The sequel to Tomorrow Corporations superb puzzler "World of Goo" is this little oddball game... Little Inferno!
Gameplay in this game is quite simple - your clicker burns shit, and burning shit gets you money. You then use that money to get more shit to burn, until it all comes down... Pretty straightforward right?? YES and too damn so! That is the entire gameplay loop of the game and unfortunately for it the game is about the length of a long~ish movie (took me 3~ hours for the true ending) which makes this unfortunately a bit of a slog through the last section. It does a decent job of making the burn-able items get creative as it keeps going - a moon that has actual gravity, a rabbit plushie that "poops" out a bunch of cards when it is set on fire, a violin that plays a sad reprise as it goes up,up,up... But yeah it doesn't have quite as good a loop as it needs unfortunately to be really something special.
What is quite good - the writing at the end. It does a solid job of making its point: this world is overrun by consumerism and people's need to burn things just to keep warm, and they'll burn literally anything to keep the flames going. Old memories, childhood toys, phoenix eggs.. okay that last one is weird but most of them have a melancholic bent to them. There are only two characters other than yourself - the Chief of the Tomorrow Corporation who wishes you happy burning (of course they're not liable for any accidents mind...) and your upstairs neighbor who likes burning stuff with you. It seems as if she is killed near the 75% mark but at the end once you've escaped your house (and get to see the "Snow" the weatherman keeps talking about is in fact ash) that hits one of the games central themes beautifully
"You can go as far as you like... but you can't go back"
You also get a confrontation with the "Big Bad" at the tomorrow corporation who urges you to DREAM BIGGER but then takes off in a rocket so she doesn't have to face the consequences of her companies actions. Then you head off to meet the weather man and go off into that great unknown.. It's a damn solid ending to a game that unfortunately needs to be about an hour shorter, and that's a bit too much of a dig on a game that is barely three hours long.
While Little Inferno has a rock solid ending and a very cute first 20 minutes of burninating all in your path - the moment to moment of getting more things to burn just wears a bit too thin before you get to that solid meat at the finale. Good characters help it along but its just not quite what it could be and is honestly a bit of a disappointment compared to the revelation that was World of Goo. Maybe next time, Tomorrow Corporation!
Gameplay in this game is quite simple - your clicker burns shit, and burning shit gets you money. You then use that money to get more shit to burn, until it all comes down... Pretty straightforward right?? YES and too damn so! That is the entire gameplay loop of the game and unfortunately for it the game is about the length of a long~ish movie (took me 3~ hours for the true ending) which makes this unfortunately a bit of a slog through the last section. It does a decent job of making the burn-able items get creative as it keeps going - a moon that has actual gravity, a rabbit plushie that "poops" out a bunch of cards when it is set on fire, a violin that plays a sad reprise as it goes up,up,up... But yeah it doesn't have quite as good a loop as it needs unfortunately to be really something special.
What is quite good - the writing at the end. It does a solid job of making its point: this world is overrun by consumerism and people's need to burn things just to keep warm, and they'll burn literally anything to keep the flames going. Old memories, childhood toys, phoenix eggs.. okay that last one is weird but most of them have a melancholic bent to them. There are only two characters other than yourself - the Chief of the Tomorrow Corporation who wishes you happy burning (of course they're not liable for any accidents mind...) and your upstairs neighbor who likes burning stuff with you. It seems as if she is killed near the 75% mark but at the end once you've escaped your house (and get to see the "Snow" the weatherman keeps talking about is in fact ash) that hits one of the games central themes beautifully
"You can go as far as you like... but you can't go back"
You also get a confrontation with the "Big Bad" at the tomorrow corporation who urges you to DREAM BIGGER but then takes off in a rocket so she doesn't have to face the consequences of her companies actions. Then you head off to meet the weather man and go off into that great unknown.. It's a damn solid ending to a game that unfortunately needs to be about an hour shorter, and that's a bit too much of a dig on a game that is barely three hours long.
While Little Inferno has a rock solid ending and a very cute first 20 minutes of burninating all in your path - the moment to moment of getting more things to burn just wears a bit too thin before you get to that solid meat at the finale. Good characters help it along but its just not quite what it could be and is honestly a bit of a disappointment compared to the revelation that was World of Goo. Maybe next time, Tomorrow Corporation!