Long Puppy
Long Puppy is a game about a long puppy. You start long, you eat food, you get longer, you can reach farther places to find and eat more food to grow even longer. Why are you growing so long, puppy? Well, your boy threw the ball, and he is… well, he’s just terrible at throwing the ball to anywhere that’s convenient for you. Each new level, he throws it down the chimney of a house, or over a giant wall, or into the sewer, and then he’s just like. Well, go get it! You’re a long dog, right?
It has a really unique control scheme. You turn your head with the crank, extend your body in the direction your nose is pointing by pushing up, and retreat your head back into your body by pushing down. Reach a flat surface with your front half and the back half will slinky up to meet the front. Every three bits of food you eat, your body extends by another ball. Why is an extendable dachshund measured in balls? Who knows! Get long enough in each level and you will eventually be able to reach the ball that your boy threw. There is a time limit, though, so you can’t just hang out all day, looking around the world.
Oh, you grabbed the ball? Well look who shows up then! It’s your boy’s old dog. He’s a lot bigger and bite-ier than you are, and he wants your ball. He’s also a ghost, of course, so he’ll follow you through walls and try to take the ball for himself. You get to zig and zag around the map, ducking and dodging ghost dog, to try to bring the ball back to the starting point. If the ghost dog does take the ball, he’ll bring it back to his own spot, so you can try again. And if you don’t grab the ball before the time limit runs out, the ghost dog will show up and start going for the ball before you’ve even reached it. It’s a sort of high-stress yet low-stakes tug o’ war. There aren’t any game overs; you just get to try again.
But here’s the part I really like: you can turn off the timer, and you can turn off the dog bites. Now, you have no rush to explore each level. Fighting the controls a little bit? That’s fine, we’ve got all day to look around the world and find every piece of food. The ghost dog doesn’t show up until you grab the ball, and he’ll still wander around with you, but he won’t take your ball for himself. You can take your time getting back. Find the last pieces of food, and sniff other hidden spots, too, to fill out your Pee Journal. What peed here? Don’t worry, we’re keeping a log.
Speaking of logs, the win screen at the end of each level makes you crank to poop. All that food you ate? It has to go somewhere. And that somewhere is OUT. Crank out the food, morsel by morsel, and see how high of a pile you can make. There’ve been a few game mechanics like this throughout history, but not often. It’s cute, though — not crude like recharging your batteries in No More Heroes on the Wii.
I’m realizing in my old age of “playing Dragon Quest VIII at double speed so I actually have time to finish it” that having more options and more ways to play games makes them more accessible and enjoyable than ever before. Want to speedrun the game and fight a big bad dog that kind of reminds me of Pix the Cat? You can do that! Want to take your time, explore every nook and cranny of the level with no time limit, and find every single hidden pee spot for your journal? You can do that, too! Scary dog or safe dog, either is great!
Long Puppy isn’t too long of a game, but you’ll have a lovely afternoon/evening with it, and the levels are just the right length that one at a time can be totally enough to zen out after a long day at work. Or you can run all the way through the whole thing! There are lots of ways to play, and it has a lot to offer. And with Playdate, ain’t that just the way?
(Released June 12, 2025, as part of Season Two.)