Not going to lie, if it weren't Hello Games behind The Last Campfire [official site] then there would probably be nothing for me here. But after all is said and done, regarding the past four years of No Man's Sky and its harrowing journey from media darling to embattled studio and back again, developer Hello Games has my attention.
That's a lot to unpack, I know, and there's no time to do it here without further burying the lead. So: The Last Campfire is the next game from Hello Games, makers of No Man's Sky. There is no relation between the two, although it would hurt my feelings if there weren't at least one or two easter eggs to be found about the Every Planet Procedural sci-fi survival game within this new, cutesy Campfire game.
You've got your little Journey squishy character, rocking a horned hoodie and a flappy little messenger bag. Floaty blobs of light help solve a deep-blue and purple world of environmental puzzles. Your little hoodie bro will travel beyond the dark forest and uncover lands populated with beautifully disgusting pigs, adorable monoliths, and other small-studio touches that make the marshmallowy art and architecture sproing to life. I mean look at me: I'm using words like marshmallowy and sproing to describe this thing. Everybody clear the area before I throw in a squeeee.
Hey, like I hinted at earlier, though, these kinds of games aren't really my cup of (blatantly twee) tea. I don't really like puzzles for puzzles' sake, and being so gosh darn cute doesn't earn you an automatic pass in my classroom. But again, since this is made by the labor-of-love team at Hello Games, I'm more than willing to keep a closer eye on it. Who knows, maybe being a doppy little doop is exactly the thing to take my mind off Fall Guys's little jelly bean dudes. Or not. As in, maybe Fall Guys is exactly why I'm looking at The Last Campfire with so much fondness all of a sudden.
The Last Campfire is coming to PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One in Summer 2020. (Which is, like, now.)
