Playtiles review - "A fantasy console made real"

• Incredibly affordable, with the controller essentially costing five euros
• 24 games included per season
• Drip-fed, curated games over a three-month period and sideloading capabilities

Pitched as a way to turn any smartphone into a new kind of handheld, Playtiles uses browser-based gaming and a very cool, matchbox-sized controller to deliver a really fun experience and leave you with a controller that happens to be perfect for certain emulators.

That's because, to put it plain, Playtiles is a controller that happens to line up perfectly with GB Studio games, and can probably, with a little bit of work, also work quite well with most two-button engines (GameMaker, Pico8, Bitsy).

In short, what you're getting with Playtiles' Season structure is access to a selection of curated (sometimes exclusive) GameBoy-style games that all feel incredibly fantastic and familiar when played through it.

Because, Playtiles feels excellent. As it lights up, it feels as though I'm powering up my old GameBoy, albeit it's not all in shades of green and I don't have to stuff it full of batteries or clip a light onto it. That and, here, you have several modern conveniences, such as quite a generous library that can be accessed by scanning a QR code (and a much more extensive one if you're willing to sideload).

At the moment, games are released as part of seasons. This might set your hair standing on end, but despite the terminology, this isn't a subscription model; instead, it's referencing the TV or Sporting model, in that the games will be gradually dripfed out as time passes. This definitely emulates the excitement of watching a show (unless you get a dud episode, of course) or of downloading the newest additions to Game Pass or Apple Arcade, but without the monthly charge. 

Instead, you'll pay for a season when you wish, although I would add that there is definitely a push to buy seasons as they're currently being framed as limited-time collections (even if you do keep them forever as a license) and the first season - despite being entirely digital - is currently listed as sold out.

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Back to the controller, though. It feels great. Apparently, they use something called Gecko-Grip, which presumably means that it has a micro-porous, plastic-like texture that causes it to grip the screen of your phone. It means that the controller won't shift, meaning that you can slip and slide the buttons (which have some give to them) about as you press them. The whole thing feels incredibly robust and, as I'm at the halfway point of Season 2, I'm really impressed with the model of two games released a week that they've gone with.

I don't think that you can go wrong with 35 Euros for a fantastic, micro, robust controller and 24 games. Nor can you go wrong with 30 Euros for a 24 extra, carefully-calibrated, curated games that feel perfect for it, once every three months afterwards.