Video Games: ‘The Last Campfire’ Review

Hey! Hallie here!

It’s been a while! My life has been absolutely hectic recently with a lot of new, stressful, exciting things. So naturally, I’m still playing as many cozy games as I can to help out my stress and anxiety. I’m always on the look out for games that feel like a warm blanket on a cold day. While I was looking through the cozy games for Nintendo Switch, I noticed that this game was only a few dollars and had amazing reviews. So, as usual, I did way too much research into this game and decided the lush forest background and deep storyline were exactly the kinds of things I look for in my cozy games. But did this game live up to its good reviews? Let’s look at what ‘The Last Campfire’ really has to offer! This review is spoiler free! Don’t worry about avoiding this post if you want to discover this story on your own!

Synopsis: In ‘The Last Campfire’ you play as Ember, a spirit who drifts too far down the river and finds themself in a world full of lost souls. The souls here are in danger of becoming “forlorn”, a state where they turn to stone. Fortunately for them Ember has the ability to reach them in their forlorn state, help them sort through the problems they had in life, and release them from the stone. Though Ember finds new purpose in helping these souls, they quickly discover that they must also go up against the Forest King, a powerful spirit who won’t let any of the souls move on.

Gameplay: This is an area puzzle game, meaning you spend the duration of the game exploring new locations and figuring out how to use the objects at your disposal to overcome obstacles in your way. In some cases that means luring a pig to one area of the map so they can eat the plants in your way. In others it means figuring out how to build a bridge to the next platform. At some point in the game you also get a mysterious musical instrument, which allows you to move objects far bigger and further away than the other objects you can manipulate. The puzzles make exploring the map interesting and the progression of difficulty is very satisfying. You never feel out of your depth with any puzzles, but some of the puzzles were definitely more difficult than I anticipated. It made things challenging without ever becoming stressful. There are also some extra obstacles you can navigate your way past in order to collect journal entries. These entries are from a stranger who becomes more and more plot relevant as the story goes on. I really liked finding the entires hidden across each area, but I will say that it’s disappointing that you don’t get any sort of achievement for finding them all. Still, overall, I really liked the simple but engaging gameplay.

Story: I somehow end up consuming a lot of games with death as the focus, but if that’s a topic that isn’t something you feel completely comfortable addressing, this game is definitely more for you than say, ‘Spiritfarer’. While ‘The Last Campfire’ does talk a lot about the concept of moving on and being at peace with the decisions made in life, its approach to the whole thing is more metaphorical than other games. You can really draw your own conclusions when it comes to most of the topics the game presents. This is especially true of the stories you get from each soul you help. As you solve puzzles to help each forlorn soul break free of the stone trapping them, you hear a vague story narrated to you that explains the biggest regret or hardship of the soul you’re helping. While these can be a bit too cryptic, they’re absolutely fascinating and help you empathize with each character. This is especially true of the “boss” of each area, a character who tends to be more unique from the other characters and has a more defined story. None of these characters are connected, but hearing their individual stories was probably my favorite part of the entire game. I also really loved that some forlorn souls can’t be helped. At first this sounds a bit depressing, but in truth it isn’t. When you approach forlorn souls that can’t be helped, they specifically ask that you not help them. And it’s never because any of them are “too far gone”. It’s always because they aren’t ready to move on or share their insecurities with someone else. The game never looks down on them for making these decisions. Instead, it normalizes taking your time to process and ask for help. And then, on top of all of that, the narrator has the most charming, soothing voice I’ve ever heard. I really enjoyed my time with this story, and there’s definitely something very healing about it.

‘The Last Campfire’ won’t take you long to complete. It’s only about a seven hour game, and that includes taking your time to find journal entries. But the scope feels so much larger than you would expect for something that short. There are several locations, so many characters to meet, and multiple heartfelt messages for each area. Add in the amount of times a puzzle genuinely stumped me, and I felt like I got a lot of content packed into only a few hours. This is definitely worth the money, both at a discount and at full price. It’s gorgeous, wholesome, and genuinely cozy.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie