Forest of Strays

Forest of Strays (2020) is a precursor to Forest of Strays (2024). It's a game jam entry where you had to make a single level. It's a pretty early Nether Lamp (before it was called as such) game, and it shows.

The gameplay is janky as all hell - the moving platforms aren't moving you along them, this is the kind of jank you'd expect in the first Mega Man. The sword feels like it has a deceptive hitbox - I suppose visually it doesn't have the middle, but it doesn't feel right, sometimes I would slash close to an enemy but it didn't register. However, I do like the idea of using a sword to turn bad things into good things, like those slimes, I think it's a unique concept that unfortunately doesn't come back in the remake. If you can look past the jank, I think there's actually some pretty good level design in here. Unfortunately, I cannot show specific examples because I haven't figured how to take screenshots of the game, but there are a few sections that are quite engaging, I might even like them more than anything in the remake.

The sound effects are pretty bad. Who would've thought that RPG Maker sound effects aren't very fitting for a platformer? The music does sound familiar to what's in the remake, so that's nice. The visuals are a bit rough around the edges, as you'd expect from an early project from the developer. The evolution of visuals between this and the remake is striking.

I managed to get the cat boss ending because I collected all leaves. I don't like how the lightning strike attacks give you little reaction time before striking, resulting in unfair death. Also, epilepsy warning - the game flashes white each time the boss takes damage, and sometimes it can take multiple on the same hit.

Overall, Forest of Strays (2020) is a bit unpolished and frustrating, but does have good ideas and bits of great level design. Just like Soulful, it's a blueprint for something greater.

Death Count = 23