back and forth across the screen, eating termites as they constantly respawn. Eat a termite, and the tree drops a whirlygig. Whirlygigs let you heal the tree as you dash back and forth. Sometimes, a spider comes down! He doesn’t care about the tree; he just wants to eat termites. Or YOU, if you cross him. Grab a star to kill all the termites on screen at once, or a heart for an extra life.
You blast back and forth across the tree trunk with a sort of Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble aiming reticle, including the dotted line giving you a visual for your flight path. Be sure that you’re doing something with each zip, whether it’s eating a termite, collecting a whirlygig, or healing tree damage. If the tree gets too many holes, it dies and the game is over.
There are two modes: Classic and Survival. In Classic, your goal is to save the tree as quickly as you can. As you collect whirlygigs and heal the tree, it builds up resistance. Get the resistance to 100% before the tree health gets to 0% and you win! Survival is just hordes and hordes of termites. There’s no resistance. You are the resistance.
The world record for Survival mode is just over four minutes and is held by Scenic Route themselves. A Classic game is less than two minutes and you have your own personal leaderboard. Each round is short and intense, and you can really feel yourself getting better each time you play, as you work out new strategies. And aiming with the crank is fun! It has traditional D-pad aiming, too, but the crank makes it feel like you’re on a submarine or something. Be fast; eat termites!
It’s nice to see the variety of gameplay/visual styles of these different Scenic Route games, but each maintains that trademark Scenic Route feel. Playdate is the perfect place to experiment with tiny games that can be made in a month or so, and a focused vision will bring you to the finish line!
(Released November 22, 2022, on Itch and October 24, 2023, on Catalog. Copy provided by developer.)