Ars Technica (Sam Machkovech, 18 Apr 2022). knowing Firewatch, its "rescue children from an advancing forest fire" premise reads darker; overall "an inoffensive timewaster".
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/04/all-24-of-playdates-included-games-reviewed/Games / Season One / Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke
OverviewSeason One
Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke
Action / RacingCrank: yesSeason One (included)
1 · official Catalog screenshot
2 · official Catalog screenshot1 · official Catalog screenshot2 · official Catalog screenshotOverview. Not yet reviewed. No score. Checked 12 Oct 2026. Built from official and press sources.
What it is
"Join FORREST BYRNES to fight a malignant blaze threatening our sumptuous woodlands!" Forrest Byrnes is the fire-safety mascot from Firewatch, the Campo Santo game Panic published, and here he stars in his own side-scrolling platformer. A fire advances from the left, so you keep running right through randomly assembled level chunks, rescuing stranded campers and grabbing collectibles. You smack things and bounce with a shovel, and the crank pulls objects up from wells. The store page notes it needs held D-pad combinations and quick reflexes.
It's by Firewatch co-creator Nels Anderson with pixel artist Christina "castpixel" Neofotistou. It unlocked in Week 11 of Season One alongside Battleship Godios, free with the console.
Who made it
What others are saying
Gabriel Toschi (blog, undated). "isn't an amazing example, but I think it's the proof of concept" for portable spin-offs. "It wasn't for me, but I like the precedent."
https://www.gabtoschi.com/blog/playdate-full-review/Callout (?): No review yet. We haven't reviewed Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke yet. This page is an overview built from official and press sources.
Sources
Checked 12 Oct 2026.
- Official Catalog page (description, credits, size, dates, content/AI/accessibility notes). https://play.date/games/forrest-byrnes/
- Season One page. https://play.date/games/season-one/
- Ars Technica, Sam Machkovech, 18 Apr 2022. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/04/all-24-of-playdates-included-games-reviewed/
- Gabriel Toschi (undated). https://www.gabtoschi.com/blog/playdate-full-review/
- Playdate Podcast transcript: research/gamepages/sources/forrest-byrnes/podcast.txt.
OverviewNo score
Overview
Not yet reviewed.
No score. This page is built from official and press sources.
On the card
Firewatch's fire-safety mascot races a forest fire, rescuing campers in a randomly assembled side-scroller with a shovel bounce.
From the sources
