The game places you in the role of Ember, a small creature who wakes up in a mysterious forest, and has to figure out how he can get back home. Along the way, he finds the remains of other beings like him, and by solving puzzles he helps their spirits find peace. It’s a game that’s ultimately about the search for meaning and hope when things seem particularly rough — so it couldn’t be more fitting for  the state of the world today.

Hello Games

Even though it was developed by a team of three — Burgess, Chris Symonds, and James Chilcott — The Last Campfire doesn’t feel like a small game. Its environments are colorful and richly detailed, and every screen is distinct in some way. The instrumental score and gentle narration also makes Ember’s journey feels like something out of The Lord of the Rings. In many ways, The Last Campfire couldn’t be more different than No Man’s Sky — it sets you down linear paths, and there’s little room for exploration. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it makes the game feel like an interactive storybook.

Sean Murray, the founder of Hello Games, tells us that the company also approached The Last Campfire’s controls with touchscreens in mind first. “With Joe Danger, we’d come from doing a console game, and we rebuilt it pretty much completely to make it feel at home on the phone,” he said. “This time around… I think we’re at a point where the controls feel really intuitive and at home on a touchscreen.”