Somewhat surprisingly, Forrest Byrnes is the first platformer I've played on the Playdate. I was initially skeptical of this, as I'm not a big fan of the Playdate's D-pad, but I ended up rather enjoying this game. It shares a number of similarities with Shovel Knight, not only in its platforming, but even having shovel attacks, digs, and a pogo-stick move. As a forest fire rages behind you, you must traverse a level rescuing other rangers and collecting items while trying to reach the helicopter at the end. The game controls well and has some nice visuals, but is completely let down by the fact that there is just one randomly generated level. While there are a number of different platforming chunks that can appear, you'll quickly see them all. It's pretty jarring that once you complete the level, you're just dumped back at the main menu. Those items and park rangers you rescue yield a grade at the end, but since there's just one level there's zero reason to rescue them -- in fact I don't think your level scores are saved anywhere. The only item that does matter are the puzzle pieces you can find, which do unlock some comical park posters if you collect enough. These pieces are the only reason to repeatedly play the game. It's a shame, I really enjoyed this game, and if they had crafted even just 10 or so levels rather than choosing a randomly generated route, I think it would've been a more enjoyable experience. Still, it's cute and clever and falls right into the middle of the Playdate pack.

The game is pretty fun and fairly competent. The levels are bite-sized and it feels like a heavier, clunkier shovel knight. It's fun to get into a rhythmn of jumping in and out of levels quickly.
The scrolling of the screen made it a bit difficult to make out background details at times, but you'll get used to it. The level structure is straightforward but puzzling if it's meant to be more. It seems there's potential for 4 puzzle pieces but I've only ever seen 2 in one run. Maybe I'm just bad at it?
If anything this feels like a proof of concept that there's room for a 2D platformer on the Playdate.
I think this guy is the devil?

Game is fun to play and looks great, but is really lacking in actual content unfortunately. Disappointed to find the game is only made of randomly generated stages rather than anything actually designed, and also doesn't seem to have that many random 'chunks' to actually build those stages out of. You really quickly see everything there is to see and run out of collectables in no time.

I think the game had enough mechanically going on they could have made a 1-2 hour campaign of quick levels that progressed in difficulty and this whole game would have been a lot more worthwhile. It's okay.

I thought this was pretty fun. Feels difficult at first but it's mostly fair, and the controls are responsive. It seems to be each run is random but stitching together little gauntlets that you will recognise and learn to deal with over time.

It didn't take long before I felt like I'd seen pretty much everything this game had to offer, I am not a huge fan of randomly generated games like this - I would have enjoyed it a lot more personally if it was just a small selection of levels. Still, I had fun with with it.

Un juego desconcertante en extremo. El tono relajado y divertido de los niveles y el propio estilo de juego choca frontalmente con su premisa y objetivos. La idea de dejar scouts atrás para que sean consumides por las llamas me aterra lo bastante como para no querer terminar un nivel sin haberlos rescatado a todes, pero el juego tampoco tiene mucha más originalidad aparte de la que exhibe a la hora de implementar bien mecánicas de salto como Ducktales.

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A baffling and disquieting game. The lighthearted tone of the levels and the gameplay itself clashes head-on with its premise and goals. The idea of leaving scouts behind to be consumed by flames terrifies me enough to not want to finish a level without having rescued them all. Unfortunately, the game lacks that much originality aside from being fairly competent at imitating the mechanics of similar platformers like Ducktales.