Midway to Daybreak is a surprisingly tense, bite-sized survival horror recreation for Playdate

Andrea Baroni’s Midway to Daybreak is unbelievably bleak for a recreation you may play from begin to end in about 10 minutes. I imply that as a praise; it’s the most effective horror expertise I’ve had on the Playdate but.

As somebody who tends to gravitate in the direction of all issues spooky, one of many issues I’ve been most serious about as I discover what’s on the market for Playdate is seeing how builders will make horror work for the bizarre little handheld. Midway to Daybreak takes a blended strategy: within the first half, it’s a text-based narrative recreation the place you’re scavenging for assets and readying your self for the lengthy night time forward; within the second, it’s an all-out battle in your life towards an onslaught of eldritch creatures.

Midway to Daybreak wastes no time in setting a temper of desolation and impending doom, starting with dialogue from our protagonist about feeling “as lifeless as these scattered stays of humanity” in a metropolis overtaken by some unnamed terror. Throughout the narrative portion of the sport, you could select amongst totally different places to go to — the mall, pharmacy, gun retailer and a home — so you may hopefully discover issues like first assist kits, weapons, ammo and traps. However there’s no telling whether or not every of those journeys can be profitable.

You would possibly discover a field of shotgun shells however by no means get your palms on a shotgun to really use them. You would possibly even get harm whereas scavenging. There’s additionally the choice to relaxation, which is able to refill your well being bar (when you’ll begin with full well being on Simple mode, Onerous will begin you with two out of the six well being factors already depleted). However an hour will go after every choice, and it’s a must to keep acutely aware of the time. The clock begins at 6PM, and as soon as it strikes 1AM, you’ll be pressured to exit and defend your self towards the monsters till daybreak.

At this level, the sport turns into a top-down shooter — and relying on the way you fared with assets, a fairly difficult one at that. Monsters can be closing in on you from all sides, a few of them more durable to take down than others, and you may solely replenish ammo and first assist kits out of your finite provide at set breaks marking the passage of 1 hour. When you run out earlier than then, you’ll haven’t any alternative however to try to battle off the monsters with a knife, which you’ll be able to swing utilizing the crank. That’s about as efficient as you’d assume it’s.

Midway to Daybreak is a really, very brief recreation, nevertheless it actually had me sweating on some runs. It’s a enjoyable one to maintain coming again to, for the reason that randomness of useful resource assortment makes for a special expertise every time. And the strain of all of it is completely rounded out by a synth-heavy soundtrack (obtainable on Bandcamp), which could possibly be proper out of an ‘80s B-horror film. If creepy is your factor, that is undoubtedly a recreation to take a look at. Midway to Daybreak is on the Playdate Catalog and itch.io for $5.