No Man's Sky studio announces a new adventure game

Hello Games is best known as the creator of No Man's Sky, but prior to that game, the developer created the Joe Danger series of sidescrollers—games somewhat smaller in scope than the space adventure that propelled it into so much discourse.

Today, Hello announced another new project, The Last Campfire, which it's calling a "Hello Games Short."

"Like Pixar shorts it’s a way to foster creativity and new voices in the studio," said studio head Sean Murray in an email to PC Gamer. "We started by making Joe Danger, before No Man's Sky, and we want to pay forward our success to give others the opportunity to do the same."

The Last Campfire is being developed solely by two of the people behind Wii game LostWinds, Chris Symonds and Steven Burgess, with Murray "interfering" here and there, in his words.

"I'm so proud that just two of our team has been able to make something so artistically interesting, but also so fun and unique to play," said Murray. "It reminds me of why I love working at Hello Games."

The trailer (which I'll embed above as soon as I find it) was shown at The Game Awards today, and Murray sent over a brief description. It's an adventure game, if you couldn't tell, about "a lost Ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home."

"LostWinds was a game I have a real soft spot for, and was one of the big successes in the early days of digital games," Murray wrote in a follow-up email. "The Last Campfire is very much it’s own title though, and influenced by many games with a strong but personal artistic vision. Ones that spring to mind instantly are games like Journey, The Witness and Brothers A Tale of Two Sons, which we really admire."

Check out a few screenshots below:

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.