When I saw the first trailer for The Last Campfire I knew right away it would be my kind of game. Like many others I was quite disappointed by the launch of Hello Game's last game No Man's Sky. I wanted to give the studio a chance to redeem themselves and this new game seemed set in a much more reasonable scale for a team of their size. This is a story-driven puzzle where you must help lost souls by getting in their head and finding a path through their troubles. While short and sweet there are several fun puzzles, moving story beats, and clever level design filling out the experience. Whether you are more interested in the adventurous element that comes with the mysterious story or the joy of finally cracking a clever brain teaser, you've come to the right place.
The Last Campfire starts with you watching a precession of these sack-shaped people, called embers, ride their boats down a little river. As the travelers in front of you take off in a separate direction you lose your paddle and find yourself lost downstream. Its kind of scary being on your own and not knowing where you are but you aren't the only who has lost their way. Many other embers have fallen off the path as well and about half of them are so far gone they've become forlorn. These forlorn embers have succumb to despair, are stricken with regrets, and are too scared to move forward. You can enter into the minds of these forlorn and to help guide them through their troubles. Once you have saved enough forlorn the guiding spirit within the near by campfire will open up a path for you to the next area. You may run into trouble with the birds since they think it everyone would be better off if they were to make their home here, in this place, rather than move forward into the unknown.
This semi-linear game is kind of broken up into chapters of sorts via the campfires and the spaces in between. In each chapter will have a handful of areas to explore and you'll notice some forlorn will be easier to find then others. You don't need to help all the forlorn to proceed but usually the hardest ones to find are the most rewarding. I say that because often you'll have to work through a series a little tasks or challenges to gain access to the last couple forlorn. This ranges from giving an old fisherman some company to helping a chef find some special ingredients for his soup. The puzzles with the forlorn themselves often involve simple mechanics such as pushing boulders, flipping switches, or keep a fire alight. None of the puzzles get too difficult but they do get you thinking and make for some good brain teasers.
I honestly think this may be one of the most adorable games I've even played. The visuals have a fairly realistic cartoony look to them supported by a really pleasant color scheme. The embers themselves all look quite funny with the simplistic nature of their sack-shaped clothing. The game's story is read by a commentator which narrates how the ember you play as is feeling at any given time as well as what thoughts are weighing down the forlorn you encounter. The narrator reads the dialog in the dramatic way that one might expect a parent to read a fairy tale to their kids. The lead actress who reads all these lines, with the help of a handful of other talented actors, does a great job setting the tone for this game and breathing a lot of life into this world.
The Last Campfire ended up being everything I had hoped it would be if not more. I wasn't sure how the puzzles would be integrated but going into each characters head was clever and served the story well. The tale told throughout your journey through this would quite enjoyable, especially with the help of the voice-acting. Completing the game and the few bonus puzzles took me just under six hours which I feel is a very reasonable length, especially considering no point felt like filler. If you need narrative elements to make you want to engage with a puzzle game The Last Campfire does just that. If you enjoy the charming art style from the trailer then I have no doubt you'll enjoy your time with this game as well.