Fireside (2024) [PC] review

You get guys around a campfire, and they start telling their stories. That’s the fellowship that they want to be in.

– John Eldredge

A shipwreck is one of the most classic ways to begin an adventure. Starting from nothing but the clothes on your back in an unknown location ripe for exploring. Nowhere to go but up as you discover the people and places on some new, mysterious land. It works for a reason. You immediately have a goal: figure out what you need to get to the next day. Sometimes, it’s crafting basic items and finding a clean source of water. Others, it’s knocking on doors until you find someone willing to help. In Fireside, there’s no warm homes waiting for you. Everything on this island exists around the campfires, including plenty of friends eager to help a wayward wanderer.

Fireside is probably the most unusual roguelite I’ve ever played. Certainly the most casual. It actually took me several rounds before I even realized it was a roguelite at all. It ticks the boxes though: repeated limited runs with a slow but steady progression and upgrades to make subsequent runs easier. Instead of fighting for survival, though, you’re trading.

The Lost Trader

You are Knick, a merchant whose ship was destroyed in a massive storm. The island you’ve landed on is a wreck as well. Bridges are out, children are separated from their parents, and the shrines to the spirit nexus, the hub of the entire island, are completely messed up. It’s so destructive that the whole nexus is on the verge of collapse. That’s a problem, especially since you’ve gone and accidentally bound yourself to the keeper of the nexus. Now, every few days, you’re dragged back there to stabilize it, losing most of your stuff in the process. Bit of a problem for a salesman.

You make it work, though. When you’re out on the island, you spend your days traveling between campfires, gathering things on the road and encountering random events. At night, you rest and make friends with whoever joins you around the fire. There’s always at least one person, and everyone’s open to trading. If you have a quest available to start, continue, or complete, the quest giver will also show up, so talk to all your friends when they want to say hi. You may have finished a quest without knowing. (Yes, I’m talking about you, raindrop who wanted me to look for a house for him. How was I supposed to know you wanted an empty jar?)

Things to Do Around the Fire

Trading is the main mechanic of the game. By fulfilling people’s desires, you gain soul energy, a currency earned by making people happy. Even if you don’t have what someone wants, they’re willing to trade, so don’t be worried if you don’t have something on hand. Use the scales to make a fair deal, and get a little soul energy in return. You’re going to need a lot of soul energy to upgrade the spirit nexus, so don’t neglect your trading opportunities.

Some campfires are set up by shrines. These old grounds are the connection between the nexus and the island. They need a little bit of TLC after the storm, though. By upgrading them when you rest at one, you can use that campfire as a starting point for future runs. You can also send stuff you’ve found to the nexus early. It costs a bit of soul energy, but better than losing everything.

Many people will share recipes with you too. There’s lots of ingredients around and plenty of things to do with them. Every campfire has a cooking pot. All you have to do is pop in the right combination of ingredients and pass a little time.

Time Is Trade

Your time by the fire is almost as limited as your time outside of the nexus. It’s a fire after all. Eventually it burns down. Each night, you can spend five sticks, representing actions which you use to talk or trade. If you have wood, you can add sticks to the fire for more actions. So far, though, as long as I remember to get food going early, I haven’t needed to spend my precious wood. I’d rather keep it for trading.

Once you return to the spirit nexus, you can use the things you’ve brought back to upgrade the nexus: repair the nexus for more travel days, improve a house to increase the size of your backpack storage, build a cook pot not bound by the campfire limits, even adopt a dog so you can bring more stuff back with you. Every improvement makes the next run easier. Your handy journal tracks what items you’re looking for, too, so out on the island, you know what you need.

Final Thoughts

Fireside is as chill as the title suggests. The cozy campfires give the feeling of warm food, light music, laughter, and good friends. There’s a little strategy involved, but it’s not so daunting that you end up feeling pressured. Do I keep this, or trade it? If you need to give someone that seashell you were trying to hold onto, that’s fine. You’ll find another next time. There’s no feeling that a mistake will cost you. No loss is permanent. Just the way a cozy game should be.

Special thanks to Emergo Entertainment and Nordcurrent Labs for providing us with a copy of Fireside.

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