New on itch.io: STRATOFALL and Catch 'n Cook

Two more paid Playdate games went up on itch.io overnight.

STRATOFALL (Matan Dessaur, $9.99 CAD, published 20 October) is the latest from the developer of CRANKFLIP and CARGIX. Its pitch is "One jet. One sky. One way down." You fly a fighter in 2085 with the crank, and the nose follows it one to one while the guns fire on their own. The D-pad handles gas, an air brake and barrel rolls, and you can break the sound barrier for a shock ring that clears the sky. When your jet dies, the cockpit ejects and the second half of the run starts: a 45-second fall through three layers of sky, shooting downward. Land and you keep what you earned; die on the way down and it's gone. Between sorties you build jets from 18 parts and 5 pods, and the page says every part changes the music too ("216 jets. 216 versions of the same song"). There are 90 challenges and 30 ranks. It runs at a locked 30 fps and needs about 4 MB. When we checked, it was already #13 in itch.io's Playdate top sellers.

Catch 'n Cook (Insania Labs, $6 USD, published 19 October) makes every level a recipe. Ingredients fall from the sky, and you turn the crank to slide your plate under the ones you need. Then you finish the dish by stirring, flipping, grilling, shaking, baking or rolling, with the crank or the buttons. There are 63 recipes across 10 recipe books, up to three stars per dish and a best-time medal on each. Between levels you run a restaurant: put dishes on the menu, serve customers, handle rush hours and food critics, and upgrade your stand. It keeps earning while you're away, and the street switches between day and night with the Playdate's clock. Music is by Can Ozan.

STRATOFALL's page discloses AI assistance; Catch 'n Cook's says no generative AI was used. Both are sideloads (buy on itch.io, then upload at play.date/account/sideload) and neither is in Panic's Catalog.