From Press Release:
PORTLAND, JANUARY 21, 2026 – Developer Shaun Inman and publisher Panic are excited to announce that Ratcheteer DX, the lo-fi but grand pixel art action-adventure, is receiving a free public demo out today on Steam to celebrate the news that Ratcheteer DX will be launching on Nintendo Switch, Steam for PC and Mac, and the Mac App Store on March 5! The game will be priced at $12.99 with a limited time launch discount of $9.75. Progress from the demo will also transfer over to the final game.
Ratcheteer DX puts you in the boots of a young, inexperienced mechanic who lives underground in a world that has forced humans to shelter and hibernate from a deadly never-ending winter. Across various regions and dungeons, you will get to meet kind strangers, discover new helpful tools, and take on challenging bosses. Ratcheteer DX is an updated edition of the 2022 Playdate Season One favorite, Ratcheteer, now in color with various visual filters, CD-quality stereo soundtrack, and various new languages.
About Ratcheteer DX
The surface has been claimed by an Impact Winter, but beneath the ice and earth, mankind hibernates. As a young apprentice mechanic, you wake up in the dark. The Power Plant is offline. The Water Treatment Plant seems to be too. The Cryo Colony is in danger!What begins as a simple trip to fetch your mentor’s wrench sets off a winding journey through the caverns below to a vast Snowcean above to rescue friends, foes, and strangers alike.
Along the way, you’ll find and master eight unassuming tools, each opening new paths for exploration. Starting with just the Crank Lantern to light your first steps into the dark and the Wrench Sword to swing at what you find lurking in it, you’ll be bounding, drilling, gliding, stomping, and dashing your way across the world of the Ratcheteer by the time you reach the end.
Originally released for the black-and-white Playdate, this updated version reimagines the game in full color with a CD-quality stereo soundtrack and support for 10 languages.
FEATURES:
- Explore more than 250 rooms across 6 regions and 6 dungeons
- Master 8 unassuming tools and maybe even an alien language
- Challenge 6 unique bosses (can you find the secret boss rush time trial?)
- Play in full Color, Pea Soup green, Playdate gray, or high contrast black-and-white (with optional scanline, grid, and dot overlays)
- Listen to Matthew Grimm’s 8-bit masterpiece with CD-quality stereo sound
- Experience an original story in 10 supported languages
For more information on Ratcheteer DX, visit https://ratcheteer.com/.
Find the game on Steam
About Shaun Inman
Shaun Inman is a game designer and developer who, alongside composer Matt Grimm and with illustrations by Charlie Davis, created Ratcheteer DX. He has also developed a handful of Playdate games including the original Ratcheteer, Keita Takahashi’s Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure, and Word Trip. Shaun created Pulp, Playdate’s web-based game maker. Prior to Playdate, he collaborated with Rusty Moyher and Matt Grimm on Retro Game Crunch, a seven-game collection that included Super Clew Land, Paradox Lost, and Shūten. He also created the early iOS game The Last Rocket.
About Panic Inc.
Founded in 1999, Panic is an ancient startup in Portland, Oregon that loves to make nice things and bring people everyday joy. Originally — and still — a Mac app developer, Panic has also become a highly-focused video game publisher that helped release games like Firewatch, Thank Goodness You’re Here!, and Untitled Goose Game into the world, with much more on the horizon including Big Walk. And in the ultimate spirit of creating products that bring joy, Panic has also created its very own handheld video game system: Playdate.
Visit their website: panic.com
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