Playdate Season 2 Lineup Includes New Game From Into The Breach Devs

Panic announced the initial lineup of Playdate Season 2 games during a recent livestream, and one of them is Fulcrum Defender, the latest project from Into the Breach and FTL: Faster than Light developer Subset Games. It’s an arcade-action game where you control a turret using the Playdate’s hand crank and stop incoming projectiles before they reach the center of the screen.

In our Into the Breach review, we called it a “pristine and pragmatic tactical gem,” and it won the BAFTA for best original property, along with “best strategy game” at The Game Awards 2018. FTL launched in 2012 to critical acclaim for its design and soundtrack. However, Subset Games’ Justin Ma said during the stream that they weren’t trying to create another hit. In fact, they didn’t actually plan on releasing Fulcrum Defender at all for a while.

“I was making it as a form of self-therapy,” Ma said. “I have been struggling with long COVID the past few years, and I wanted to prove to myself that I can still make games in my current state.”