Ratcheteer DX

Ratcheteer DX may not break new ground, but it's a genuinely charming, lo-fi action-adventure that feels perfectly suited to the Switch eShop. It boasts clever and engaging gameplay, an evocative chiptune score, and its five-hour runtime feels just right. A little more platforming forgiveness and this would be an easy recommendation. As it stands, it's still a very good one.

With swanky gadgets and fun environments to explore, Ratcheteer DX is a retro throwback that I recommend to any fan of Game Boy classics. 🔧

Ratcheteer DX is a fun, fast-paced top-down action-adventure game that does a good job of making a niche Playdate game more accessible on consoles. Its best features are its short, well-paced gameplay, smart tool-based discovery, bright, retro-inspired graphics, and catchy chiptune music. When you fight bosses and go through dungeons, you can make good use of the skills you've learned, and items like Astral runes give players more reasons to be curious.

Ratcheteer DX taps into nostalgia for simpler times, but it largely fails to translate to a modern console experience. Beyond the low-res pixel graphics that come with a free helping of eye strain, the experience is weighed down by a shallow narrative, humdrum combat, and excessive backtracking.

While it has definite retro-styled appeal, and dares to be different, it is still a step or two behind its stronger competition

Ratcheteer DX is not a bad game, but it does have issues that stop it from being great. The story and the world that we see is well put together, but navigating that world can be a chore at times. It is a game that has moments of brilliance through its puzzling, yet I can't look past some of the game's more frustrating elements.

If you grew up playing games on the Game Boy like I did, you are sure to feel a strong sense of nostalgia for this title. It does an excellent job of capturing the look and feel of games from that era. Don’t expect hand-holding, though; Ratcheteer DX requires experimentation and exploration to make progress. If you are ready for a retro-style challenge, with some frustration, this is absolutely one to try.

As I played, it became clear that I was chasing a ghost. There’s a lot of brilliance in the game design and general moment-to-moment puzzling. Without its defining crank characteristic from its debut on the Playdate, some of its flaws rose to the surface and overrode the joys in its classic, dungeon-solving gameplay. Enthusiasts for the genre or players strapped for time will likely enjoy the quick pace and short dungeons in Ratcheteer DX, but others will fuss over its sticky controls and obtuse tutorialisation.

Ratcheteer DX is an enjoyable little adventure while it lasts, falling shy of being something truly great thanks to its own constraints. There are some enjoyable ideas here and the gameplay is rock solid though, it does a lot more things well than it doesn't.

Ratcheteer DX is an 8 bit action-adventure deeply inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. If you miss the days of burning through AA batteries and not being able to game on your handheld after the sun goes down, Ratcheteer DX is sure to give you that nostalgic sensation you are looking for. Unfortunately, Ratcheteer DX carries forward the baggage from retro gaming including a shallow story, frustrating controls and without the Playdate quirk or the Nintendo charm, it fails to differentiate itself from the never ending flow of retro inspired indies. The nostalgic time capsule is a short and sweet adventure, but it'll likely only be appreciated by retro purists.