It’s not truly Autumn until you have your first bonfire. That’s as good a reason as any to pick up BonfireSimulator, a cozy, points-driven simulator from EhanCreative Inc. that lets players build and maintain fires across a variety of settings. The latest demo released as part of Steam Next Fest: October 2025, and as someone who loves a good, cozy fire, I just had to try it.

Relaxing Sim or Arcade-Style Resource Manager?

The goal of BonfireSimulator is, of course, to build a beautiful, crackling fire. You’re given a few basic essentials to start, including twigs, logs, and a piece of flint. After the tutorial speeds you through the basics of igniting your kindling and adding fuel, it’s just you and the warm glow of your fire pit. Relaxing, right?

Well, not quite. You go through fuel quickly, so you’ll need to keep chopping down trees to maintain your supply. Keep an eye on the fire itself, too. It’s hard to tell what’s burning steadily and what’s about to be nothing but cold ash, so you’ll have to keep hovering your mouse over every log and twig in your pit to make sure it isn’t close to going out. Oh, and make sure you unlock and cook food items to keep your condition up, or else it’s game over.

All of this makes sense, and it’s what makes the difference between this and the crackling Yule log videos you put on in the background around the holidays. What took me by surprise, though, was the point system. Because the true goal of the game isn’t to sit back and enjoy the fire you made, it’s to keep leveling up your fire and adding points to your CampScore. The better the fire, the faster your points increase. This also means new abilities and items, new menus to sort through, new mechanics to manage, and, well, a lot less time spend relaxing by the fireside.

Don’t get me wrong. The promise of racking up points is always an enticing reason to play a game. Especially when those points come along with roaring flames and fun new unlocks for your campsite. But the menu covered screen and the constant pressure of managing your hunger, resources, and the burning status of everything inside your pit does take away from the relaxing, cozy, observation-style experience the game promises.

Who Knew Fire Was So Complicated?

While lighting a fire can be tricky, maintaining one is surprisingly simple when you have a cozy fire pit to work with. If you have fuel and the chance for airflow, you’ll be set for hours.

The same can’t be said about the fire you’re working with here. The logs burn fast (it’d be a pretty boring game if they didn’t), but they also burn unpredictably. An unlit log can be sitting next to an open flame and not get any hotter. They also go out with little warning, so your crackling flame can turn into nothing within seconds.

Do the glowing coals of burnt logs do anything to help ignite new wood and keep the fire running? Or are they just a nice visual? It’s hard to say. Same with ventilation and log placement. Does it matter? It’s difficult to tell. Sometimes piling logs on snuffed out my fire, and sometimes it made it burn stronger.

And when I say, “piling logs on,” I mean it literally. Fuel drops out of the sky as you add it in. Good luck not accidentally flinging already burning logs out of the fire pit. You can pick logs up and readjust them at any time, but they rotate at a glacial rate. Additionally, the accuracy between where you’re clicking and where the log lands is off half the time.

Meanwhile, there are the points to think about. Since the tutorial doesn’t say a thing at all about your CampScore, the level of your fires, the random events that pop up, or even the Condition meter you have to manage to stay alive, you’re left to figure out a lot by trial and error.

It’s not like this is a game that calls for a long tutorial. But more guidance—and certainly more explanation about the rest of the game’s mechanics—would be helpful. Maybe some tips for keeping the fire going? Pointers about how to get a better score? A brief explanation about how to use the new tools you unlock? There were times when it was hard to tell if I was making mistakes, missing information, or encountering a bug. A little more clarity would go a long way toward a smoother experience, which in turn would help open up the game and give players a chance to unlock and explore more of the interesting mechanics hidden behind point goals.

It’s Still Nice to Enjoy a Fire

So BonfireSimulator didn’t offer the coziest of experiences. Unexplained mechanics and point systems, as well as a couple of typos and untranslated UI elements, led to a touch of frustration and plenty of confusion. But the game still holds a lot of promise, especially for those of us who can’t resist the glow of a fire.

The graphics are beautiful, with dynamic smoke, warm, flickering flames, enchanting ember glow, and interesting scenery around your campsite. With a variety of stages and random events in each one, there are plenty of unique experiences waiting for players who can actually manage to keep their fire burning, or their player from starving to death (seriously, how do you keep your Condition up?) for long enough.

The crackling of the fire, the chill music playing on the radio you can unlock, and the game’s cinematic mode all create a beautiful atmosphere that’s lovely to sit and relax in. With some polishing and an upgraded tutorial or tips, I could see myself spending hours enjoying the fire and chasing a higher point score.

The BonfireSimulator demo was part of Steam Next Fest: October 2025. As of publication, the demo is still available. The game is expected to release in Q4 2025.