Wildfire: Not Igniting Any Enthusiasm

Time to Beat: 8.6 Hours

In 2017 Humble Bundle, the digital storefront, branched out into publishing. Originally called “Presented by Humble Bundle”, it rebranded in 2020 as Humble Games. In 2020 indie developer Sneaky Bastards teamed up with Humble Games to release their elemental stealth game, Wildfire.

The player starts in an unnamed land as an unnamed protagonist. The soldiers of the Queen seek witches, controllers of elemental magics. They identify their foe with an ancient test. They light the protagonist on fire. If the character saves themselves, then they are a witch and should be killed. If they burn to death, then they prove themselves innocent of the accusation of witchcraft.

The test doesn't work as intended. The protagonist is not a witch before the pyre, and they are not immolated by the fire. Instead, the protagonist gains the ability to control fire. Transformed into a witch, the soldiers flee in terror. What enabled their fiery ascension? They recently encountered a magic meteorite which imbued the recipient with the ability to absorb elements (this meteorite is the reason the soldiers came to the village in the first place). To activate the ability the protagonist needs to be surrounded by an element. Unfortunately, by the time the player has freed themselves, the town is burned to the ground (by the soldiers) and the townsfolk captured and carted away.

Wildfire combines combat, puzzle solving, platforming, and stealth. The protagonist can walk, run, leap, grab onto the edge of ledges, climb up vines, swim, hide, whistle, pick up objects, and use elements. When the character is within range of fire, whether a wildfire, a campfire, or even a torch held by a foe, the player can pull it into their hands, displacing it from its original position. Fire in hand, it becomes a ball to be thrown. Fire only latches onto certain objects; vegetation and wood. Fire thrown directly at an enemy goes out. It spreads to adjacent burnable objects. Enemies, and even the protagonist, catch fire if they stand too long in flames. Certain objects will explode unpredictably if lit on fire. Water puts out fire (duh!), so take a swim if you are in danger of overheating. The best part of the fire is how vibrant and dangerous it looks, as it throws off smoke and sparks. While the player unlocks other elements, none look as cool as fire.

During the campaign the protagonist is caught twice more. In one instance the enemy tries to drown them. In another they bury them. In both cases the protagonist, instead of dying, unlocks new elements. Why don't the soldiers stab the hero? Maybe they fear the protagonist will develop an affinity for metal. In any case, none of the newer elements are anywhere near as fun as fire. Frankly, fire is fun, and others are not (see title).

While the enemy never stabs the protagonist in cinematics, the game finds it a mechanically viable solution. Enemies include the regular sword wielding soldier, archers, bobcats, and heavily armored warriors. Enemies shoot, stab, or bite the protagonist. The protagonist isn't a fighter. Their options are limited. While fire doesn't have a direct combat application, some of the protagonist's later abilities allow for restricting the movement of the enemy or putting them to sleep. Instead, fire causes enemies to panic. Enemy units are always in one of five states: completely unaware of the character, curious because they thought they saw something, alert because they know they saw the character, panicking because of fire or a friendly dead body, or dead. Panicking enemies don't stop at the edge of cliffs, and fall to their deaths. If the protagonist falls onto the head of an enemy from a great height, it stuns the foe. Enemies can't be jumped on from the same height, so this only works from an elevated position. Also the player should beware. Jumping onto an enemy is fine. Missing the jump results in fall damage.

Wildfire encourages the player to sneak past the enemy, rather than confronting them directly. It deploys visual cues to indicate whether the player is hiding successfully. Most hiding is in bushes, or standing at a different elevation than the enemy. The enemy can see the character if they are on the same level, or one higher/lower. If the player is ever unsure of their visibility, the risk is low to investigate. Stand in a precarious location. If the enemy thinks they see something (curious), then a yellow circle appears above their head and starts to fill up. If it fills up completely, they have confirmed you are there, and become alert. While the marker is yellow the player can move to a more secure location. The tutorial explains these concepts as they develop during Wildfire. Sometimes it can be difficult to hide. Holding something, even an element, prevents hiding. Enemies who have seen the player hide in bushes search for the player by cutting them down.

The player also needs to beware giving away their position with noise. Landing after jumping, whistling, and throwing objects creates noise. Noise is represented by a ring which expands outwards from the sound. It is difficult to anticipate in advance how large a ring will be. The size depends on the strength of the noise.

A few ideas about stealth. Use cover and height to your advantage. Dead vegetation, unlike living grass, does not negate sound, it amplifies it. Guards do not notice the protagonist if they are panicking. The player can pan the screen to see the terrain, but only for a limited distance. Like most stealth games, patience is key to success.

Each mission has a series of goals. Some are mandatory. Some are optional. Some are bonuses. Every mission has at least one mandatory goal. On rare occasions there are two or more. In most cases a mandatory goal is to rescue villagers and/or reach the exit. Optional goals include overhearing an argument, or leading a fire monster to a location so it will set off a series of explosives. Every level has the same bonus objectives; finish without being detected, in a certain amount of time, and without restarting because of death or by choice. The final bonus goal is finish with no kills. Any death that occurs is credited to the player, including when a fire monster, unleashed by the player, rampages through the enemy. Sometimes mandatory or optional goals conflict with bonus goals. But the player can repeat levels to earn every objective. The variety of objectives allows the player to make each level as difficult or as easy as they wish. Alone, the mandatory objectives are simple. Rescuing villagers adds some difficulty. Freed villagers are commanded with a whistle. They have to be near enough to hear. Unfortunately the enemy can hear if they are close enough. The whistle tells the villagers to follow, or to stay where they are. Villagers can also be picked up and carried. Freed villagers are saved when brought to special stones, Waypoints. These Waypoints also save the game, heal the protagonist, and are an endless source of fire (but only fire, no other element). The most difficult part about villagers is rescuing them if they are restrained. They can't move until the restraints are removed, and they can only be removed by fire. Unlike most objects, restraints don't burn, they but break. They don't leave any residual fire for the player to draw from. It can be difficult to bring fire to a captive. And if there are more than one, the player needs to make multiple trips.

Each objective is worth a Spirit Point. These upgrade the protagonist's non-elemental abilities. For example the player can increase the distance they can throw an element, or increase the length of the line showing the trajectory of any thrown object. To upgrade and unlock additional elemental abilities the player needs to throw elements into Shrines scattered around the levels. Most levels also have at least two hidden meteor shards. These are non-upgradable abilities that the player can have only three active on any mission. For example, Surface Tension allows the player to run across water like a water strider.

Wildfire includes twenty-seven levels. The early levels are well constructed. They are tight, concise, like puzzles, while offering the player multiple solutions. The later levels are too open, too easy, too unrestricted. The last level is especially egregious. It is one open room that branches off into three separate regions. Each of these has a simple solution that doesn't require the player to use any knowledge or skill they've gained while playing. They are the easiest rooms in the whole game. Then, this stealth game has a final boss. But it doesn't use any skills. It merely requires the player to click to gain an element, and then click again to cast the element at the boss. All elements hurt the boss equally, in the same way. They have no other effect. It ends when the player has done enough damage to the boss. There is no use of skills except to hurt the boss.

The vague story ends with reconciliation between oppressor and oppressed. It skirts over all the atrocities committed by the bad guys. It concludes with an unearned empowerment ending, where everyone is happy.

Then Wildfire offers the player new game plus. I didn't try it.

In conclusion, Wildfire uses solid stealth mechanics in a well designed environment. The story, without a character name, a location name, or any identifier of any sort, is incredibly vague. Learn magic, rescue the people, defeat the evil boss, and then reconcile with the villains, but without any details. It would be good, but the gameplay doesn't maintain its promise. The other three elements aren't as engaging as the ability to start an inferno. And the well designed early levels are eventually replaced by bloated, boring locations. With a better story, or better late game levels this would be worth raving about, but as is, it's lukewarm.

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