In 2020, Sneaky Bastards’ released their stealth-puzzler, Wildfire. Branded a witch, the player is hunted by the Archduchess’s army after gaining the power of elemental manipulation from a mysterious meteor. Everything in the game, and in the developer’s name, encourages you to play like a ghost. You get extra points toward your powers if you avoid detection and murder.

There’s just one problem. This army has burned your entire village and enslaved your friends and neighbors. As you go, there are levels where the Archduchess’s warriors happily set up almost unbeatable traps to blow up random villagers, and sneaking around pretty much guarantees you can’t save them, so why not burn your enemies or watch them fling themselves off cliffs in terror?

If you go ghost mode, you spend five minutes crouch-walking across a single screen, waiting to pickpocket or simply avoid a guard’s patrol route. A single misstep ruins the whole run, taking your stealth bonus away regardless. If there’s any sort of series of events, say a lit fuse headed to blow up your imprisoned neighbors, you’re stuck watching it rapidly outpace you, leaving the entire level feeling like pointless drudgery.

Go pryo path, and you toss a single fireball into the brush, watching the guards panic as you fling yourself across the map with double jumps and a reign of fiery terror. You don’t just clear the level, you rewrite the face of the world. Considering the effort that was put into the fire mechanics from consumption rates to the reaction to wind direction, how can anyone argue that burning it all down wasn’t exactly what they wanted from players?

Sure, you can go the combo mode. Be a controlled burn and practice sustainable ecological magic use that you won’t be rewarded for. Sometimes, you play it safe, and you get the points. Sometimes, you burn it all, and you don’t. If the guards don’t see you burning things, then it doesn’t count.

Except the guards are dumb. The Archduchess’s army will run off cliffs. You might keep the stealth point, but then you’re down the murder point, and you don’t even get the pleasure of it being intentional.

The combo play style can also lead to even longer level times than stealth mode alone as you try to time funneling enemies while avoiding their notice.

Going full-on pyromaniac may not get you the most points, and you might still lose a number of villagers, but it’s hands-down the most satisfying way to play. Embrace the spark. Burn the grass, terrify the guards, and ensure the Archduchess’s army regrets ever coming to your village.

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Featured Image: Sneaky Bastards and Balor Games

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