Steam Greenlight Spotlight: Wildfire

Today’s spotlight shines on Wildfire, a stealth platforming game with an interesting twist. In Wildfire, you possess the power to manipulate fire, and are being pursued by swordsmen, archers, and other members of a deadly army as they fear your gift. The reason that I thought Wildfire was the best game on Greenlight today was the addition of the innovative game mechanic of being able to use fire to distract enemies. I’m a big advocate for innovation in games, and it is always an instant plus for me when I see developers trying something new. In the case of Wildfire, it is clear that the innovation works quite well and creates a fun and challenging experience.

Wildfire’s main fire mechanic allows you to use your power in creative ways. You are encouraged to use fire to interact with the environment in order to progress in the game. Your possess no weapons or other ways of defending himself, so you must learn to scare and distract enemies with fire or kill them with it outright. The fire manipulation gift that you possess allows you to grab fireballs from existing sources fire, which you are allowed to carry around, and gives you the ability to throw the fireballs at the environment to ignite flammable surfaces. One of the most interesting ideas in Wildfire is the idea that the fire has the ability to spread. While this may sound like it will be advantageous, it can often lead to blocking off a path forward and having to find another way to progress. It is always great when games allow you to fail, and Wildfire seems to have no fear when it comes to giving the player the ability to completely block off a path forward and have to uncover a new way forward.

Wildfire’s enemies are no pushovers. Much like other games in the stealth genre, they will group together in attempts to hunt you down, which results in a challenging experience that will force you to outsmart the enemies if you want to progress. The game allows you to see further than guards have the ability to, as well as see the range that a sound will travel ahead of time, allowing you to plan your moves carefully. I must say that I am very impressed with the depth that Wildfire takes its stealth mechanic. It holds up to some of the larger stealth releases in terms of intelligent a.i. and interesting mechanics. Wildfire also possesses an upgrade system for your elemental powers. As you progress in the game, you will have the ability to unlock new abilities as well as upgrade existing ones. If fire isn’t enough for you to be interested in the game, you will also gain the ability to manipulate water as well. One interesting example shows the character falling into a small pond and freezing it, causing an arrow that is shot at him to bounce harmlessly off of the newly created ice block. It’s interesting combinations like this that make Wildfire one of the more interesting games that I’ve seen on Greenlight.

If you like the idea of Wildfire, make sure to check out their Greenlight page and leave a vote and some constructive feedback. Also, if you’d like to contribute to their Kickstarter campaign, you can find that here.