Bonfire Peaks’ gorgeous art style and unique puzzles creates a brilliant gaming experience where you can get lost for hours playing.
Bonfire Peaks, developed by Corey Martin and published by Draknek & Friends, released on September 30 on PC, Switch and PlayStation, and is a beautiful, Sokoban puzzle game where you need to move your belongings to the bonfire to burn. The voxel-styled game begins in a forest where you play as a protagonist who needs to burn his possessions by completing levels of puzzles which get increasingly more difficult as you progress. The cozy soundtrack and crackling fire sound effects set the tone of the game as you wonder what this character has been through to eliminate his belongings. You are slowly introduced to the mechanics of the game with a couple of a simple puzzles. You can move forward, backwards and pivot on the spot whilst holding a crate but beware that sometimes holding a crate can limit your movement. As the game progresses and you move up in levels, you are introduced to strategically placed bricks, longer bricks, conveyer belts, multiple layers, streams, and traps to add difficulty.
Some puzzles in Bonfire Peaks seem quite simple while others can be infuriatingly difficult, but the sense of achievement in finally solving the puzzles has you wanting more. A puzzle that had me stuck for a while seemed very difficult but became quite simple when learning that you had to use a brick to move a crate along a crevice. Not only do you need to use strategy and logic but you will also need to think creatively too. When completing a puzzle, you are taken to back to the forest that you are adventuring in, unlocking memories and clues of your life. At the start you are leaving your car behind, then you come across a box TV stating you are burning all of your belongings to get back to nature. As you uncover these clues you believe something sentimental or tragic has happened for you to be where you are. However, these clues allow you to come up with your own narrative and reasoning as to what mysteries are behind the protagonist.
Bonfire Peaks’ gorgeous art style and unique puzzles creates a brilliant gaming experience where you can get lost for hours playing. The individualized levels and the subtle story elements eliminates the feeling of repetitive gameplay and becomes a game that is a must have for all puzzle loving players.
This review utilised a PlayStation key provided by Future Friends Games and Bonfire Peaks is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.
#gameonAUS
Written by: Alexandra Nitschke (RogueSultana)
