The first Chance’s Lucky Escape was part of Season 2 and really only had one flaw: it was way too short. We’re talking like 20 minutes here, with not much replay value. That flaw does not exist in this direct sequel that picks up right where the first one left off. And it is playable on its own, but if you have Season Two (or bought it separately), it would really behoove you to play the original game first, especially since it’s shorter than a sitcom episode and adds a lot of background context.
This game is a solid 1-2 hours which for me is the perfect length, and like its predecessor is a point-and-click adventure inspired by old-timey cartoons like Mr. Magoo. You play as Chance, the luckiest dog in the world, just bumbling through life being only sorta bad while the cops think you might be some kind of criminal mastermind. You’re just trying to get out of town and start a new life, but things won’t be that easy.
Besides the scope scaling up, I also felt this one was WAY harder than the first. I was already looking for helpful tips on the Discord within the first chapter of the game (maybe we could get a GameFAQs walkthrough for this like Houm?), because things just weren’t quite making sense to me. The areas are not huge, so it’s possible to basically brute force your way through everything given enough patience by using every item on every clickable thing, but I was just not selecting the right things in the right order, and things I thought would work one way didn’t quite work the way I was expecting. If you’re a classic adventure game fan, maybe you “get it” and won’t have any of these issues, or maybe that’s the whole point of the genre.
Also, there is a secret, very-hard-to-find item hidden in each chapter that will need to be collected in order to see the final level, and even with the developer’s clues on the Discord, it felt like quite an ask. But! What I definitely cannot say is that the criticisms from the first game were not addressed. Like Houm, this is a solidly sized Playdate point-and-click adventure, and the lack of death, small area sizes, and limited items means that it is very doable, even for point-and-click novices, to see the whole story. There’s none of the King’s Quest-style “you missed an item two hours ago so you can’t beat the game” scenarios. It tells a tight story with cute characters and a ton of charm.
I also enjoy that there are so many games in this universe, and not all on Playdate. There are Inspector Waffles games on Steam and even Game Boy Color, so if you like these characters, there are lots of places where you can get more of them. Hopefully the games and universe will keep expanding and we can see more of Chance in Season Four.
(Released October 29, 2026, as part of Season Three.)