Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers

Bonfire Peaks Review

Game: Bonfire Peaks
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam,Win, Mac, Linux, Epic Games Store, PS4, PS5)
Developers | Publishers: Corey Martin, Draknek & Friends | Future Friends PR
Age Rating: US Teen | EU 16+
Price: US $19.99 | UK £15.09 | EU € 16,79
Release Date: September 30th, 2021

Review code used, with many thanks to Future Friends PR

Bonfire Peaks has been created by Pipe Push Paradise developer Corey Martin and Draknek & Friends. Incidentally, Draknek & Friends also developed A Monster’s Expedition and A Good Snowman is Hard to Build, which I have also reviewed.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers

Sokoban Mechanics

Bonfire Peaks is a puzzle game with Sokoban mechanics where the goal is to reach the bonfire in each level and burn your belongings in a box. You may think that this is a puzzle game about burning stuff which essentially it is but it has a deeper meaning than setting stuff on fire.

Bonfire Peaks is an adult puzzle game, there isn’t any words or story to the game. But after playing it, I would say it’s a game about moving on and starting afresh, wiping the slate clean to start over kind of thing.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers

200 levels

There are 200 levels in Bonfire Peaks, all connected by an overworld from which you must climb to the peak. Each level you complete successfully gives you a crate or two in the overworld to proceed there to the next level, it’s cleverly tied together.

If you’re thinking, I’ll never finish 200 puzzles, you don’t have to as you’re granted a lot of freedom to chose your way forwards. So you really don’t have to complete that many stages in order to forge ahead in your adventure.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers
Stuck again, now let me think??

Burn a Box of Belongings

Each level tasks you with finding your way to a bonfire in order to burn a box of your belongings. It’s not immediately explained why your character has chosen to do this. I have surmised he is starting afresh and clearing out his old life, but I could be way off the mark with that idea.

Every level has a new box of belongings to be burned in order for your protagonist to move forward up the peak. Levels are made up of tiled blocks, which can’t be moved, on a small diorama. You’re given your box of belongings and you need to work out how to get it to the bonfire.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers
Sitting at the campfire in the overworld

Easy in Practice but Hard to Master.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It is easy in practice but hard to master. Bonfire Peaks is the kind of puzzle game you can spend an hour on one puzzle. Then fly through the next four or five puzzles easily until you spend another hour pondering over the solution for the next one.

You soon realise that while you can turn on the spot easily enough, attempting to do so with a crate in hand is a completely different matter as your turning circle is extended by one tile when holding the crate. There is a fantastic sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when you do manage to burn the protagonist belongings.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers
Build steps to reach the fire

Being an Idiot

I spent most of my time playing Bonfire Peaks scratching my head. Then cheering like an idiot when I had managed to solve the puzzle and my man got to burn his belongings on the Bonfire. I also discovered there might be a little bit of a Pyromania in me as I loved finally reaching the fire and setting the crate alight. Burn, burn my lovely!

Fortunately, if you ever get stuck you can always skip a level and come back later. In both the overworld and the levels themselves you can reset the puzzle, or undo an action. Simply done with the push of a button.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers
The weather changed to snow

New Mechanics Introduced

New mechanics are introduced as you move up the peak. Keeping the game fresh and giving you something else to solve. Bigger boxes make an appearance, rivers of water that will push a box forward or an arrow that’s shot when you step on a tile and more, all add to the puzzling.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers
Where’s he off to?

Visuals and Controls

Bonfire Peaks looks really well on the Switch in its lush and vibrant voxel art. While you’re puzzling your brain into a melt-down stage there is a serene and atmospheric soundtrack to chill your brain while you take on mind-bending puzzles.

Controls are simple, one button and the joystick is all that is needed to move around and to burn your belongings.

Bonfire Peaks LadiesGamers
Burn baby burn!

Conclusion

Move onwards, move upwards and leave nothing behind in Bonfire Peaks. A game about burning your belonging’s and starting afresh in the process of liberating yourself from your past. Bonfire Peaks is a great game for long or short play sessions.

Final Verdict: I Like It a Lot  I like it a lot

One comment

  1. Bonfire Peaks Game sees a man in a comfortable-looking coat taking a pedalo to a secretive island, in light of yet one objective: consume his things. What follows is a devilishly troublesome puzzle game. T

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