Daily Dadish

I hadn't even finished the first Dadish before I started playing Daily Dadish. The allure of a new level every day preyed on my FOMO in the nicest way possible. Instead of time-limited events designed to push micro-transactions, every day of the year has its own unique level to conquer. While its nature necessitates the absence of even the bare-bones narrative structure of the series' numbered entries, the rest of the game makes up for the shortcoming in spades. Having more than double the number of levels as the previous three games combined, Daily Dadish is a huge adventure and makes for an excellent year-long advent calendar.

Daily Dadish plays similarly to its trilogy of predecessors, presenting you with handcrafted platforming levels that challenge you to think quick and move with precision. Stages are filled with hazards and enemies to keep you on your toes while you run, jump, and bounce toward Dadish's truant children. All of the components used in the stages are drawn from the previous games, so they should feel familiar to series veterans, and the increased field of view should make it easier to plan your approach as you hurry through the threats they pose. Hurrying wasn't necessary in the previous games, but Daily Dadish introduces a few formula adjustments to complement the new structure.

With only a single level available every day, Daily Dadish incentivizes replays by adding a clear timer, a leaderboard, and rankings. Now, you can just choose to clear a stage once and move on (as I did), or you can learn its ins and outs so you can clear faster and climb the leaderboards. Even if you're not interested in global competition, getting a good clear time comes with a nice benefit. Beating specified clear-time thresholds can earn you a bronze, silver, or gold medal on the stage, but if you go beyond even that, a near-perfect clear can earn you a star. Every ten stars you earn can be exchanged for new playable characters. While they are purely cosmetic, not even affecting the dialogue at the end of stages, these new skins still offer a fun way to recognize your accomplishments and I enjoyed collecting a few.

Since your Daily Dadish adventure could begin at any level, they're all pretty similar in difficulty, making for an experience that can be picked up or put down anytime without guilt. I did my best to beat as many levels as I could, only quitting after a full year, but I missed plenty of days. However, I'm not very disappointed about missing that content because I think Daily Dadish still managed to do what it was supposed to. If I ever needed a quick break from a stressful day, or if I had a few minutes to burn, I'd pick the game up for a bit and leave feeling a little more relaxed and accomplished. I would like the option to go back and play any levels I've beaten, but even without that, Daily Dadish felt like a complete experience and is an easy recommendation.

The game is available for iOS here (as of 4/9/24): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/daily-dadish/id1663146885
The game is available for Steam here (as of 4/9/24): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2274700/Daily_Dadish/
The game is available for Switch here (as of 4/9/24): https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/daily-dadish-switch/

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