Fire: Ungh's Quest is a Windows 10 PC game set in the Stone Age where you play the role of Ungh, a bumbling hero, who has let the villages source of fire burn out. The Xbox game has you guiding Ungh through multiple levels of play to solve puzzles, discover bonus items and eventually find a new source of fire for his village.
Graphics are bright, colorful and full of detail and the intuitive puzzlers can be real head scratchers to solve. Game controls are simple and overall if you are in search of challenging game to spend a little down time with, Fire is worth considering.
Ungh's Quest opens up with a brief cinematic presentation of the game's backstory. Here you find Ungh being responsible for the night watch to ensure his village's fire doesn't burn out. He falls asleep, the fire burns out and the next morning Ungh is banished from his village. Cast out in the world, Ungh is determined to set things right and find a new source of fire for his village.
The main menu for Ungh's Quest offers up options to jump into gameplay, access the game's settings and the customary housekeeping options (view credits, access the games social networks, etc.). The game lacks any narration or text and it may take a little trial and error to sort out the Stone Age-style controls.
Settings include options to control the mouse pointer speed, sound/music levels and an option to hide/show menu controls on the gaming screen.
When you jump into gameplay, you first face a short tutorial level that covers gaming mechanics. There is a pointer that glows orange when it passes over action items for Ungh to try such as picking up an object. The pointer turns blue for environmental action items such as shifting a boulder or transitioning from day to night.
At the conclusion of the tutorial, another animated series plays out that is a tad on the psychedelic side. A tree comes to life and what appears to be fireflies trapped in a glass orb are sent out into the world. Ungh must find and free these firefly creatures to get the new source of fire.
Each level of play has at least three areas for Ungh to explore and find a way to free the bug. As you discover the logical solution to freeing the bug, Ungh can also discover bonus tokens that can be used to unlock gaming trinkets that are accessible from the world map screen (the treasure chest).
Gameplay can be a little unnerving with so many elements to discover that help you solve the puzzle. For example, in the second level, you have to rescue a firefly that has been inhaled by a Stone Age creature. To do so, Ungh has to find a way to enter the belly of the beast and induce the firefly to pass through its digestive system. The solution to this puzzle requires you to access the creatures brain, pull a few strings and eventually the monster poops the firefly out its tail where Ungh can rescue it.
If you need a little help, tapping the spacebar reveals action items, some you may have missed. If you direct Ungh to take an action he doesn't understand, his head splits open and an assortment of bewilderment animations appear.
Gameplay isn't overly complicated, but the amount of detail in solving the puzzle offers a nice level of difficulty. If you need to set the game aside and give your brain a rest, Fire: Ungh's Quest saves your gaming progress periodically and re-launches where you left off.
For the most part, Fire: Ungh's Quest is an entertaining and challenging Xbox game for Windows 10 PC. The only downside to the game is that it lacks a trial version and the full game is currently priced at $9.99. The game should be appealing to the fans of puzzle-based adventure games; others may want to wait until the game goes on sale before taking the plunge.
