Lets Review The Last Campfire: Beautiful Puzzle Game for soothing escapism
2Hello Games website: https://hellogames.org/
Full Review:
The Last Campfire is a Puzzle Game by Hello Games, available for most platforms and was released in August 2020.
The player slips into the roll of a little ember who is lost in a very cute but also very vast netherworld. To make their way through, they have to solve puzzles and above all, help other embers who are forlorn and can't help themselves.
Since the game was developed for kid's, the gameplay is fairly easy and straightforward, so this game is for beginners as well as pros. You navigate from one level to the next and - as far as I know - can return to all levels, in case you forgot something or want to revisit them. The level design is quite lovely and every level has its own unique look, story-line and characters - be prepared for only the cutest, biggest animals.
The puzzles are just the right amount of difficult if you enjoy casual puzzling but don't want to sit awake at night, sweating the solution. Especially the fact that you don't have to backtrack through levels to find solutions for a puzzle but rather have very clear locations for each puzzle and solution makes for a fun and relaxing time. The puzzles are neither finicky nor are they based around difficult math or word riddles which makes this game accessible for kids as well as adults. Again, this game plays incredibly calm and relaxing. You can't die, there's no "losing" the game and if you get stuck, you can usually continue to some other part of the level and come back to it later.
The story as well as the themes are seemingly simple from the get-go but go deeper the longer you stay in the wondrous world of Ember and their friends. I won't spoil anything but the real story takes a while to come forward but it is definitely worth it - I for one was quite moved and loved its conclusion even though I would have wished that it would have been a bit more in the foreground at the beginning of the game.
What makes this game special, at least in my noobish opinion, is the way it treats all characters and the overall theme. Our little ember is helping wherever they can and bit by bit gets to know other embers who got stuck, lost their purpose, made mistakes and therefore turned into forlorn. Even more so, not every ember can be helped and our ember acknowledges their wishes.
All in all, this game lets you read between the lines and is open for interpretation. At the beginning, I thought that this was one of its weaknesses but the further I played, the more I appreciated that this makes it perfect for all age groups, since kids can gather themes like helping each other, letting others be sad or be sad themselves while adults can see darker themes like depression, lethargy, apathy and loneliness.
The soothing and tender voice work of Charlotte McBurney who you might know from the much darker, much more horrifying but also brilliant A Plague Tale, is the perfect choice to lead you through a wondrous world and helps with the overall sense that no one truly is on their own (unless they want to be).
In an interesting interview with eurogamer (link is in the description), the developers Sean Murray and Steven Burgess talked about the fact that they wanted to create a kid's game that still touched on darker themes and were quite inspired by 80s shows and movies like the Dark Crystal - which can be found in some of the character designs. The Last campfire is far from being as dark and creepy as the 80s Henson productions but it has some ideas and imageries that are spooky and adorable in equal measures.
Maybe it's a coincidence but especially during a year that forced many people into a less social life due to a global pandemic, The Last Campfire touches on a few topics that seriously moved me. Ember is extending a hand towards others who felt like they had no one and could not be helped. Not every ember wants to be saved and some need some time after being saved. But all are cared for if they need it. It might be cheesy - but this is - after all - a kid's game, but I loved the message, especially during times when many people are alone and feel isolated. This game is an escape but also a reminder that it can be an easy thing to extend a hand to people who feel a little forlorn.
Eurogamer interview with the developers: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-08-28-hello-games-sean-murray-steven-burgess-last-campfire-interview
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