Campfire by loreKin
I didn’t even really want popcorn. But the game told me that no camping experience is complete without popcorn, and so I made popcorn. Unfortunately, this led to a page with no links, leaving me unable to finish the game. Seems like no camping experience is complete with popcorn either. Huh huh huh. Okay, thanks for listening, I’ll see myself out.
Ahem.
Campire is a relaxed little piece about going camping. It starts with some hectic and fairly soul-crushing scenes at work, and then we’re… off to the shops to buy some food and gear we can take along when we go camp. Shades of Sam and Leo go to the Bodega, but with less acid. Then we pack everything. There’s a nice element of systematic boredom to the experience, which is perhaps indistinguishable from anticipation. Packing your car for a holiday is not really stimulating, and yet who can resent it? Would the holiday not feel slightly less real without this anticipatory stage?
At the campsite, one can take a hike, or go fishing, or… well, I advise you not to make popcorn, for reasons aforementioned. As I indicated, my game stopped here, but from other reviews I gather that I was near the end anyway. This is not a game where your relaxation is betrayed by a serial killer turning up in the middle of your holiday trip, or something else happening that will shatter your peace.
I like the game idea, and its basic philosophy of just leaning into the experience of a relaxed camping trip. To really make it work, though, the game needs more polish – there are some bugs now, but also for instance text that gets duplicated (when you are packing). And perhaps it should be a bit more granular? I took a hike, and while this doesn’t have to go full The Fire Tower level of detail, it would have made everything more real and more of an experience if I could have done and seen a few things along the trail. It was over so quickly.
Take a little more time. We’re not in a rush, you know. We’re here to relax.