The Playdate handheld has just concluded its Season 2 run of 12 games, with Black Hole Havoc by Cosmic Bros Games (a three-man indie team) providing one of the final two.

And what a humdinger of a puzzle shooter it is, too, with an addictive concept where you must shoot down black holes by matching their sizes, all to the tune of a fun sci-fi satire little plot.

Cosmic Puzzling Joy in Black Hole Havoc

The Playdate thrives as a deliberately antiquated handheld, with developers forced to use creativity with unique concepts.

Black Hole Havoc fits the bill perfectly.

What you do is resize black holes and fire them at other ones—you need to make sure the size is as CLOSE AS POSSIBLE. The more accurate you are the better, as if you screw it up you may die horribly. No pressure, then!

What may come across as a simplistic idea isn’t at all.

There are 80 levels to blast through in the story mode, which you can see in action below, with regular new ideas and gameplay mechanics as you progress. Plus, a fun little pisstake of those annoying selfie obsessed people and how they should be obliterated (we can dig that).

There’s also an arcade mode where you can push for high scores. To help out some players, you can choose settings with an aim assist to help your shooting efforts.

Otherwise, you’ve just got to get on with it!

To matters out there’s quite a unique artistic style, one that’s very at home on the Playdate. There’s also catchy little score by composers Karim Chair and Ronin_XX.

Overall, this is classic Playdate stuff. The handheld won’t be for everyone, but if you love unique and weird little concepts it continues to deliver indie game heaven.

Black Hole Havoc has all the pick-up-and-play qualities you could hope for. It’s a fine addition in the Season Two package, which should also eventually be available from the main online shop. 🌌