Game Thoughts - Little Inferno by Tomorrow Corporation

Note: This is a repost from our Tumblr.

To be honest, I only wanted to play this game cause it looked silly. But as I soon found out, it was silly, yes, but it wasn't completely so! (Or rather, that's not all it is.) And I like it! - Gure

What's It About?

So, you play as a guy who's gotten himself a brand new "Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace", which is basically a fireplace that can burn a lot of different things, even a bomb… and even a mini sun. Woooooow…

But why, you ask?

Well… For self-entertainment! And also cause it's very cold outside, for some reason, as you're supposed to find out in the story. To be fair, you'll find out pretty early anyway, so it's not too much of a spoiler.

Writing

I didn't think it would have that much of a story, not gonna lie, but yeah, there's a story, apparently! And they did a good job telling that story through dialogue from the characters other than yourself.

lol and there's also the item descriptions! That dark humor really is something… I'm gonna have to tell you all that they're not shy about showing and describing certain objects that might trigger/disturb people.

I do like how they tell you bits and pieces of the story through letters from the other characters, and I really find it amazing that it all comes together in the end. Like, questions that you may have as a player get answered, but it's not like they tell it to you in one go… you go out and talk to the characters involved.

Probably won't say any more, but remember that even though you're "by yourself" in the game, you're certainly not alone.

Art

First thing that comes to mind is that everything looks pretty whimsical, even though some of those things aren't really what you would wanna see, like syringes… bombs… meds… It kind of reminds me of something like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. I like it.

Music

The music fits the game pretty well, and there are a lot of little noises that the items make that I really like. Really keeps the game from being too tedious when it comes to waiting for items to get delivered.

The volume starts pretty loud, however, and there's no way to reduce it in-game. And that pretty much means that you have to use your computer system's volume mixer so you can set it right.

Also, for some reason, it gets a copyright notice when we upload it. Thankfully, it's not a strike or anything like that, but still, just a heads-up.

Gameplay

The game pretty much has two parts to it, basically. The first part has you buying stuff through catalogs provided to you, waiting to get them, and then burning them in the fireplace to get money as well as get combos. Some item combinations are obvious, but some really take some thinking and some knowledge of things (to be honest, I had to look at a guide for a few of them.) This was the part that got me to play it, but apparently, it's more than that.

The second part has you walk around and talk to people and stuff. Not gonna lie, just saying that doesn't really do it justice lol. Basically, what happens is that some of the loose ends get tied… I can't really talk about it so much, cause I think it's better just to experience the whole thing.

Either way… There's not much I can consider bad, except maybe for the parts where I have to wait a lot during the first part (especially since I didn't know the items Sugar Plumps sends you aren't too important at all lol). Like, if you were playing by myself, maybe you wouldn't mind it as much, but if there's people watching you play, I would suggest that you have something to talk about.

Overall

This is a pretty nice, surprisingly deep(?) game that provides you the fun of burning things down (which you shouldn't really do that freely IRL lol) and gently and lovingly reminds you that there's a whole wide world out there. It can be a little on the short side, considering you can actually finish it in a single sitting, but I think the story's worth it.

You can get it on GOG, Steam, Epic Games, as well as on Android and Switch. (There's a Christmas-themed (or is it Santa-themed?) DLC too, by the way.)