Little Inferno

 
Developer: Tomorrow Corporation
Steam Release: Nov 2012
Hours Played: 4.2
Similar To: None
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips





GAMEPLAY
This is one of those quirky, anti genre defining games that you'll either embrace and pour hours into or scratch your head and wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to own such a thing. In the spirit of its unrevealing title-page, Little Inferno gives little away. However, due to letters sent by mysteriously absent characters you gradually become familiar with what is going on. You'll spend your time mainly looking at and interacting with three types of screen. One is the furnace where you'll burn things simply by picking up items from your "in-tray" along the bottom of the screen and pressing the left-mouse button to create a glowing source of fire. Then by holding it over the items to set them alight, indulge in a bit of pyromania as you watch them go up in flames. Burned items produce coins that you collect.


BALANCE & PACE
The second screen is the shop, accessed by clicking on a small icon perched on the left of your in-tray. Here, you peruse all the items available for sale. Clicking on an icon brings up info about it and clicking one more button delivers it to your in-tray. It then appears inside a cardboard box under your furnace but only opens after a countdown timer has run its course. Only then may you pick it up, place it in the furnace and do the necessary. The last type of screen is the list of combos where you view cryptic clues to help you work out what needs to be burned simultaneously to get that gold star. In short the Little Inferno  is like a multiple-choice, interactive crossword puzzle where clues/answers have to be actively burned to see if you're right!


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Little Inferno is different in many ways and that includes its sparse title-page. There are zero, zilch, nada, absolutely no options. You are greeted with a dim and smokey night-time scene with three wonky chimneys reaching into the night sky. Each represents a profile and each has the amount of time you've spent in the game written above it along with how many catalogues you've unlocked. Click on one and you're taken to your furnace. What they do well are not only the sounds of the crackle and pop of the fire but all the amazing sound-effects that are given off by the crazy items as they meet their end; many of which become characters in their own right. As mentioned, Little Inferno works well by revealing itself slowly to the player and it's this explorative, experimental side that makes it intriguing and appealing to the casual gamer.
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
Progress, in Little Inferno, is measured in how many catalogues you've unlocked and how many combos you've achieved. A catalogue is a page of 20 items that appear on one page in the form of a colourful 5x4 grid. Buy all these items and you can purchase the next one provided you have enough money to do so. There are seven to get altogether. Combos are awarded by burning two or three items in the furnace at the same time. You view the combo-menu in the game by clicking on a tab in the top-right hand corner and there are 98 to collect. When you acquire a combo, you get a pop-up message and a gold star next to it on your list. The combo titles are cryptic and you have to figure them out. 

CONCLUSION 
The game has been developed extremely well but, for me, there is only one (minor) negative. When you go to the shop and purchase items I would like there to have been an indication of what you'd purchased because I'd lose track of what I'd stocked up on. Despite this, there are lots of gimmicks that add character and depth to the experience but, in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this unique offering by the chaps who gave us World of Goo. Let's face it, most of us love watching things burn and Little Inferno gives us the power to do that with all types of objects and all within the safety of a screen. Additionally, because you are unlikely to have played anything like it before and because it is such a solid and stable game - it will certainly call you back for more, if only to make you want to see what mysterious concoction has been conjured up next.