Rating
Ratcheteer DX
Explore the interconnected caverns below the frozen surface and a vast Snowcean above as you set out to rescue friend, foe, and stranger alike in this lo-fi action-adventure!
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Ratcheteer DX Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
Ratcheteer DX is a delightful nostalgia trip to the origins of handheld Zelda, with enough of its own style and a really unique setting.
Ratcheteer DX looks and feels just like the classic action-adventure titles you grew up playing. It's a challenging time!
It only took a couple sittings to finish the 3 to 5-hour experience, but Ratcheteer DX makes for a good time nearly the whole way through. It’s well paced and introduces new tools regularly, all with two different functions or uses. There are some points of frustration, but none soured the adventure for more than a few minutes. If you enjoyed games like Minit or Master Key, you’ve got no reason not to dive into the underground and become a full-fledged ratcheteer yourself. Bonus points if you choose the pea soup color palette for maximum Game Boy nostalgia.
Ratcheteer has broken out of its Playdate exclusivity, making its way to PC and Switch with more graphic options and a CD quality soundtrack, along with support for more languages. While it has all of these additions, the core gameplay of Ratcheteer remains the same in Ratcheteer DX. The surface world is caught in a permanent winter following an asteroid impact, with most of humanity moving underground. You are an apprentice mechanic who needs to restore power to your underground settlement. It’s an initially simple task that turns into an adventure of dealing with all sorts of challenges.
Ratcheteer DX taps into nostalgia for simpler times, but it largely fails to translate to a modern console experience. Beyond the low-res pixel graphics that come with a free helping of eye strain, the experience is weighed down by a shallow narrative, humdrum combat, and excessive backtracking.
Ratcheteer DX captures the spirit of old-school Zelda games in a new release on the Nintendo Switch and Steam.