Bonfire Peaks Review (PC)

good
key review info
  • Game: Bonfire Peaks
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:
Bonfire Peaks key art

One step backward, pivot, pivot again, stop to think a little. My character is holding on to an asymmetric stack of crates (one is not like the others) that defies gravity. While he stands still, I am thinking about how to move it into position so I can take one element and then make it into a step to finally reach a fire. Once I am there, I will turn some objects linked to my past into smoke and heat. I am not entirely sure why.

Bonfire Peaks was created by Corey Martin and is published by Draknek & Friends, on the PC using Steam, the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5 and 4. The title is built around puzzle mechanics and a story that touches on the meaning of loss and survival.

The unnamed protagonist is very determined to carry a crate of his things into a fire. It’s hard to know exactly what he’s carrying, or why the bonfires are all strewn across a mountain. Some hints about his past emerge as the peak approaches. Everything is clearly a metaphor for loss and for how hard it can be to move on and let go of a past that is communicated as traumatic.

Nothing is spelled out in the actual game, but it works on an emotional level, as long as you buy into the premise. I suspect that there are plenty of gamers who will find the entire setup pretentious, but I think it’s just on the right side of evocative. The game is best consumed in small slices to make sure the experience does not become cloying.

Bonfire Peaks
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Bonfire Peaks delivers movement-based puzzles on two levels. The main character needs to move his stuff to the fire to complete the smaller ones. He cannot jump, he can only move in four directions (no diagonal action here), and he can only pick up or set down the crate he is so focused on. A quick undo option is also available. Use these limited options to get the crate to the fire.

The game also has a meta-world, the mountain itself, where the same actions need to be used to get the character himself to new bonfires that have more puzzles. Weirdly, solving puzzles creates crates (presumably not the same as the one filled with stuff needing burning) that are required to move the character across the mountain. Thankfully, the player does not need to solve all bonfire puzzles to get the ones needed to climb.

As the main character solves puzzles and ascends the level of puzzle complexity increases. Streams add more ways to move stuff around and pressure traps pop up to hinder some moves. But movement remains restricted and nothing mechanics-related evolves in an actually interesting way.

Playing Bonfire Peaks is interesting as long as a puzzle does not take more than 15 minutes or so to figure out. The Undo command and the limited movement options mean that it is easy to start off with a good idea and figure out the rest as you are executing. When I hit a brick wall, I found a few undos often allowed me to get to a point where another option became visible.

But as the player climbs the mountain and burns more emotional baggage the puzzles become frustrating. Yes, there’s a pleasure in letting one percolate inside your brain while doing something else, only to return to the game a day later and solve it easily. But it’s sometimes more tempting to just look up a solution and make progress to see what else the universe has to offer.

Bonfire Peaks has a voxel-driven graphics style that’s well suited to the puzzle action and the themes it engages with. The main character always looks downtrodden and unwilling to show any positive emotion. The world around manages to be both bright and overcast at the same time. The voxel look is good for the type of puzzle the game is working with but can become a little annoying after a longer play session. The soundtrack is designed to stay in the background, giving the player the space, he needs to focus on finding a way to push forward toward the fire that needs to engulf everything.

Bonfire Peaks
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The Good

  • Atmosphere driven
  • Cool puzzles
  • Voxel look

The Bad

  • Limited narrative
  • Frustration level
  • No variety

Conclusion

Bonfire Peaks tries a little too hard to make relatively simple concepts seem deep and meaningful. The narrative of the unknown man is too laconic to be engaging in the long run. The gameplay, while delivering brilliant moments of discovery and achievement, is too repetitive. The two only connect in a meaningful way because of their lack of complexity.

The game does have atmosphere and it’s clear that Corey Martin has designed every element of the experience to generate and sustain it. And whether you find that effort successful will depend a lot on personal preference. Give Bonfire Peaks a try, play for a few hours and find out whether this particular mix of puzzle and atmosphere appeals.

Review code provided by the publisher.

story 7
gameplay 7
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 7.5
Editor's review
good
 

Bonfire Peaks screenshots (21 Images)

Bonfire Peaks key art
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