Legend of Etad (for Playdate)
A downloadable Playdate game
A first-person dungeon crawler for Playdate in the vein of classics such as Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder. Expect lots of environments to explore, enemies to defeat, weapons and items and magic to wield, and puzzles to solve!
Etad is an arcade adventure/exploration game crafted around the limitations of the Playdate. You won't get bothered with stats, inventory tetris or party management; instead expect pick-up-and-play hack'n'slash dungeon crawling with light puzzles and combat.
Every dungeon in Legend of Etad is unique and hand-crafted, with distinct art and game mechanics, and are linked together by outdoor "hub" areas. Each new area you discover will feel different from the last.
Etad was developed using tooling made with Unity for the content pipeline, and the Playdate Lua SDK for the engine.
If you enjoy Legend of Etad, please consider leaving a rating!
What players are saying about Legend of Etad:
It's insane how well this controls, and how fluid the game itself is, walking around and exploring feels illegal on the playdate. I was dreaming of a game like this for the console - @BummerOfGeorge, Reddit
Playdating Legend of Etad by @GarethIW until dawn! One giant step in games for the lit'l yellow handheld. Amazing creation! - @land_patricio, Twitter
Yoooo this game is incredibly decent - @Shademonger, Discord
Legend of Etad is dope. Can’t wait to spend more time with it, but it’s got “Killer App” written all over it - @ralphiscool, Discord
Thank you for making Legend of Etad!! I’m loving it! Big nostalgia! I haven’t played a game like this since I was a kid messing with MS-DOS games! It’s awesome! - @JCP256, Twitter
Can’t wait to check this out over the weekend. CD-ROM vibes = you have my attention - @Cabel (of Panic), Twitter
One of the best games on the playdate in my opinion and one of the best 1st person dungeon crawler games on any platform. - @Grhmhome, Discord
"RICHTIGE SPIEL"... "holy fucking shit" - AlexeiBexi, Youtube
Playdate Community Awards 2022 Nominee
Technical Achievement in an SDK Game
Purchase
In order to download this Playdate game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $12 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Chapter 3 ReleaseMay 08, 2023
- Legend of Etad: Chapter 3 and Catalog, 9th MayApr 28, 2023
- Legend of Etad Chapter Two - Update out now!Dec 16, 2022
- Legend of Etad Chapter Two Release DateDec 08, 2022
- Chapter Two Progress and Sales DataNov 23, 2022
- An Amazing First Week 1.1 HotfixSep 30, 2022
- Legend of Etad Chapter One - Available now!Sep 23, 2022
- Content Complete and Release DateSep 12, 2022
Comments
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In love with the game. As a feedback, sometimes I leave a dungeon and I am not sure if I am leaving something really important or not behind (no way to know, I mean, the entrance door is not locked until everything is finished, no final boss or animation either), making it difficult to realize if I left something somewhere. It is just a comment, the game is amazing.
BTW, I am stuck with a Cane and an Anj, I think I need to use it to enter some new dungeon, but cannot find. Any tips?
the pdxinfo is missing, when i sideload it on my playdate :(
Do you need a Playdate to run the game or will it run on a regular computer?
You need a Playdate , but you can emulate a Playdate with Playdate SDK, for PC . You can dowload from here ( play.date/dev/).
( Sorry for my bad English )
THANK YOU
You’re welcome 😉
The game is great, but I wish there was a map. I got lost in the dungeons all the time especially where they are all similar and lacking landmarks
this game looks amazing! I love the retro art style !
Any hints for getting the third "handle" in part 3? I have the one across from where you get the boat and the one round the side of the island with the 3 handle-less doors.
Yep, no big secret to this one! All the cranks are out in the swamp on tables. Try northwest-ish 😉
Thanks. I found it and finished it last night. The game is great. I really enjoyed the way each chapter had a different mechanic to learn. My only issue was I sometimes found myself lost or unsure where to go. I was tempted to try and reverse engineer to map data format to try and work out where I was!
Love the game but I'm stuck on the second dungeon of Chapter 1.
I've been doing the prism puzzles and I've finished the first two rooms.
For the third (series of ) rooms I have placed as many prisms as I can find on the pedestals, but I'm worried I've broke something because I can't find any more no matter where I point things. I seem to be missing 2 prisms.
Itch doesn't have spoiler markup, so I've made a gist with graded spoilers for this one!
https://gist.github.com/GarethIW/3fb0559968d35c771f8390759cb695a7
Thanks for your help. It was that last hint that did it (it opened a room with 2 mirrors in)
This Game ist Awesome.
Best Game ob the Playdate.
Is there a walkthrough or walkthrough anywhere?
for the game?
unfortunately I can't get any further.
I don't have a complete walkthrough, but reply with where you are in the game and what items you've found and I'll give you some hints :)
OK thank you.
I have 3 Keys and the Ice Magic but no Idea wehre ist Key Number 4.
Itch still somehow doesn't have spoiler markup for comments, so I made a gist with graded hints.
I'm assuming this is the key you're missing, but let me know if it is a different one.
OK thank you.
I would never have thought of that in my life 😅
You're not the only player I've had to give hints to for this key - I think I underestimated the logic of this puzzle! Might need to patch in a hint or rethink it entirely 😯
I think found a way to make the game unplayable.
I made the bridge to the portal to the village away in the pyramid and ran the other way to the village and then with the key through the portal into the pyramids where there is no bridge anymore.
Now I just fall to my death.
Wasn't the best idea 😅
Love, love, love it and just finished Chapter 1! Few quick questions for you:
1. What is the exact procedure to download the new version containing Chapter 2? Will I lose my save (I know you have the perfect save if we do)? Do I download the file and just side load it again? Or delete the original file first? Delete the game using the system option?
2. If I do lose my game, how do I use the save game provided? Does it just get side loaded like other files?
3. Does your savegame have every piece of food (with none used) and every rock (that’s possible to retrieve)? That’s what I’ve done in my file. Would you be willing to provide food and rock totals for Chapter 1 so I can see if I perfected it?
Thanks!
Simply download and sideload the new version. Your save game will be intact as long as you don't delete it yourself.
Edit: I should mention that you need to sideload the same way (either via web or usb) that you did with chapter one as the game directories are named differently on device depending on the method you use.
The save that I supplied is far from a "perfect" save, but does leave you with plenty of food and a few rocks iirc. While I applaud you for getting through C1 without using food, it is there to be eaten 😅
If you do need to use the save file for any reason, instructions are at the bottom of this post.
Hey Garrett what is the second file Etad-C1-IdealSave? Am I supposed to sideload it as well?
It's a save game at the end of chapter one. You can ignore it :)
Thanks!
hands down the best game on the playdate! can't wait to see what else Gareth comes up with.
love the game so far. Just wondering what the idealsave file is for?
Ah whoops, that's for the chapter 2 launch on Friday 😅
What is it for though exactly? I downloaded chapter 2 but not the ideal save
It's a save at the end of chapter one in case anyone lost their save. Explained here: https://gareth.itch.io/etad/devlog/463304/legend-of-etad-chapter-two-update-out-...
I played it a bit
I played it again
It’s a technically impressive game that takes me back to my old King’s Field / shareware RPGs. The controls are about as perfect as they can be given the limitations of the playdate, and any concerns I had about visibility on the size and bit depth evaporated. I can’t wait until it’s expanded upon or other people find inspiration in the style
That being said, I’m stuck on the beam of light puzzles. I’ve explored everywhere I can but I either can’t find a mirror or I put one down in the wrong spot and locked myself out of a part of the game. Is this possible or so I need to draw myself a map? :)
EDIT: It figures that I’d solve a problem I’ve had for over a week five minutes after asking for help. Figured it out! I guess it shows where my head is during my morning commute :)
The game I was most excited to sideload onto my Playdate when it arrived, and I was not disappointed. This is a staggering achievement! Can't wait for the next chapters ☺️
Hey, uh, dumb question, can you play playdate pdx games on PC?
edit: Looks like you can with the sdk? https://devforum.play.date/t/playdate-sdk-for-linux/628/12
Yes you can, though using the crank here might not be that fun.
The game is amazing so far with good atmosphere, I dropped it for now though as the spider mines feel like they want me to bust out graph paper to map them out and I didn't feel like it.
Hey! Thanks for the kind words. I posted some spoilered hints about the spider mines here
Thanks!
My orientation is abysmal and I usually have to map out dungeons like that.
I feel like a compass would help a lot, any plan on adding that as part of the QoL updates people tell me you've been planning to add with the other 2 chapters? (going on hearsay here, forgive me if I sound imposing!)
Oooh, I quite like the idea of a compass, at least as a held item. Added to the to-do list :)
Yeah! Many times I thought "man, A compass would be hella useful about now" (I also thought a map would be neat too, but in the end I brute-forced the hub area and abused Excel for Mines lvl 1.
Are you planning on adding any new voice work to the game?
I was thinking the other day it would be fun to give some of the bosses voice lines... but there's simply not enough ram to spare!
Awesome game so far! And thanks for the dev log and transparency about sales, helpful for other devs curious about the space.
started playing it....... Love it
Looks amazing! <3
I've made it about halfway through (based on the dev's notes) and I've enjoyed every moment! Can't wait to play through the rest. This game is definitely a must-buy for anyone who owns a Playdate.
love it! I got to the jungle pyramid level so far. this game is an amazing showcase game with what the playdate is capable of. puzzle solving is fun and that giant minotaur was a challenge to fight! can't wait to play more!
woah that was fast! Thanks for the kind words 😀
can't wait! Looking forward to this!
Been tracking this game since it's announcement... can't wait :D
My Playdate is ready
My anxiety is definitely ready 😬
20 hours and counting
👀
10 👀
👀
Just learned about this game today. Looks amazing! I love seeing what developers are able to do with the Playdate.
Really excited, can't wait for the release! Been checking the count down timer every day lol
Como puedo comprarlo??
gracias
Can't freaking wait to play this game
can't wait! looking forward to buying this!
looks cool
wow
Looks super fun!