GAME REVIEW: The Last Campfire (2020)
A surprisingly deep puzzle RPG
The Last Campfire is a game that I bought when browsing sales on the Nintendo Switch. Released by Hello Games in 2020, it seemed like a cute and interesting puzzle game per its art and design, and it was also very well-rated, so I decided to give it a shot. On the whole, I really enjoyed it too!
Premise
The story follows the main character, Ember, as they traverse this strange, magical world and help bring life back to others like them, who have turned to stone. There is a guide at each campfire, assisting Ember and giving useful hints if the player isn’t sure what to do next.
Gameplay
The gameplay is quite simple overall, with basic movement mechanics and a small inventory. Most of the puzzle solving simply involves pushing and pulling levers and blocks. There’s a wee hint of old point-and-click mechanics, in the need to do things like finding and repairing a net. In one of the very first puzzles there was a logical issue that apparently prevented many people from solving the puzzle without looking it up (myself among them) because they would have never believed the necessary move would have worked per basic physics and thus never tried it. Beyond that though, I think the game was really easy to learn and really easy to pick up and put down.
It was also not bigger or longer than it needed to be, and I was able to play it leisurely in a few hours without losing my track of what I needed to do or where I needed to go thanks to the nice use of central campfire hubs. It was also nice to have the guide at the campfire: if you happened to need extra assistance, as they would give you a hint of what you haven’t finished yet without saying it too directly. The maps were interconnected, like simplified small-scale Dark Souls maps (which are a favorite map style of mine).
Art & Style
I would give this game a full score for art and style, as it’s very cute and the music is really nice and very fitting. It was like playing a more adult (and modern, of course) version of old Nintendo 64 platformers, visually. However, I admit that I didn’t like the narration. There are arguments to be made that narrators should be allowed to speak in more accents and vocal styles, but the counterargument of that is that a neutral voice is simply easier to understand and digest, and is thus more accessible/less distracting to more people. For example, while my German friend said he was not bothered by the narrator’s voice, personally, the accent and child-like voice of the narrator constantly distracted me from my enjoyment of the game.
Story (spoiler-free)
The story follows Ember as they travel from place to place, solving puzzles in order to free these “lost souls” by returning their inner flames (or some such). They do this, all the while shadowed by a similar ember (yes, the main character’s name seemed to be Ember, but that was also… what they are?). My take on this was that these embers are a metaphor for people who are going through hard times and have gotten so tangled up in their own heads and thoughts that they’ve become lost souls. Ember goes around and, by solving puzzles, helps free them from the emotional tangles in which they’ve found themselves.
There’s not a villain in this story, but there is a character in the game who seems to be controlling these embers under the guise of “protecting” them. I quite liked this part of the story, so I won’t spoil it, but suffice to say, the “antagonist” was a very solid character.
Frankly, I wasn’t expecting this game to be anywhere near as deep as it was. The Last Campfire is filled with beautiful healing metaphors—when you visit these embers around the campfires after freeing them, they will often give wise insights—but perhaps my favorite part about it is that you can also find stone embers that Ember cannot help. The narrator makes an interesting observation along the lines of, “Ember notes that this one is not ready to move on yet,” or “this one is unable to accept help,” or things like that. They’re little tidbits, but I think they’re really important when telling these stories about healing. Characters like Ember might, in other media, end up portraying goody-two-shoes characters or characters with savior syndrome. I think it’s extremely important that Ember recognizes that they can’t actually help everyone out there, and so their energy only goes towards those who need help. The others will have to wait to heal in their own time. These things cannot be forced or rushed.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, apart from my nit-picky feelings about the narrator and the physics issue in one of the first puzzles, I don’t really have any other complaints about the game. The visuals and music were exactly what they needed to be and the metaphors were extremely deep and very touching most of the time. The progress is swift and intuitive, the puzzles were fun without breaking my brain, and the ending was quite satisfying. On the whole, I definitely recommend this game!
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