A game of high contrast. It looks like a cute, bright and colorful adventure/puzzle game, possibly for children. But this is neither a game for children nor a cheerful experience. The Last Campfire is about death, futility and relentless sorrow.
Puzzles occur both in the explorable world and in "puzzle rooms," offering a variety of unique puzzles to solve that are a casual level of difficulty. Some are braindead and some are clever.
Whether in the overworld or a puzzle room located deep in the psyche of a "Forlorn," the narrator is constantly intoning in a somber voice about all kinds of negative experiences, emotions and thoughts. Her voice has a nice tone, but an unfamiliar accent with fuzzy R's that give the impression of a speech impediment. Most of what she says is vague and disjointed. The interminable cryptic narration eventually resulted in me tuning it out. The Last Campfire serves as an example of my belief that modern video games are horrifically over-written.
There are some positive moments during the Ember's journey, but it's a drop in the ocean of sadness. The world is populated with creatures and fellow Embers, but still feels lonely because everyone is a "Stranger."
The game represents the emptiness of the modern individualistic, demoralized, and godless man's journey through life, as he falls into despair at its meaninglessness and pointlessness. At the end, the game attempts to offer meaning to it all, but limits them to empty "hope," arbitrary attempts to "try," and cynically embracing the suck of "failure." It never raises the obvious issue of, who created The Path with all its campfires?
Every indie game I play that's an allegory for death wallows in the sad emotions of it for the duration, but ultimately can't bring the game to an end without hollow emotional manipulation. That's all they can do if they believe death is the end and there's nothing beyond or any consequences for how they lived their life. That specific belief can't limit itself just to matters of death, and it comes back to inform people's worldview on the meaning and value of life, too.
I think the review score of "Overwhelmingly Positive" is too high, both for the basic gameplay and the story/themes. However, I'm not gonna let that affect my choice to give it a thumbs up. It's a well-crafted game and people who enjoy adventure / puzzle games will get something out of it.
