My 100 Video Game Challenge (2024) #17: The Last Campfire

Played on: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, iOS

One thing that's actually got me pretty tickled over the course of my 100 video game challenge for this year is the fact that even a few acquaintances, let alone my close friends, have kind of started to get into it with me. I've gotten a very helpful series of suggestions for short indie games and retro games to help keep my numbers healthy, and one such suggestion came from a friend of a friend, who told me about a little game called The Last Campfire.

Sarah was the one who tried the game first, buying it for her Nintendo Switch after her friend initially recommended it to both of us, whereupon she absolutely loved it. She even handed her entire Switch off to me for a bit, so I could try the game for myself. This was around the same time that The Last Campfire was on sale for about $3 on every major platform (it's also on sale for that price again at the time of writing!), so after running through the game on Switch, I decided to grab the Xbox One version for myself, and eventually ended up with copies for PS4 and PC from there. Hey, when in Rome, right?

The Last Campfire is developed by Hello Games. Yes, THAT Hello Games, best known for infamous spacefaring live service sim, No Man's Sky. Serving as something of a side project, the game places you in control of a nameless cloaked figure called an 'Ember'. Ember is on a mysterious journey within an unknown land to find the titular Last Campfire, encountering obstacles and puzzles along the way, as well as the watchful eyes of a mysterious stranger.

The Last Campfire is mostly built around its puzzles, with Ember deciding to dedicate their time in this mysterious place to freeing fellow Embers that have turned 'Forlorn', essentially rendering them as morose statues that are unable to continue their journeys. Each Forlorn's scattered thoughts will manifest as a puzzle when the player finds and interacts with them, making use of environmental physics and stage obstacles so the player's Ember can navigate a path to a goal point. There's no combat or fail state in The Last Campfire, but the mental workouts you'll enjoy will nonetheless put your puzzling acumen to the test.

Immediately, I have to say that everything about The Last Campfire's presentation is sublime. The game's soothing narrator immediately draws you in after you're welcomed into a mystery land that's as colourful as it is spooky. The fundamentals of the game are very simple, with players mostly just moving and interacting with simple switches, pushing and pulling objects, or occasionally presenting an item to open paths ahead, echoing a sort of stripped-down Legend of Zelda feel, again, without the combat. It's a very smart mix between being accessible and very friendly to one's gaming sensibilities, while also being wholly inviting to people that don't generally play video games. That's why it was no surprise to me when I heard that The Last Campfire was originally conceived as a mobile game, built around touch controls, before it was later expanded and repurposed for consoles and PC, albeit still with a mobile version ultimately made.

Speaking of that mobile version, it's actually free for Apple Arcade members at the time of writing. This gave me a chance to do something I'd been meaning to do for years now; Actually make some use of my Apple Arcade privileges, which are part of my monthly Apple One subscription. Thus, by the time I played through The Last Campfire properly, I was able to sample it on a whopping FIVE platforms, including my iPhone!

My first and proper, unguided playthrough of The Last Campfire was on Nintendo Switch, like I said, after Sarah lent her copy to me. In a rare turn as well, the Switch version of The Last Campfire is virtually indistinguishable from its competitors, running smoothly and looking great throughout, even when I played it in Handheld Mode. The Xbox One version of The Last Campfire that I bought for myself afterward boosted the resolution to 4K, and its environments felt a bit sharper and better defined overall, but I also didn't think it was a noticeably huge leap over its Nintendo Switch cousin.

Surprisingly, the PS4 version of The Last Campfire is a bit rough in some places, by contrast. It looks about as good as the Nintendo Switch version, with a bump in pixel resolution to mostly match the Xbox One version, but its visuals also feel a bit jankier, and it doesn't seem to run quite as smoothly, even when I played it on my PS5. None of these hiccups are dealbreakers, of course, but they do make for a questionably optimized experience on Sony's console, in my opinion, and that was a let-down. This felt like the same sort of weird optimization hiccups that intruded on my play experience with Hoa on PS5 earlier this year, after that game also seemed to present and run noticeably better on Xbox hardware, let alone PC.

On PC, The Last Campfire also looks and plays very well, even on a mid-tier rig. My laptop maxed out the settings without an issue, and using my Xbox controller, I was able to enjoy an experience on Steam that more or less delivered the same level of fidelity as the standout Xbox One version.

Another pleasant surprise in this case was The Last Campfire's iOS build, which, as I mentioned, is free for Apple Arcade members like myself at the time of writing. This is one of the very rare instances where I might actually recommend the mobile version of a multiplatform game pretty highly as well. The Last Campfire's iOS build gives you roughly the exact same experience that you would get playing the game on Nintendo Switch, and while I primarily played with a Backbone controller attached to my phone, I can also confirm that the default touch controls work very well in this case. I, personally prefer tangible buttons and sticks, even here, but considering the rather shaky state that many mobile games of this scope end up in, I do have to give credit where it's due; The Last Campfire delivers a pretty strong mobile port. In fact, if you are an Apple Arcade member, and don't mind likely having to use touch controls for your whole playthrough, I'd recommend prioritizing the iOS version of The Last Campfire, and completely saving yourself the purchase fee.

Even then though, when The Last Campfire goes on sale, it's only about $2-$3 CAN, and you really can't go wrong with any version of the game at that price in particular. Like I said, the PS4 version has a bit more visual roughness from my play experience, but only a bit, and certainly nothing game-breaking.

Regardless of your platform of choice however, I must continue to stress that The Last Campfire is a beautiful, oddly cathartic experience. I was actually playing through it while my family was putting the family dog down, a notably sad time for myself and my family members, but one that also made The Last Campfire feel even more poignant when I played it. Unsurprisingly, considering its themes of being trapped in grief and unable to move forward, much of The Last Campfire appears to be a metaphor for processing death and loss, with the game's Embers seemingly being departed souls that are attempting to navigate their way to the afterlife, and the Forlorn being those who have given up on achieving peace, redemption or a new purpose.

The Last Campfire's themes clearly hit upon people's instinctive desire to help those who are struggling during shared adversity as well. On that note, I noticed that the PS4 version of The Last Campfire actually has a 50% Platinum Trophy stat among worldwide players, the highest I've ever seen in any PlayStation game to date! The Last Campfire's trophies/achievements are mostly straightforward to earn, in fairness, but in order to earn its Platinum Trophy on PlayStation, or amass every achievement on Xbox, iOS or Steam, you have to find and heal every Forlorn in the game, which in turn means solving every puzzle. The fact that literally half of all players have resolved to do exactly that on PlayStation, and not leave even one Ember behind on their journey, with similar stats appearing to be present on Xbox and Steam (iOS and Nintendo Switch completion stats aren't available, but I assume they are also similar), is a perfect illustration of just how effectively Hello Games has crafted an introspective puzzler, one that strongly motivates you to see all of it, as you truly feel like you're part of a larger, more important group of lost Embers.

In terms of flaws, I'm actually hard pressed to name any large ones. Like I said, the PS4 version has a few unique technical hiccups, and the game's physics can admittedly be a little fussy at times, especially when you're trying to pick up and place objects and such.

Outside of those minor quibbles though, I can confidently say that The Last Campfire is one of the most heartfelt and satisfying games that I've played through in 2024 so far. I feel like its immersive, limbo-esque world continues to stick out in my mind, almost spilling out of the screen with how well-realized it is. I never got tired of it, even during repeat playthroughs, with its 4-6-hour playtime feeling just right for the price (let alone its miniscule sale price!), its puzzles perfectly balancing ingenuity and accessibility, and its presentation being universally polished to a sheen.

Anyone that enjoys solving puzzles and/or challenging their feelings should consider The Last Campfire required playing. Whatever issues that No Man's Sky has faced since its turbulent launch, The Last Campfire definitively proves that Hello Games remains superb at smaller, more personal storytelling, even after they've carved out most of their identity trying to realize the biggest indie game pitch since Minecraft.

IF I HAD TO SCORE IT: 9/10