The Playdate handheld continues to throw up indie game surprises. The latest is A Fool’s Errand by solo dev IORAMA, with its November 2025 launch once again showing off the Playdate’s excellence

With its very fancy atmospherics, monochrome graphics, and addictive gameplay loop, for £5 it’s a mighty enjoyable time of it. And will have you coming back for more as you spiral a seemingly never-ending stairwell.

Crank it Up in A Fool’s Errand

This one is unique to the Playdate as you turn the little console on its side to play. This does make the controls a little fiddly to begin with as you have limited space with your fingers.

But once you get used to it you’re away. It’s a high score type game, similar in some respects to the game Root Beer. The only control is The Crank. It’s the Playdate’s little cranking ability, which you take from the side of the console and twist around.

Once you crank it one, your little character dude (called Roland) winds his unmerry way up the Dark Tower. However, there are nasty traps (barrels, spikes!!!) along the way you must avoid.

A Fool’s Errand is a one-hit-death kind of game, so if you do get whacked you have to start all over again.

It’s an infinitely-spiralling stairwell, but the higher you get… the better you are! The whole point of the gameplay loop is to see how high up the tower you can get, see some new sights, and earn high scores.

Simple but effective, then, and exactly in keeping with the Playdate’s pick-up-and-play appeal.

Timing is the main thing you need here. That and a bit of bravery. Impatience will result in a swift death, but you need to balance that out with dodging abilities and a touch of derring-do.

Great fun, then, with A Fool’s Errand a must on the Playdate. It takes full advantage of the console’s appeal, had brilliant atmospherics, and an addictive gameplay look. It should be renamed… A Fool’s Excellent!