Daily Dadish

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1, Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Daily Dadish, like the first three games in the Dadish series, is a Platformer. Released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2023, this is a game once again has players take the role of an anthropomorphic radish who needs to run through the game’s levels to collect all of his errant kids. And… actually for once this series is trying something new and different, though “new” and “different” doesn’t always mean “good”.

This game uses simple, colorful pixel art visuals with a lot of little references to the Mario series, with transitions and transition sounds just like those in Super Mario Bros. 3, and a jump sound like in Super Mario World, to name a few. These are backed by a cheerful synthesized soundtrack that’s actually pretty catchy this time around, with catchy tunes like Gangalo Jungle and Pulvujo Desert. There are also nice little animations throughout while still retaining the series’ wonderful charm, including even more fourth wall-breaking dialogue Dadish has with his kids at the end of each level and… hey, wait a minute.. this game is literally just reusing all of the visuals and music from Dadish 3! Wow, even for a series that threatens to be far too samey, this is pretty lazy, guys.

Despite the visual and audio references to the Mario series, Dadish doesn’t play much like Mario. Each level is more of an obstacle course, occasionally with some light puzzle elements. The gameplay mechanics are fairly straightforward here too – Dadish can jump and double-jump, and can push boxes… and that’s really about it.

The big new gimmick this time is that Daily Dadish has a different level each day of the year, and that level can only be accessed on that day. Technically, this means that the game has 365 unique levels… but this also means that once you’ve played your day’s level, that’s it… there’s nothing more to play until the next day. What’s worse, you can’t even play prior levels either, not even after completing them. Furthermore, because the game can’t predict when players are starting the game, there’s no way for the game to have any sort of difficulty progression, making for gameplay that starts out pretty difficult and largely stays at that level. What’s even worse, the game refuses to even start up unless you’re connected to the internet!

I’ll give Daily Dadish credit for trying something unique and different, but the way it not only parcels out its content with a daily drip-drip-drip of each new level, but also refuses to allow players to go back to prior levels is really absurd, and the way the game just reuses all the assets from Dadish 3 is even more so. As a result, this game is one that only the biggest fans of this series will enjoy, and even then they’ll likely be frustrated at this game’s problems.

tl;dr – Daily Dadish, like the first three games in the series, is a Platformer about a dad radish on a journey to collect his errant kids. Unfortunately, this game copy-pastes the presentation of Dadish 3, and while its “one level per day” concept is intriguing, this ultimately results in a drip-feed of content that’s stifling, ruins the difficulty curve, and forces players to play the game online. Unless you are a die-hard fan of this series, this is a game to skip. In fact, even if you are a series fan, you’ll likely be disappointed with this game.

Grade: D-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Laziest Copycat, Most Overpriced ($10)

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