Halfway to Dawn is a surprisingly tense, bite-sized survival horror game for Playdate

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

As somebody who tends to gravitate in direction of all issues spooky, one of many issues I’ve been most occupied with 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 sources and readying your self for the lengthy evening forward; within the second, it’s an all-out battle to 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. Through the narrative portion of the sport, you should select amongst totally different areas to go to — the mall, pharmacy, gun retailer and a home — so you’ll be able to hopefully discover issues like first support kits, weapons, ammo and traps. However there’s no telling whether or not every of those journeys might be profitable.

You would possibly discover a field of shotgun shells however by no means get your fingers on a shotgun to truly use them. You would possibly even get damage whereas scavenging. There may be additionally the choice to relaxation, which can replenish your well being bar (when you’ll begin with full well being on Straightforward mode, Exhausting will begin you with two out of the six well being factors already depleted). However an hour will cross after every choice, and you need to keep acutely aware of the time. The clock begins at 6PM, and as soon as it strikes 1AM, you’ll be compelled 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 sources, a fairly difficult one at that. Monsters might be closing in on you from all sides, a few of them tougher to take down than others, and you may solely replenish ammo and first support kits out of your finite provide at set breaks marking the passage of 1 hour. If you happen to 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 suppose 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, because the randomness of useful resource assortment makes for a distinct expertise every time. And the stress of all of it is completely rounded out by a synth-heavy soundtrack (out there on Bandcamp), which may very well be proper out of an ‘80s B-horror film. If creepy is your factor, that is positively a recreation to take a look at. Midway to Daybreak is on the Playdate Catalog and itch.io for $5.