the Last Campfire

*author's note: to get full effect on this entry, play game soundtrack on youtube in background*


Have we collected that I'm cheap, yet?

I will absolutely pay money for the Zeldas and other legends of the game world. But I will also absolutely spend days researching a game / reading non-spoiling (and spoiling) reviews (depending) / look up how long game play typically is / do mental math to weigh whether or not the ROI can be justified. 

(Especially now: gone are the days of the 6-month epics, for the most part.)

So you can imagine my excitement when I came upon the Last Campfire at a whopping 1.99. After finding that average gameplay was around 5-7 hours and realizing how terribly sad it was that I even bothered to look it up I mean damn, man it was two bucks girl just live a little why don't you *gasps for air*... I pulled the trigger. 

This story is about death, again.

I can explain.
It looked so interesting, so original and it promised decent puzzles. I had to. 

I steeled my thumbs as I introduced myself to another emotional one (hopefully I was getting the sad ones out of the way and would soon find something lighthearted and fun).

The character: as adorable as the bunny thing from Ori. BUT: this is one of those games where you can't die. So I wouldn't have to feel guilty for killing a too-precious main.

The world: for an indie studio/smaller production: perfect amount of exploring and directional gameplay. I never got too-lost while also never feeling loss of intrigue. Not to mention: easy on the eyes! The graphics / visuals are mostly nature-inspired and beautifully plant-centric. Cartoonish, but still very appealing in its style. Really balanced stuff, never fully removing you from the possibility of its reality. Which is important. You need to care about this world; these characters. 

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE SCORE AND VOICE-OVER?

The score: Hopefully you read the author's note above and have been allowing the full game soundtrack to bless you in its golden light. To glide its bow on heartstrings until a warm but shiver-inducing hum emits. To make you, on your most shallow day, feel. This score is mostly subdued and on its own: perhaps not the most powerful thing. Not masterful Chopin. But for the game: it is perfect. 

The voice: Most games voice actors leave me irritated or swimming in deep-cringe. When I was a kid, I used to wonder why games never had their characters speak ("SO MUCH READING" - younger me, probably). Once Final Fantasy X came out: I wondered no longer. 

This voice-over / narrator is perfect.

The job done by British-Scandi voice actress, Rachel August, is exemplary. Her voice equal parts strong and uncertain. Just sweet enough while never losing authenticity. Not sickly. Just superb. She carries you through your journey from start to finish: never leaving your side or abandoning you when things get dark or difficult. Offering reassuring measure when you would otherwise feel lost. 

It's a piece that is (i.m.o.) game-specifically necessary / the game itself would be missing an incredible force/heft/gravitas if we did not have the narrator. And when so many games do not have one: it makes me applaud Hello Games even more for thinking of it/adding the mechanic in the first place. 

Amongst other accolades I could give it, the narrator mechanic helps you (the solo-player) feel less alone in this deeply precious, emotional, sweet-but-heavy world. You navigate the 3-D oil painted land in search for others like you to help them move on from this world they no longer belong in to their final place of rest, essentially. To hear their stories of achievement and defeat and to do your best to uplift them/aid them in their final elephant task. The game does such a lack-nothing, magnificent job of conveying every emotion. With expert hands: never too-heavy.

For the most part: I never really cared for "emotional" movies or music until the last few years. And being brought up in the years of Twisted Metal and PaRappa the Rapper, I certainly never thought about playing an "emotional" video game. (Acceptable emotion from video games back then: excitement or unrelenting rage.) They were escapes. From reality. From school, from job, from family or whatever irritating shit your friends were putting you through. I never considered that games could be designed to help us process our real lives. 

There is something special about this game. I was enveloped in warm, comforting hands. Chaperoned through a magical, yet all-too-familiar world. I was immersed, and expertly so. The story was original. The puzzles were challenging, but doable. I was never left drowning in exposition or too-long cut scenes. There was enough gameplay. Enough company. Enough narration and enough space. Fills up a sushi-takeout-filled weekend while not leaving you too soon. I was certainly not expecting it, but:

There is absolutely nothing missing from The Last Campfire.