The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable “best" thing. Instead, it’s more just us picking out the single game out of the week’s releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one.
These picks might be controversial, and that’s OK. If you disagree with what we’ve chosen, let’s try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why.
Without further ado…
The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands
One of my more anticipated games recently has been The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands ($3.99) from developer Xigma Games. It initially caught my eye with its lovely visual style, and with word that it was inspired by two of my favorite games, A Dark Room and Kingdom: New Lands, then I just knew I had to have it. Well this week it finally arrived in the App Store, and it was well worth the wait. I’ll let these excerpts from our 5 star review do the talking:
“The Bonfire is a game where you will be directly and indirectly navigating the choices of a settler who is setting out to combat a great evil. You start by gathering raw materials and making crude structures by yourself. As you build places to work and sleep, wanderers will visit you willing to live and work in your village. It is your job to apply your burgeoning workforce in a balanced way to the tasks of protection, gathering, exploration and supplying. The game cycles between day and night where night cycles tend to focus on how well fortified you are and day cycles being the primary working time. The control scheme is minimal and helps accentuate a design philosophy championed by games like Alto’s Adventure, Monument Valley, and Prune."
“If you decide to pick up The Bonfire, it might be for the spirit of discovery and adventure, or it might be for the artistic quality and simplicity. It may even be for the fact that so many great games seem to be comparable to this one. Whatever your decision is predicated on, there is so much here to enjoy. A certain zen tranquility exists playing the game. Even if you were to constantly be re-allocating workers to maximize production and push for a high score, the simple act of existing and working that you see the hero and the village going through has a therapeutic quality that is well worth the price tag."
Be sure to give that full review a read for more information on The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands. If there was any sort of negative thing I could think of to say about the game it’s that it’s a pretty short experience. That’s not a terrible thing though, as the way the game is built there’s some room to maximize your techniques and shoot for a high score, so the replay value is definitely there. Plus Xigma already has additional content in the works that’ll release as updates to the game. If you can enjoy highly-polished and engaging experiences even if they’re on the brief side, I can wholeheartedly recommend The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands.
